December 2000
Guild Tidings
The official Publication of
The International Songwriters Guild
Volume 5, No. 12
Happy Holidays!!!
NEXT MEETING: 5:00 P.M. Sunday December 3rd 2000
President’s Letter
Dear Members,
Well here it is Santa Claus time! My how time flies. Thanksgiving was a
neat day. Hope all of you got your share of turkey! I’m busy in
rehearsals with those appearing Saturday Dec 9th at Beardall Center, 800
S. Delaney, corner of Gore St (the entrance). If you’re driving on I-4,
get off East Gore exit, and go almost to end of the road after crossing
Orange Ave. It is on your left. 3 storey brick building. Show starts at
1:00 PM.
We are making plans to return to the same place (Beardall) Dec. 23rd,
that’s a Saturday also. We are doing the show at 2:30PM, and at 4:30 we
will do a caravan, following the lead car to our Xmas party, starting as
soon as we get there (10 minutes later). Those that attended the party
last year will agree that the clubhouse is the finest in the country. We
all take a covered dish, and the drinks of our choice, and eat, sing,
play, dance and have the most fun ever! Our host and hostess are members
Connie and Roy Champion (407)658-6667. Directions to the party are on
p4.
We will have a guest at meeting Sunday, who is producing an interesting
project with all-original music. It’s about children and angels. Think
about that theme and see if you can come up with a suitable lyric. I
will be the music arranger. The guest you’ll meet is John Albano.
Member Evelyn Nelson will let us hear a new commercial song she just
wrote for Mercy House Ministries. Hope all of you will bring your latest
songs to meeting for us to hear. We have had some very good ones here
lately. I can see where the critiques are really helping. Take notes
when you have one thing critiqued, and see how it can help.
Also could those of you that were 1st place winners in all the monthly
evaluations in 2000 please bring in a tape or CD of your songs, as we
will be entering them in a new yearly contest.
See you Sunday. P.S. Stay warm, it’s cold out there.
Best
ever
Russ Robinson
FREE Seminar
Before creating TAXI (the only firm in the world to break through
"The Wall" surrounding the music industry), Michael Laskow worked
with Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Cheap
Trick and many more. Mr. Laskow will be speaking in Orlando, Florida
this Sunday.
Place and Time:
- Sunday, December 3rd, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
- MARRIOTT Orlando Airport
7499 Augusta National Drive, Orlando FL 32822
Find Out:
- What NOT to say when an A&R person calls you.
- What makes an artist or band instantly signable.
- How good your tapes really have to be.
- How to write the perfect bio.
- How to dramatically improve your songwriting overnight.
- How to record better demos for less money.
- How to make big $$$ getting your songs in movies and TV shows.
Party Directions: From Curry Ford Rd, turn right on Frederica Drive
(heading south). There is a Cumberland farms on that corner. Go 0.4
miles, turn Left onto Emerald Isle Drive Go to the end of street, take 2
left turns (follow the road) and you will be in the clubhouse parking
lot. Bring a covered dish, and drinks. Hosts Roy and Connie Champion
Dec. 23rd 4:30pm Tel # (407)658-6667
SOME THOUGHTS ON LEARNING TO READ MUSIC
Part 1:
John B. Gayle
All melodies originate in the mind of the composer. Being able to
“hear” a melody in your mind is therefore almost essential to becoming a
successful melody writer. Once a melody or part of a melody exists
within the mind of a songwriter, it is usually desirable to extract it
in a form that can be preserved and communicated to others.
This can be accomplished in a number of different
ways: 1.
Sing the melody and record it on a tape, CD, or other device. This
method has limited utility due to the variations in time and pitch,
which are usually evident in vocal recordings. I have been given some
really terrible tapes and asked to produce lead sheets to be used for
copyright registration. In some cases, I end up writing more of the
melody than the composer.
2. Play the melody on a keyboard, guitar or other instrument and
record it. This is a better method since it gives a more precise record.
3. Write the melody on music paper using standard musical notation
to represent the duration and pitch of each note.
The first method can be used by anyone who has inherited the
ability to “hear” a melody in his mind and sing or “carry” a tune.
The second method, however, requires some limited ability to play a
musical instrument. Either of these methods allows a permanent record to
be made in the form of a sound recording
The third method, using standard musical notation to create a
record, is in many ways similar to the second. This method produces a
permanent record in the form of a sheet of music and is readily
adaptable for use with computers in which the record usually takes the
form of a “midi” file. The point of all this is that once a melody
exists in the mind of a songwriter, any method (other than singing) used
to create a permanent record is purely mechanical and must be learned by
rote, i.e. memorized.
The reasons most people give for not learning to read and write
music include:
1. I don’t need it. I play just fine without it, and look at the
Beatles–they couldn’t read a note
2. It’s too complicated. It would take months or years and I don’t
have the time.
All of this may be true. You can be an outstanding composer without
reading music and it could take months or years to learn all the theory
and intricate details associated with musical notation. But you really
don’t need that much knowledge any more than you need to be an
accomplished musician to pick out a melody, one note at a time, on a
guitar or keyboard. And for song writing purposes you can get away with
always using the same key, usually “C” since that key presents a minimum
requirement for use of the sharp symbol or its companion symbol, the
flat. My guess is that anyone can acquire the minimum skill level in a
very few hours (not days) of study.
Making the Most of Your Songwriting Seminar
The next time you attend a songwriting seminar, take advantage of some
of the tips I’ve discovered—and a few pet peeves I’ve encountered along
the way:
1.Arrive fully prepared. Be ready to take notes. Buy a small, lined,
book that does not have removable pages. Also bring two pens or two
pencils or both. (The other Murphy’s Law will prevail and at least one
of the two won’t work.)
2.Be sociable. It’s important to get to know your fellow participants.
There is usually time for coffee and conversation before or after the
sessions and during breaks. Remember, these songwriters are your peer
group; networking and making contacts with them is essential.
Professionals make it part of their lives, you should, too.
3.Hold that thought during panels. You will have at least one burning
question ranging from contracts to demo quality. Don’t ask until some
part of seminar touches on it. Throwing in a question on publishing when
the focus is song crafting will break the momentum and flow that the
panel is trying to establish. If your burning question has not been
answered at the end of the session, there’s usually a question and
answer period provided for just that reason.
4.Take your best shot. Bring your most recent and best shot to the
critique session. The mistakes you were making five years ago aren’t as
relevant as the ones you are making today. Also, if you had a chance to
pitch a song to a major-label artist, I doubt you would choose your
second-best or third-best song, so why do so with other professionals?
5.Don’t bail out early. Once your song has been critiqued, don’t just
get up and leave. Chances are pretty high that during the session, you
will hear a variety of problems similar to the ones you’ve encountered
in songs other than the one you had critiqued. Now’s your chance to
hear professionals address, and remedy, those mistakes.
6.Be courteous to your critiquers. Once your song has been critiqued, do
not give another one to the professionals involved with your group. They
have given of their time and expertise to help you, and to expect them
to critique another song and correspond with you— especially after
they’ve given up a day or weekend that they could have used for at least
a dozen other projects—is unreasonable and impolite. Believe me, this a
definite “No-No.”
Write a hit!
Murphy's Laws are reproduced here from the NSAI Newswire, the
official newsletter of the Nashville Songwriters Association
International (http://songs.org/nsai). © Copyright 1997-98 Ralph
Murphy
Web Chatter
cybertoad2000@yahoo.com
Hi again, my Cyberland friends. I would like to tell you about some of
the song competitions you can get involved with on the web.
There is http://www.billboard.com They have a competition with a
mid-December deadline. The entry fee is $30, and if you go to the song
competition link on their website, you can get forms to fill out and
send in, along with your lyric sheets and tape or CD.
I found a few contests in the latest edition of Songwriter’s market
(2001). One is at http://www.Americansongwriter.com , and is for lyrics
only. The fee is $10 and the deadlines are Jan 19th, Mar 23rd, May 18th,
July 20th, Sep 21st, and Nov 16th, (all 2001). Also at
http://www.TheArtsContest.com for a $20 fee, a company called Belham
Valley is offering a no-deadline contest (they start a new one when they
have taken in a certain amount of entries). They are offering sizeable
cash prizes.
A few more websites to look at are http://www.Songpro.Com and
http://www.Mammothartists.com
I also saw that ISG member Tony Blue’s Mighty blue Music Machine was
listed in the Songwriter’s Market.
November
TOP FIVE WINNERS
Of last month’s Evaluation Session
(Members only)
1st Place: High Maintenance Bill Frank
2nd Place: Heaven’s Train Susan Mathis
3rd Place: Sharing the children at Christmastime Sharon Conway
4th Place: Remember this forevermore Barbara Kaelin
5th Place: You are a fine lady Jordan Michiels, Sammy Brown, J. Bowling
Gig schedule
SusieCool will be playing at Oviedo Borders on Friday December 15th
from 8:00 to 10:00pm. Also she will be playing the living room jam on
Monday December 11th at House of Blues on the same night as Lisa
Firestone, starting at 8:30. (No cover charge for either events)
Asli Walker will be performing at Borders Oviedo on Saturday December
the 2nd from 8:00 to 10:00 pm
Where’s your next gig? – Let us know, so we can be there
Web site news.
In addition to our existing official website by Dan Jones
http://www.mindspring.com/~musicwriter (thanks so much Dan), we have
now added a Newsletter website, where we will be posting 2 months worth
of “Guild Tidings” at any given time. We hope that those of you that
have internet access will start availing yourselves of this feature.
Asli Walker is the host (thanks Asli), and her site is
http://borrowedreality.com The link to the ISG is at the top of her
home page
Please feel free to contribute articles to the Newsletter If you have
any information that you would like to see added to the newsletter,
please see Susan Foster-Trewick at the meetings, or you can E-mail her
at cybertoad2000@yahoo.com. Please keep your articles brief.
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 Robinson (407)
851-5328, or e-mail: i_s_g_2000@yahoo.com
“DUES CLUES” We are trying to keep better track of dues payments. You
will notice that your mailing label has a date in the top right hand
corner. This represents the date that we have a record of your last
payment. As Russ has mentioned, this needs to be updated, so if you see
?? Or an incorrect date on your label, please let us know so we can
correct it, and if the Date is more than a year old, then our “Dues
Clues” will tell you it’s time to send that check to Russ again!!! (If
you see “Guest” written there, it means that this is one of a few
complimentary issues we are sending you since your visit with us. This
will give you an opportunity to see what we are all about, and decide
whether you want to join our Guild.)