Embedded Files
January 2017
Guild Tidings
The official publication of
The International Songwriters Guild
Volume 22, No. 1
Next Meeting Sunday January 1st 5:00pm
We will be having a short talk from recording engineer Chris Baranyi at this meeting.
Here is his bio: Chris Baranyi is a multi-disciplined recording engineer and sound
technician. Chris studied recording and post-production sound at Full Sail University. He
has provided technical support and services to numerous bands, motion pictures, live
venues, and to major theme parks. His passion, when working with artists, strives to match
the best quality product to result in the best performance. Chris’s organizational skills
are frequently called upon to provide live sound at Central Florida cultural and
entertainment festivals, as well as the engineering of CDs for local bands and artists.
Chris is an avid hot sauce collector with over 200 empty bottles in his kitchen.
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 St., Orlando, FL 32803
(at the extreme east end of Robinson, near Orlando Executive Airport)
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. If you wish to join, there is an annual fee of only $5. For more information, visit our
website at www.tinyurl.com/isgsongs or myspace page at https://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:
If you wish to join our Facebook group, please check us out at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/831814850193553/
WebChatter
by Cybertoad
Here's another blog from Ari Herstand.
It is a bit long, but has some very good explanations and definitions.
Here's a positive article about Co-writing by Sarah Spencer
http://flypaper.soundfly.com/tips/find-co-writers-love-writing/
In the spirit of Collaboration, I found this article about how to do recording with people
in other locations and perhaps even on different software programs.
And here's a neat quote I found in a Graham English (Speed Songwriting) blog:
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” -Scott Adams
Good Years, Bad Years
By Jeff Mason
It hasn’t been a good year for me. I lost two dear friends. I’ve struggled with my
health. The gigs I’ve had haven’t paid. We’ve lost many talented musicians. We live in a
country which is bitterly divided. We tend to review the year at this time. So I ask myself
what was positive.
I did an analysis of the 2015 number one hits in the Billboard Hot 100 charts. I used
Ralph Murphy’s annual breakdown of the pop and country hits and I actually took the time to
learn the pop hits.
https://www.ascap.com/en/playback/2016/03/action/ralph-murphy-billboard-hot-100
I’ve discovered that beside the obvious and expected technological improvements in
today’s hits the most difficult thing for an older artist to grasp is vocal phrasing.
Today’s melodic phrasing is very rhythmic. Rap and hip hop music are influential on
contemporary music. Rap even extends it’s influence on modern country music.
Author, producer and songwriting coach, Robin Frederick, addresses the problem of
dated sounding songs and how to fix them. You can find a video on YouTube, “Fixing Dated
Sounding Songs.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyJZXaBJZBo
I just bought her 2014 E book “Study the Hits” in which she covers the subject
extensively. She cites several song examples which you can study at your leisure. She
compares a 1994 Tim McGraw hit “Not a Moment Too Soon” with a 2013 Tim McGraw hit “Highway
Don’t Care.” She explains how melodies and lyrics have changed over time. You may try this
exercise yourself and see what differences there are. This is a link to her informative web
page. http://robinfrederick.com/about-robin-frederick/
She suggests you try playing contemporary songs so that they become “embedded” in you.
Hopefully when you come to write a song some of the techniques and song crafting will be
absorbed into your song.
As I studied the 2015 hits, I began to slowly incorporate them into my own
repertoire. Interestingly, the first song I’ve performed is “The Hills” by The Weekend. It
is the least rap influenced in it’s vocal delivery and was easier for me to learn. The
other songs, such as “Bad Blood’ by Taylor Swift and “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa, are
rap oriented and are not so easy for me to learn. There is a learning curve.
Simultaneously, I’m paying attention to the production, arrangements and song formats .
Another video you can see on YouTube is Robin’s breakdown of two 2013 hits “What
the Fox Says” by Ylvis and “Royals” by Lorde. It’s very interesting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMdHTQ5mHEY&t=2s
I watched the George Martin produced television series “Soundbreaking” on PBS. It
was good but it was not what I’d expected. I was hoping for more on recording. The last
show traced the different ways we’ve listened to music. From 78r.p.m. to 33 1/3 r.p.m to
the 45r.p.m disks; from the cassette to CDs and through to MP3s and digital streaming. This
series will be a classroom teaching tool. It did omit mentioning the 8-Track tape. It also
failed to mention the legendary producer Tom Dowd. It failed to cover Classical music and
seemed to concentrate on Rock and Pop. Still nothing’s perfect. The DVD is available on
Amazon. http://soundbreaking.com/
In closing I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thank you for
reading my monthly musings!
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
On February 15th we have a playing circle with the Fingerstyle Guitar Group in the
Community room of the winter Park Library. 460 E. New England Ave.-- Winter Park, FL 32789.
6 to 8:30pm. Songwriters are welcome, but we do try to play our fingerstyle songs and not
use picks. There is more info on the facebook group page.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/228147620559285/?fref=nf
There will not be a playing circle in January.
Also at winter park library on February 25th, we will be having a songwriting seminar with
Asli Goncer instructing. It is titled "The Anatomy of a Song". Please check out the event page
on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/1806225832952728/ to sign up.
Current members please send us your website info if you would like your site to be listed
in the ISG members page.
https://sites.google.com/site/isgsusiecool/home/links-and-recommended-reading/member-websites
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
No Scoring for critiques in December (We had a Partay instead!!!)
New members always welcome!
© 2016 ISG
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse