Ian

What do you get when you take a man who has no sense of rhythm, is baffled by music theory, plays an instrument as if he has all thumbs, and sings like cat being tortured? Well, you would get some very terrible songs indeed.   But now take that same man and add a great love of music, a talent for writing lyrics and coming up with original melodies, professional musicians and recording engineers and, most important, the Holy Spirit and it becomes a whole other ballgame.   In fact, dozens of the songs I wrote, had professionally recorded, and sang, turned out to be quite good. Some are even great, if I do say so myself. (Actually, other people have said this too). Six or seven of my songs have earned Honorable Mention in song contests.  Here’s my story...  Having a learning disability (ADHD), I was unable to understand music theory, not just as a boy, but even as an adult. I still can’t imagine how somebody can comprehend and remember all the rules, dynamics, and intricacies of music, let alone get their fingers to form all of those chords and have them land on the correct strings, etc. It just stymies me.   But the LORD had a plan for me. A plan to make music! Thank God. Literally.  I believe the first time a song “came to me” I was about 9. It was called, “Sitting in the Sun.” The lyrics went something like: “As I’m sitting in the sun, I am having so much fun, then I stand up and walk down the road/I turn the corner and there she stands, ring in her hand, telling me I’m not her man.” I must have been picking up on the impending divorce between my mum and dad. Strange.   I guess it wasn’t until I was 18 or 19 when I started creating other “songs.” I put that in quotes because they were just lines I sung to melodies I made up; there was no music to them. At 19, I bought a classical guitar, which should have been the perfect instrument for me to learn as the strings were made of nylon, not steel, making them easier to hold down; and the fretboard was nice and wide, allowing enough space between strings so as not to accidentally touch a string where it wasn’t supposed to be touched. I attempted in earnest to learn to play it, but good ol’ trusty ADHD prevented much growth with it. However, I did manage to write a song using the four or five chords I learned. It was called I Suppose, and a recorded version of it is included in this collection. Given my ineptitude as a musician, I find it interesting that the first song I ever wrote with an instrument had spoken lines in it.  Throughout the next four decades or so, I went back and forth between “playing” my guitar and leaving it alone for months, sometimes years, at a stretch. And, yes, I tried several more times to learn music theory and how to play guitar better, but I hated the struggle so much, that I basically stopped trying, learning only a few more chords and leaving it at that.  By the time I was 40, 21 years after getting my first guitar, I had only written about 20 songs; although I did have dozens of bits and pieces that, if worked on, could have doubled that number.   Then, in 2004, I had an experience that changed my life. The Holy Spirit came to me and helped me discover Who Jesus Christ truly is: Our LORD and Savior and Creator of the universe. Wow! I was not expecting –or looking for- that at all.   Shortly afterwards, I wrote a song called “Little Ol’ Me” and had it professionally recorded. I found a song demo company online, Music City Demos, and sent them my pathetic demo of the song (poor playing, singing, and timing). A few weeks later I received back their version of the song, which had polished musicians and a great vocalist, Dave Smith, playing and singing it. It turned out awesome!   I wrote some more songs and sent them to this studio and a couple of others that I also found online. It was my plan to have me sing my songs with the music these studios created, but I still had the problem of not having a good sense of rhythm. So, I came up with the idea of the studios sending me two versions of my songs, one with a vocalist and one without. I purchased a simplistic recording program for my computer and would load both versions so I could follow along to their singer as I recorded my vocals. When I got a good version of me singing it, I would then delete their version, and I would then have a complete song with professional music and a decent vocal by me. Having done this many times, my vocals did improve to where they got much better.   I also found that I could send my demos to these studios in many different forms: Sometimes with me singing and playing guitar; sometimes just me singing with the vocal melody I wanted but with no music because I hadn’t written any; and other times I would send lyrics only as I didn’t have music or melodies. Those were interesting because I would never know what they were going to sound like until I got their demos back. Most of the time I was quite pleased with them.   Many times, my lack of musical knowledge actually turned out to be a blessing. I would write songs, not with knowing proper chord progressions, but basically by just how they sounded. If they sounded good to me, then that’s how the song would be. More than once, the musician/engineer had commented on a demo I sent him, saying something like, “That’s a strange chord you got in there,” and he would suggest using a different one. Sometimes I took the advice, other times I didn’t and ended up with a very unique, original piece of music as a result.   Although I predominantly write Christian songs, I have also written a couple dozen secular songs, mostly about people I have, or had, important relationships with, including my cat, Lulu (“Only Heaven Sent”) and a couple novelty tunes (“My Bike,” “For a Time”).  After reading this you may be thinking, I can’t imagine this guy’s songs are any good. But I have a three-song challenge for you: Give “Cold Air in the Room,” “I Haven’t Been Outside in a While,” and “Someone Named Jesus,” a listen (Can find on Spotify, et al). I believe you will be pleasantly surprised. However, if you’re still not won over, try “Little Ol’ Me” and see if that tilts the scale one way or the other. Even though that song was sung by someone else (Dave Smith), I wrote the music and lyrics for it. I would venture to say that you will end up convinced that Ian Scott Tschirhart is quite an original and gifted songwriter.  If 1 Corinthians 1:27 applies to anyone, it certainly applies to me, at least in regard to music: “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. Like prophets, God knows His servants even before they are formed in the womb.”