October 2018
Guild Tidings
The official publication of
The International Songwriters Guild
Volume 23, No. 10
Next Meeting Sunday October 7th 5:00pm.
On October 7th, we are hoping for a visit from Terri Binion, a local
Singer/Songwriter who has quite a following. She will be sharing her Songwriting
journey and tips with us. Her style has been described as Americana, bluegrass
and country, among others. I have a few of her CD's and they are amazing. She has
Lucinda Williams singing backup for her too!! You can check out her website at:
http://www.terribinionmusic.com/about/
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
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/
We would like to thank George York from YRS MIDI for giving us a talk in September,
and a Visual demonstration of the DAW he uses called Cubase.
Web Chatter
by Cybertoad
This month, we lost one of our oldest ISG members, Will Campbell. He passed away on September 14th. We will miss his sense of humor, his songs and his lovely voice. He knew how to keep his songs simple, and made sure they were always sweet, singable, memorable, and often danceable too.
He always enjoyed his Karaoke nights but he put up with us Songwriters as well. We are sure he's now performing with the perfect Country band, adding his heavenly voice to the mix.
Off The Wall Tips
By Jeff Mason
I have been writing these articles for eight years. Where does the time go? I am sure that, in that time, I have repeated myself occasionally. Today, I am returning to familiar territory. Song writing techniques are always interesting and this month I went looking for some off the wall tips. It didn’t take me long. I typed “unusual songwriting tips” and this was the first one I discovered.
https://blog.landr.com/10-songwriting-techniques/
This one could keep you entertained until next summer! The article was written by Rory Seydel and anything in parentheses are from his excellent article. The first technique is “Play 5 Radios at Once.” “Tom Waits famously uses this technique during his songwriting process. He turns on a couple of radios and then listens for overlaps.” I am not certain if this works but I think one has to learn by doing. I mentioned this technique to a younger friend and she introduced me to Mash-Ups and started playing some for me! The Merrium-Webster definition of a musical Mash-Up is “a piece of music created by digitally overlaying an instrumental track with a vocal track from a different recording.” This was new to me but they are all over the internet. I don’t think Tom is making Mash-Ups, he’s looking for something new.
Another interesting technique is “Don’t Talk for the Entire Day. Just Listen.” Talking uses a large amount of brain power. https://www.lifehack.org/377243/science-says-silence-much-more-important-our-brains-than-thought Sitting in silence is meditative. Just observe your breathing.
This one I have tried and I know it works. “Look Out the Window for a Really Long Time.” Similarly taking a walk, riding a bicycle or tending to some house plants have therapeutic value. Put the cell phone away and walk away from the computer.
Another idea is “Open Your Piano Roll. Grab the Pen Tool and MIDI Scribble.” As Rory describes it, ”If I’m stuck building a beat I often open my piano roll, load up an instrument, grab the pen tool and just start scribbling down notes.” This is really about releasing your inner child and playing for a while. I am addicted to drum machines. I love jamming to them and I can get some great grooves going. Ad-lib to the beat and be sure to have a recorder handy for when a spontaneous idea pops up! I don’t remember who first said, “Song writing is about finding happy accidents” but it’s true. Rory uses that phrase too!
Rory talks about the William S. Burroughs’s cut-up technique, “Cut Your Lyrics into a Million Pieces.” Burroughs used it for writing novels but it can work for song lyrics. I mentioned it in an earlier article that David Bowie employed this technique of rearranging cut-up words and discovering what unusual “happy accident” showed up. Another variation is pasting some text into a Wordle window and creating a word cloud. http://wordle.net
“The Mozart Effect” is Rory’s last tip. “Listening to Mozart has been studied and proven to have a positive effect on your focus.
It affects your spatial-temporal reasoning. Which is basically a fancy word for concentration. Starting your session with a bit of Mozart will put your brain into high-gear.” I use something similar when I am writing these articles. I listen to “Scores to Study To” on Amazon Music. It relaxes me and gets me in the mood.
Rory’s article has useful links including one that will take you to another interesting article “Songwriting Approaches of the Masters: Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Nick Cave.”
https://reverb.com/ca/news/songwriting-approaches-of-the-masters This will give you more inspiration and ideas.
To conclude I will introduce a unique observation on opening lines from Ray Davies of The Kinks.”Davies described his first major hit “You Really Got Me” like “chatting up a bird” ( London vernacular for chatting up a woman in a club or bar.)
https://tunetipster.blogspot.com/2010/03/chatting-up-bird-ray-davies-songwriting.html?m=1 Thanks to whoever wrote this article on tune tipster.
“What did the head Kink mean by that? Well, simply put, when it comes to pop music, you quite often only have two or three minutes (if you’re lucky!) to make a good impression on the listener, and you damn well better have a GREAT opening line.”
I’ll close now and see you next month. If you follow the links in this article you will learn a lot about how to write a song.
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
Past member Connie McLeod (Blackwood) has been busy at work on a new CD.
It is called "Rough Cuts From the Castle". Details are at:
https://www.facebook.com/events/458933501281425/?notif_t=plan_user_invited¬if_id=1532178822862582
“Jane Gang Unleashed” T-Shirts Only $15!
Show everyone you are part of the Gang by sporting your Jane Approved
(because it is all about her) T-shirt! Join the Gang and help us fund
recording a Jane Gang Unleashed CD! Extra donations to help the “JGU CD Fund”
are always welcome! Please e-mail JaneGangUnleashed@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/view/janegangunleashed/jane_tmerch for pictures.
Jane Gang Unleashed will be playing at Roque Pub Tuesday September 25th at 8pm.
3076 Curry Ford Rd, Orlando, Florida 32806. ISG member Anthony Rouhana has been hosting this
series called Roque Pub's Rising Stars, and he is always on the lookout for performers.
He also hosts the Thursday night open mic there. Idell Smith will be opening the show at 7pm.
Roque has a tasty selection of food and drinks.
https://www.facebook.com/events/147710562734718/
If you are interested in open mics in the Central Florida area, SusieCool has compiled a list.
https://sites.google.com/site/susiecoolsongs/Home/open-mic-directory-central-florida
If you want to join us at the Central Florida Folk song circle, please show up at
Bikes, Beans and Bordeaux at 3022 Corrine Drive on the last Wednesday of each month
from 6 to 8:30/9pm. The BBB has many delicious items on their menu, and also some vegetarian stuff.
They also serve beer and wine. They have a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Central-Florida-Folk-Song-Circle-139385302761066/
On October 17th 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. This particular night we will be playing on the 2nd floor in the Children's Storytime room.
There is more info on the facebook group page.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/228147620559285/?fref=nf
SusieCool is the admin for a Facebook group called "Orlando Creative Music Network"
where we give out info on songwriter meetings, playing circles, open mics, workshops and concerts.
We have a Facebook page for this group if you want to join.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/274152179716552/
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
September 2018 No Critique
New members always welcome!
© 2018 ISG