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Here is the latest ISG newsletter. Please reply with “Remove” in the subject line
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April 2015
Guild Tidings
The official publication of
The International Songwriters Guild
Volume 20, No. 4
Next Meeting Sunday April 5th 5:00pm
The International Songwriter’s Guild meets at 5 PM on the first Sunday of every month at
the Central Florida Musician’s Union building, 3020 East Robinson (at the extreme east end
of Robinson, near Orlando Executive Airport) in Orlando.
Songwriters, composers, performers, publishers, and the curious are encouraged to join us.
Non-members are invited to attend a meeting or two to get a feel for our group and what we
do. For more information, visit our website at www.tinyurl.com/isgsongs or myspace page at
http://www.myspace.com/21075001
The meetings will be structured as follows: 5:00 to 5:30, business and introductions. 5:30
to 6:00, presentation by a guest speaker (when scheduled), 5:30 or 6:00 to 8:00, song
critiques. Please bring a CD or I-phone or mp3 player or perform your song live, and bring
10 or more lyric sheets. If we have at least 5 songs by members who wish to be scored, and
6 members scoring, then we will have them entered in the Monthly competition. Everyone is
encouraged to write constructive comments on the lyric sheets.
Any Details not in this newsletter are at:
www.tinyurl.com/isgsongs
Note: Thanks to Beth McKee who came to the last meeting and gave us a talk about her life
as a working musician. She also played 2 delightful songs of hers. http://bethmckee.com/
This Musician’s Life
by Jeff Mason
The year has been a flurry of activity for me. I took advantage of a discount offer
and joined TAXI. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Taxi, I’ll explain briefly what
they do. TAXI is a California based Artist and Repertoire company who “help independent
artists, songwriters and composers get record, publishing and film/TV deals.” Although I’ve
not been a member until now I have been receiving Email from them for more than three
years. They do send out numerous industry tips. The membership fee is steep and I’ve never
felt that I was ready to take advantage of these opportunities. I have never been a
prolific writer and I’m lacking some of the production skills necessary to turn around my
product in a short time. Membership includes a free pass to their convention in October, in
Los Angeles. The convention is called the Taxi Road Rally and is considered one of the best
music seminars. I’ve decided to justify the membership fee by attending the convention. I’m
hoping to make some useful contacts and expand my knowledge of this business.
https://www.taxi.com/
Last year I’d taken the free Music Production on line course offered by Berklee
College of Music. I’d found it a worthwhile and rewarding experience. This February they
offered another free course “Developing Your Musicianship.” It was covering ear training,
chord building and scales. I am a self taught musician and I’ve come to realize “self
taught” gives you an incomplete picture of any subject. As with the Music Production course
I knew about 70% of the subject but “Developing Your Musicianship” filled in the blanks.
Just after I’d signed up for the “Musicianship” course I received a phone call
from a local pub asking if I would play St. Patrick’s Day. It’s what I call a speciality
gig because a unique repertoire is required. So with that engagement coming up in March, I
really increased my work load by signing up for the February Album Writing Month (FAWM.)
This is an annual song writing challenge to write 14 songs during February.
I thought that this might help me become more prolific as a songwriter. I’ve
discovered through writing these articles that I’m more productive when I’ve got a deadline
to meet. This was true in trying to meet the FAWM challenge. I didn’t get started until
February 7 and I didn’t think I’d be able to write that many songs in such a shortened
period. When I looked at my situation any amount of songs would be a good thing. FAWM
requires that a song come from a fresh idea. This is from the FAWM help page. “Please wait
at least until February 1 (your local time) to start writing. If you have a lonesome hook
or idea you’ve been wanting to work out for months, it’s OK to finally structure a song
around it for FAWM. Don’t take any old song and say you wrote it in February.” I had no
problem with the start date as I was already seven days late and I have shoe boxes full of
little song snippets and ideas on cassettes. Even the voice memo function on my phone is
full of song ideas! Again from the FAWM help page, “What happens if I use a song I really
wrote earlier? Answer: nothing but you’d be a cheater, you’re not a cheater are you?”
I wrote three songs on my first night. I’ve never written three songs in a row
before! Writing under pressure like this was new territory for me. I’ll take a little time
to explain my process. I have an older version of Master Writer installed on my laptop and
I cannot speak too highly about it. It is a wonderful set of songwriting tools and
automaticaly organizes your work. It keeps a list of all your title ideas. I particularly
like the split screen function which allows you to view lyrics on one side and sketch ideas
on the other. After completing a first draft of a song I would immediately record it into
the Master Writer Audio section. I could, also, make musical notes such as chord
progessions. I kept refining my process as the challenge continued.
I learned some important ways of dealing with writer’s block. My fifth song held
me up for two days before I finally escaped from my songwriter’s maze. Everything moved
smoothly until I hit another song snag. It might have been the eleventh song. I couldn’t
remember how the first songs went at this point. I had, however, learned a lesson from song
number five. I shelved song number eleven and went in search of fresh ideas.
I Googled the question “teenage girls in love?” and song number eleven
practically finished itself. I discovered that playing Bee Gee’s songs gave me melodic
ideas and, coincidentally, the “Musicianship” course helped with developing melodies. I
found myself sitting in front of a blank screen, on a couple of occasions, with no idea in
my head. I went to the television and turned down the volume and with a note pad in my hand
I jotted down ideas from the pictures on the screen. Bingo! I’d written fourteen songs by
February 26! FAWM isn’t concerned with great production. I still had to record the songs
and upload them to FAWM’s web site. I had to refresh my memory with the earlier songs.
Thank you Master Writer! Another tool available on Master Writer is Song Guard which allows
you a way of preserving a date and proof of creation. This is a great tool to use until you
properly copyright it with the Library of Congress.
I uploaded my last song on Feb 27 and I am now an official FAWMER! St Patrick’s day
was a success and I finished the “Musicianship” course two days ago. http://fawm.org/
I feel a sense of accomplishment. See you next month.
ISG Bulletin Board
Meeting space graciously provided by Central Florida Musicians Association, Local 389.
You are invited to join the largest union in the world, representing the interests of the
professional musician. Visit their website at afm389.org for more information. You may
reach them by phone at: 407-894-8666.
Why isn't your gig announced here? Members in good standing
call SusieCool with your appearance schedule! 407-760-2153
Current members please send us your website info if you would like your site to be listed
in the ISG members page. Also if you have any songs that have placed first in the monthly
critiques, please send the mp3's to isgorlando@gmail.com if you would like to have them
featured in the ISG MySpace page. https://myspace.com/21075001
March 2015 Critique Results
1. "I Love U.S.A" by Matt Griffin
2. "Outside Looking In" by Jeffrey Evans
3. "Voyeur" by Jeff Mason
New members always welcome!
© 2015 ISG