Rodney Alejandro has come a long way from bribing his local DJ to play his band’s music at age 18 (more on that later). Now chair of the Songwriting Department at Berklee and a Berklee Online instructor, Alejandro has a vast music career that has shaped his teaching philosophy. This includes touring as a member of the band the Script, collaborating with legends such as Stevie Wonder, Sting, and Ray Charles, and composing for TV shows like The Shield and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. In this interview, Alejandro reflects on his career and offers hard-earned wisdom for anyone looking to make their mark in music.
You’ve succeeded in the music industry, which is known for being unforgiving. Why do you encourage others to pursue it?
Rodney Alejandro: I like teaching and encouraging people to pursue their goals and music because I feel that I’ve been able to achieve all of mine and that was my dream. I didn’t know anyone in the industry when I started. I barely even knew how to play keyboards when I started. Wrote my first songs around 16, 17, through just trial and error and pure naivete. I got to learn about the industry, and did a lot of things wrong that we teach you should do right.
I have the experience of, “Okay, that’s not going to work.” So I can be more confident in what I teach, not only musically but also as a business person. Yes, the music industry is super tough. I’ve been told “no” more than I’ve been told “yes.” However, each “yes” leveled me up. So I looked at “no’s” as getting closer to the “yes” that I was looking for. And I’m very thankful for hanging in there and the career that I’ve had to be able to work with legends, be an artist, tour the world, make amazing records, work on television shows, and being able now to share it with everyone else.
Is there a single day in your career that you really want to relive?
Rodney Alejandro: We [the Script] did a gig in Dublin, Ireland, headlined for 85,000 fans, and the energy was on 11 from the downbeat. And it was just an awesome experience. My children were in the audience, my sister and her family, and my mom was in the audience. So it was really awesome to hit the pinnacle of a career and do something like that, and have family and friends there. So it was more than special because it was a concert I got to share with people I care about.
If you could create a portal to any of the places you’ve been, where would you create it?
Rodney Alejandro: There are a lot of magical performances from Australia to Hungary to Mexico City, and a lot of times, I would be playing dream locations. As a kid, you grow up looking at your heroes and influences in music and thinking, “I want to play this place.” So luckily, my portal did bring me to the Hollywood Bowl, the Greek Theater, Radio City Music Hall, Red Rocks in Colorado, the Zygier Festival in Hungary, and Summer Sonic in Tokyo. The one I always wanted to play when I was a kid was Rock in Rio, so I’d like to go back there and do that again.
When toplining, what instrument do you feel the most simpatico with?
Rodney Alejandro: When I’m toplining, the instrument I kind of feel like I’m emulating depends on the track. My very first instrument as a child was violin. So I studied violin for 20 years. My second instrument was trumpet, and I studied that for like 17 years. So when we’re thinking ballad or mid-tempo, I’m thinking violin. When we’re thinking dance and high energy, I’m thinking trumpet. Now that I left all that behind to do pop, those two instruments come to me the most.
Read: What is Topline Songwriting?
If you were still working as a recording artist, who would you want to write your material with?
Rodney Alejandro: It would probably be Bruno Major. Love the writing. Very descriptive, great melodies. Just everything about his writing I vibe with. So it’d be cool to see what we could work together.
If you could write for any artist during any period of their career, who would it be and when?
Rodney Alejandro: If I could, probably Prince, one of my biggest influences and heroes in music. If he could let me in the studio, I’d have to try.
What is the most unexpected behind-the-scenes moment you’ve experienced?
Rodney Alejandro: One of the most unexpected things that ever happened to me was in the studio. I was working with an artist, and tensions were high. We were trying to get something done, and I’ll mention no names. However, things were tense. We weren’t getting to the result we wanted to get to, and everyone was starting to get worked up and anxious. We were running out of time. We broke out of the studio for a minute, and when we came back, the artist was sitting there butt naked in the engineering chair talking about, “We going to get this done now!” So we were all stunned; Shocked because this was very uncharacteristic. Or at least we thought it was very uncharacteristic.
Based on your experience, what qualities or skills are essential for somebody to succeed in the industry right now, especially when collaborating?
Rodney Alejandro: I think some qualities that are essential for success in this industry have little to do with talent, and more to do with character and agility. A lot of times, we can anticipate what we might expect in a collaboration, on a gig, or in a session, even if you’re just a musician. But reality is what it is.
And when you’re there in the context of the moment, things change. Directions change. And that’s where the agility comes in.
TAKE A COURSE WITH RODNEY ALEJANDRO
What’s the most promising development for the future of music?
Rodney Alejandro: The humans that are yet to be born. They’re going to enter a world where there are way more tools to create music. They’re going to think differently, just as our new generations think differently now. I think differently from how the previous generation thinks. So I believe in humanity and human ingenuity. So the next big development with music is going to come from someone who may have just been born or is yet to be born.
What do you believe sets your style apart from others in the industry?
Rodney Alejandro: What I believe sets me apart is that I don’t feel I’m the most talented. I just feel I can outwork everyone else. And if there was something I didn’t know or something I needed to figure out, I would figure it out by hook or crook. I’d go read a book. I’d go find someone to ask. I’d experiment. I do whatever it takes to fill a gap in my knowledge, to be able to be effective with whomever I’m working with, whether it’s before a session, in the middle of a session, even after a session.
What was the first project that you worked on in your entire career, and what did you learn from it?
Rodney Alejandro: I started a band in high school. I could barely play keyboards. Somehow we found our way into the studio and made a record. Back in those days, we didn’t have CDs, MP3s, or any of those things. So we took the cassette, went to a club, and bribed the DJ to play it to figure out if it was any good. The dance floor was packed to an original song that people never heard before. So this gave me some confirmation that whatever it was I was developing within myself was real and possible. I was about 18 years old, so I wasn’t supposed to be in the club either.
Do you have any recollection how much you had to bribe?
Rodney Alejandro: It was like a couple of beers.
