April 2002
Guild Tidings
The official Publication of
The International Songwriters Guild
Volume 7, No. 4
NEXT MEETING 5:00 PM Sunday, April 7th, 2002
The International Songwriter's Guild meets the first
Sunday of every month at the Central Florida
Musician's Union building at 3020 East Robinson (at
the extreme east end of Robinson less than a block
from Herndon 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.
Officers:
President/Treasurer
Russ Robinson (407) 851-5328
Vice President/Member Reception
Matthew Griffin (407) 903-1212
Secretary
Evelyn Nelson (863) 644-8699
Membership
Susan Foster-Trewick (407) 679-4017
Web Consultant
Asli Walker (407) 359-0506
President's Letter
Dear Members,
"It Might as Well be Spring", love that song! I've
been humming it almost all of March. Then all of
a sudden, with a change of weather, I think I'd better get the warm clothes out again and put the summer ones back in the storage closet. We are still the luckiest people in the world-we live in Florida!
Except for songs like "Summertime" and a few others, there haven't been a lot of weather songs. Why don't we think about that? Often we use ideas from other songs when we write. Why not try writing an overall weather song? Weather is not a real problem here in Florida. I think of myself as lucky to live here.
I'll tell you about a new songwriting contest Sunday. I'd like to see more of you enter these contests. Every rejection should be a reason for you to try harder next time; rejections should be considered a part of your training.
I want to thank Susie Foster-Trewick for working hard and gathering those participating in the two Central Florida Fair shows we did in early March. Both shows had weather problems. The first week it rained. The second time we lost our beautiful warm weather; after the sun went down, the temperature dropped 30 degrees. Those of us in short sleeves almost froze. I was chilled but stayed seated to hear Art Cappuccio perform. Wow, is he great! The years he spent with Billy Joel come through. Actually everyone did great. Jordan Michiels came across like a Broadway star. He's not country and doesn't need a goatee and cowboy hat; his original songs are uptown!
Guess you've heard I went to NYC for Liza Minnelli's wedding. It was interesting. It brought back memories for me. I was at Judy Garland's last wedding; the thought saddened me. But the wedding was nice.
See you Sunday.
Russ Robinson
Weather at Fair Doesn't Deter ISG
By Bob and Kathleen Neace
Rain or shine, Central Florida's International Songwriters Guild rocked the Central Florida Fair. On March 3rd emcee Bob Neace started out the show and introduced Slaves to the Groove. They were a great up beat act to get things moving. Their sound fit in perfectly with the young crowd at the fair. Next was Asli Walker, sounding awesome as always, followed by Lisa Firestone who was so good that she summoned up a rain storm and unfortunately we had to unplug. SusieCool was able to regale us with a few acoustic tunes and we ended up having a sing along under the tent. Then Julie Berger (ChrisStill) played a few tunes until the rain got too hard for the few diehards who had stuck it out. We packed it up and hoped for sunny skies the following week.
On March 10 we were blessed with bright sunshine and a full Central Florida Fair crowd. After fighting the lines of cars to get into the parking lot, once again Bob Neace introduced the first act. This week we kicked it off with Cyd Ward and friends with her wonderfully heart felt songs, then SusieCool took the stage and kept all singing and laughing. Susie then turned it over to Serina Jung. Serina played a mixture of tunes from her current album and her new album due to be released soon. Serina's soulful voice and melodies helped to draw in a good crowd. The torch was then passed to Jordan Michiels and Sammy Brown who wrangled us in with their good country sound. Afterwards SusieCool introduced Pizza Bob Neace. Bob played many of his new songs. His growling blues vocals could be heard all over the Fair. Bob's songs appeal to the young and old alike so he was able to keep a good crowd at the tent. Following Bob was Stephen Currence. If you closed your eyes for a minute and listened to Stephen you would have thought James Taylor was playing at the fair. In fact for a minute we thought we heard some JT songs. After Stephen was John Gallagher with sax and clarinet players in tow to deliver his tunes. Bill Downs gave us a taste of his sound and all were pleased. Closing out the night was Art Cappuccio. Art's blue humor was a delight to the late night Fair attendees. It was a pleasure seeing Art back on stage. We appreciated his talent and humor.
It would have to be said this was a very successful showing for ISG at the Central Florida Fair. We look forward to an even better turn out next year and did I hear someone say Coca Cola stage?
Working with Titles, part 2
By Matt Griffin
In part 1 of this article (February) we talked about building songs around memorable titles. We also suggested places where a writer might get ideas for titles. In part 2, we'll talk about short titles and some simple title-constructing techniques.
Songwriters who've been around me for any length of time have heard me drone on admiringly about Sheila Davis, the songwriting guru who wrote "The Craft of Lyric Writing" and other songsmithing books. Davis is big on one-word titles; she claims that fully 10% of successful modern song titles have only one word. I've noticed that writers in the ISG (including myself) seem to shy away from single-word titles. Just for fun I looked back in the last 12 newsletters, and I counted only 5 one-word titles total in all of our Top Five lists (although, to be fair, I guess that is almost 10%!). Check out "The Craft of Lyric Writing" for lots of terrific examples.
For a single-word title to be effective, it should be lyrical and unforgettable (like, uh, "Unforgettable", or "Evergreen", "Yesterday", "Memory"). Proper nouns like names and places can work well too ("Michelle", "Chicago"). Just remember to use the word prominently in your song, in a musical location that emphasizes it. It's especially important for a one-word title to be at the beginning or end of a verse or chorus, or at least a line; a single word gets lost too easily if buried in the middle of a line.
Brief titles have a basic advantage over longer titles. Just by their brevity, they tend to be easier to remember. New writers often choose long titles, but that's typically a hard sell. Don't shorten a great longer title just to make it shorter, but in general aim low. Try to stay within 4 or 5 words if you can.
If you're good with words, you can construct clever original titles using time-honored writing techniques like alliteration and rhyming. Alliteration within a song title is an especially common method and can produce wonderful titles ("Beauty and the Beast", "Heartbreak Hotel", "Sounds of Silence", "We are the World"). Something about the repeating sound turns a few simple words into memory glue. Another repeating-sound tool is rhyme; if you can use a rhyme in your title, the results can be instantly memorable ("Rock Around the Clock", "Achy Breaky Heart"). Don't forget that rhymes don't have to be perfect to work; near rhyme or even internal rhyme can produce a great title.
These are just a few simple ideas that may help. Experienced writers learn to listen for titles wherever they are, and to build titles from simple words and phrases they hear every day. There are no hard and fast rules. Hopefully once you've had some practice, you'll "know a good title when you hear it."
Web Chatter
cybertoad2000@yahoo.com
Yalaha Bakery is having a special Open Mic on Earth
day (Saturday April 20th) hosted by SusieCool. From
1:30 to 4:00pm. Food, Drinks and coffee will be
available. The event is free. It is an outdoor event.
Yalaha Bakery 8210 County Road 48, Yalaha, FL 34797
ISG Bulletin Board
Printing services for Guild Tidings are graciously provided by Printing USA, 4732 South Orange Blossom Trail (just south of Holden), Orlando. Phone: (407) 857-7468.
Just wanted to let you know that the certificates are ready for distribution. Please see Russ at the next meeting to pick them up if you placed in any of the monthly evaluations. Also we would like to put the first place winners on another compilation album, so please see Susan if your song placed first in the year 2001.
Why isn't your gig announced here? Call us with your appearance schedule!
TEAC 3340S Professional tape recorder, �� reel to
reel, 4 tracks with simulsync, 7-1/2 inch and 15 inch
reels, $200. 321-452-2910 or email geosync@pan.com.
We're always looking for material for the newsletter.
If you have any information that you would like to see
added to the newsletter, please see Matt Griffin at
the meetings, or you can email him at
griffinmc@netzero.net.
Please keep your articles brief and to the point. Print deadline for the newsletter is approximately two weeks prior to the monthly meeting.
Classified advertising may be placed free of charge to
members in good standing in the ISG. For more
information on display advertising and/or
classified advertising for non-members, please call
Russ or Matt or email: griffinmc@netzero.net
� 2002 ISG
http://www.geocities.com/i_s_g_2000