August 2019
Guild Tidings
The official publication of
The International Songwriters Guild
Volume 24, No. 8
Next meeting Sunday August 4th 2019 at 5pm. We will be having a demonstration from
Matt Griffin of a software program he uses for creating music called Band-in-a-Box.
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, networking and
introductions. 5:30 to 6:00, presentation by a guest speaker (when scheduled),
or a short workshop/exercise. 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/
Thanks to Giovanni Bertuol from Trap Cat who came to give us a talk about their organization.
WebChatter
by CyberToad
Here's a blog from Marty Dodson of SongTown about exercises to stretch your writing boundaries.
Looking For Joni #3
By Jeff Mason
I drew a lot of my inspiration for this part of “Looking for Joni” from a 2013 interview with Jia Ghomeshi. I feel I have to state that Joni has since
criticized Ghomeshi. "You know I did an interview with a CBC commentator. I exorcised the house after this guy left. I smudged it and opened all the
windows. Now it comes out that he has been fired from CBC. People kept saying, “What a great interviewer.” I didn’t think so.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/2nrlgh/joni_mitchell_on_jian_ghomeshi_interview_you_know/
The interview was aired on the CBC magazine, radio program “Q.”
My reasons for writing these articles is to find out how this important artist thinks and approaches her art. While she may have regretted allowing
Ghomeshi and his crew into her beautiful LA home, she is, nevertheless, candid and honest and I gained some insight into her process. Joni has
kindly allowed the interview to be presented on her web page. In addition, she provides us with the accompanying transcript which has made my
task easier. https://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=2985
This next link features Ghomeshi and gives us a small tour of her home.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/thenational/jian-ghomeshi-on-interviewing-joni-mitchell-1.429662
The following are a series of questions and answers which were inspirational for me. I hope you get some inspiration too.
JG: “Does all of your creativity, whether it be painting, writing songs, poetry, come from the same well? In other words, is it the same place in
Joni Mitchell that where the visual art comes from or the music?”
JM: “Yeah. I do believe they're different languages, you know. And some things don't translate as well from one language to another. So you do,
you know, you create --like I've got vignettes and things that happened that would make a good short film but wouldn't make a good song. Right?
So somewhere down the line maybe.”
JG: If painting and music are the two languages or a couple of different languages, how do you describe the languages? How do you know -
what does music represent in terms of language to you and what does painting -
JM: “Well, I'm a painter first and I kind of apply painting principles to music. I think my production skills are visual and not from the staff. I don't think
in terms of the - as Princess Margaret called it, the "fly shit." (Laughs)JG: And music is a learned language. And interestingly - and I know you did
say this in the documentary "Woman of Heart and Mind," you said, "anytime I make a record, it's followed by a painting period…"
JG: "It's a good crop rotation, painting to clear the head.”
Here I interject by telling you that Ghomeshi is referring to a 2003 documentary “Woman of Heart of Mind. Most of this film can be found on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWnhuMSRwVo&t=1854s
This is another excellent and inspiring resource on Joni.
More from the Gomeshi interview.
JG: “And extracting from that it feels like you're saying to a certain extent - correct me if I'm wrong - music is a vocation; painting is liberation.”
JM: “No. I wouldn't exactly say that. I would say, you know, you do the music which is very soothing in my case - you know, it - I'm choosing chords -
okay, let's start with the poetry. Let's say - which came first the lyric or the music. Usually the music comes first. And then I mantra it. I play it over
and over in that kind of trance-like - a lot of it's kind of soothing even if it's rhythmic, you know. It's never - you know, I write some party songs but
mostly I write late at night and for myself and so it can be grooving but ... and, you know, I'm listening to those chords and I'm going, okay, here's
where the pinnacle thought has to go, here's where the high note goes, and this is where the main thrust, the most important idea, has to go because
this is the pinnacle in the music. So then I'll get the melody, I'll go over it, like The Beatles, like 'scrambled eggs, doo, doo, doo, doo,' you know, maybe
get something phonetic. And then something happens in the course of a day, maybe it all comes that one day, or maybe it's later that week, or in some
cases it's taken as long as seven years to get the libretto. You know, what is this music craving as a story, you know. And then you try, I try - it's a point
of craft with me - to marry, so that it's theatrical, first of all, they're dramatic pieces, it's frustrated filmmaking, it's very visual, you know. You're scoring
the actress but the actress is singing the lines but trying to get them as conversational as film.”
“So that you don't really - so everything is so united and conspiring towards the text. “
“With painting the head process is completely different.”
JG: Remove the thoughts?
JM: “It's like meditation. You come down to synapses. You know, (makes electronic humming noise) red in the upper left-hand corner (electronic
humming noises).”
JG: “What was that? What's going on? What was that?”
JM: “It's the ohm. You know, the universe, the hum of the wires, or whatever. It just comes down to synapses, you know, non-verbal, that - the
discourse has been silenced. So it's a very different head space from poetry.”
JM: “It's more contemplative or meditative. It's more like a Zen mind, painting. You know, whereas writing is more, from a Buddhist position,
more neurotic. You know, you're raiding Mishigas, basically. The chaos of the contemplative "I" thing dishes up.”
It becomes obvious that Joni’s process is similar to making a movie. A movie in which she is playing the star role. From this concise exchange
of questions and answers we can understand how her precise lyrics evolve.
Next month I will complete this series on the art and craft of Joni Mitchell. 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
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 Wednesday July 17th and August 21st 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. The event usually takes place on 3rd Wednesdays, but sometimes
2nd Wednesdays. 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
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/
July 2019 no Critiques
New members and guests always welcome!
© 2019 ISG