Ian 'N' A I

What would you expect from a man who doesn’t comprehend music theory, doesn’t play an instrument or sing very well, has a poor sense of rhythm, and struggles to sing in tune, but still loves and wants to create music?

​Well, what you shouldn’t expect is dozens of professionally recorded, very good songs, and even a few great ones. 

As a young boy, I used to pretend I was a songwriter. I would come up with song titles and fantasize about my songs “making it on the charts.” A few times I actually tried to pen some lyrics. I didn’t share them with anyone, but one day, a friend of mine looked through my notebook, read some of my “lyrics,” and said, “Hey, this is a pretty good poem.” At that point, I shifted my trajectory from songwriter to poet.

​About 10 years later, I caught the songwriting bug again. I bought a used classical guitar because it had nylon strings, which were easier to hold down than steel ones. I learned a few chords and tried to study it in earnest, but I quickly grew frustrated at trying to form the chords, especially some of the more complex ones, and had difficultly grasping music theory. I did, however, manage to write a song using the three chords I could play adequately enough. The lyrics to the song were simple but weren’t bad. One song led to a few more, but I never progressed well enough to be in a band or create more diverse songs. Suffice it to say, that was about it for my songwriting “career.”

​But God had other plans.

​A short while after I became a born-again Christian at the age of 41, I wrote a “Christian” song called, Little Ol’ Me.

​I thought the tune had the potential of being a good song, so I searched the internet for a music studio that specialized in recording other people’s songs for them.

​I found one and sent them my sung-out-of-tune, poorly played demo. What they did with it was nothing short of amazing!

​The music was beautiful and fit the theme perfectly, and the vocalist put his heart and soul into it. (You can hear this song on this website).

And I owe it all to the Holy Spirit. In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, God tells Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” It’s hard to be any weaker when it comes to musical ability than I am.

The Bible teaches that God gives each believer specific spiritual gifts through the Holy Spirit, not for personal status, but to serve others, strengthen the church, and help carry out His purposes.

​Different believers have different roles, but all are important—and everything is meant to be done in love.

​First Corinthians 12:11 tells us that the Spirit “distributes them (gifts) to each one, just as he determines.” So, the gift of songwriting was not of my own doing; it was given to me by God. Therefore, I cannot boast of it whatsoever.

​Finally, I found a way to take my terribly rough songs-Christian as well as secular-and have them made into professional recordings. Back then, I sang most of my songs, but not all. When a studio vocalist did a much better job than I could have, I kept their version. That being said, I did manage, after countless takes, to pull off a fairly decent vocal now and then. (How’s that for self-promotion!).

​This went on for years, and I was racking up quite a catalog of songs. Then, after I retired from my real job, upon looking for things to do with my time, I discovered Artificial Intelligence (AI). I found an AI song-generating app that allowed you to put your lyrics in, choose a genre, and suggest some instruments for the song. The results of the first few songs I made using this program blew me away!

​The floodgates were opened, and I began producing songs like crazy! In fact, I had written the lyrics and had AI create the vocals and music to about 75 songs within a six-month period.

​I made videos for many of my songs and posted them on social media, but I thought, I would love to be able to share more of my music with more people; I wonder how I can do that.

​So, I decided to create websites to share my music. This one has my secular songs and my other site, seventysevensongs.com has many of my Christian songs on it.

Thank you for checking out the songs God gave me. I'm sure you're going to find many that you love.

​God bless you,

​Ian S. Tschirhart