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Musical Influences

Colorado based songwriter Jon Hanover is passionate about songwriting, poetry and art in many forms. He grew up going between divorced parents in Minnesota and Colorado, the elevated desert over the lush green forests and tundra. Both places have influenced, to a large part, his creativity.

As a performer, Jon was once the lead singer and front-man for a hardcore thrash band back in the 80's. Currently Jon writes lyrics and he writes music for the guitar. He is still working on learning the ukulele and it's different setup (soprano that is). His lyrics are influenced by Elvis Costello and other under the radar Pop song writers. For Jon lyrics are a form of visualizing through text and language, and regarding his own songs, another extension of his broadly expressed creativity.

Musically, he is influenced by both sides of his family. His father played piano and his aunt was first chair cello with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. On his mother's side, a great uncle he never met was a poet and was also rumored to have written a symphony for the guitar (Jon is still looking for it!). Most of his poetry is still in Norwegian as that was his first language.

Other Creative Expression

Beyond that Jon's songs are just one aspect of his creativity. With a strong and complimentary interest in Art, he expresses his creativity across several media, including flower arranging. He has been creating artwork since he was a child and professionally for the better part of two and a half decades. His current job is that of a certified floral designer in a supermarket. His arrangements, are renowned for bright colors and intricate detail as well as technical experimentation. Roses with orchids is a staple of his productions and a hot seller. Jon's wife remains another of his main influences. They share a wonderful life together, which makes it difficult for him to write sad songs.

Currently Jon has two "lyrical" poems published in the book "Brother, My Cup", published out of Germany in 2006. They may be without notation but, as published for the book, they are true to lyrical form with a stanza, refrain, stanza, refrain structure. As he translated them to music, of course, they became verse, chorus, verse, chorus.

Writing Lyrics

Jon aims to help other songwriters improve their lyrics writing, simple as that. He has, himself, endured the slings and arrows from the so called "enlightened", who have themselves spent lifetimes in academia learning their trade, but somehow still do not consider lyrics to be a form of poetry. It is in fact one of the oldest and most effective forms for memorable and enduring works from many poets and historical figures.

While he himself has no formal training in lyrics writing, Jon does know that writing songs is a lifetime in the learning and formal training is no barrier to a serious study of the art form. The best way to improve is to approach songwriting openly and honestly with a drive to understand the art of creating a song. It is this joint thirst to understand the songwriter's craft along with an enthusiasm for communicating those ideas and observations to his fellow aspiring songwriters that lead Jon to join the Songstuff Site Crew as one of our article writers.

When writing lyrics his main questions are "Am I saying this clearly ?", "Am I offering something new?" and "How can I make these lines more memorable, stronger etc. ?"

Jon Hanover doesn't plan on world tours or indeed want "RockStar Fame". He is perfectly happy to be a co-writer, content listening to beautiful voices and accomplished musicians playing his songs, fulfilled in the knowledge that listeners are entertained and that they connect with his lyrics.