January 2005
Guild Tidings
The official publication of
The International Songwriters Guild
Volume 10, No. 1
NEXT MEETING - 5:00pm Sunday, January 2nd 2005
President's Letter
Dear Members,
Well, Happy New Year once more! Most
of you probably don’t know this, but I
believe this is the Guild’s 27th year! Lots of comers and goers but there are still a few of the old members around. Some are scattered in New York, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. Xmas time, I got cards from all over.
Our Christmas party turned out nicely. The Village Oaks retirement center club house was a very nice room where we entertained some of the residents. All of us brought food, and we got to eat between acts. Good food, too! Matt acted as emcee and vocalized several Christmas standards. Darrell Monroe, I’m sure, pleased the elderly patrons with old familiar standard songs they all remember and love. Warren Bridges brought his clarinet and joined me (at the piano) in providing the accompaniment to the show. The big surprise was, out of the blue, Joe Schafino walked in. Joe is a New York comedian and long-time ISG member. Joe took over the mike for a few minutes and wowed us with a great comedy routine. His star impressions, like Rodney Dangerfield, are really good.
I hope to see everyone at the January meeting. Bring in your new songs and let us hear them. Wow, some of you are getting so very good lately. Let’s try to make the coming year the best ever!
See you at Sunday’s meeting; have a
happy.
Russ Robinson
********************************************************************************
What To Do About Criticism
By Matt Griffin
I think it must be human nature to dislike being criticized. But it happens to all of us, whether we want it or not. Even for those who are regularly, publicly criticized—say, movie stars or professional athletes—I’m sure it’s still hard. Let’s face it: sometimes, being criticized hurts.
I have this less-than-politically-correct theory that we’re generally raising our kids to be even less able to tolerate critique. In our concern to preserve the self esteem of young children, we may declare all entrants of the art contest to be winners. The reason, of course, is to avoid hurting a child’s feelings. But at what point are we hurting him/her by not teaching reality? Why is it so hard for us to say, “I’m sorry, Jimmy, but you didn’t win this time”? Can’t really use the age argument either—“but he’s only five!”—because then, when does criticism become acceptable? At 12? 17? By the time they hit adulthood, it seems to me that our young people are ill-prepared to handle criticism, even if it’s well-intended and constructive.
As writers trying to get better, we need our material to be “out there”. And that means there will be criticism, some positive and a lot negative. I imagine many new writers have quit for that very reason. And certainly there are others who’ve never let their original material out of the house, for fear that someone will say that it’s not very good.
I think that learning to deal with criticism in a positive way is extremely important to becoming a better songwriter (or creative person in any endeavor). Our monthly critique sessions are a great way to work through your “criticism issues” in a cheerful, non-threatening environment. I hope our criticisms are mostly constructive and useful to you.
If you’ve brought at least several songs to ISG meetings for critique, I’m willing to bet that at least once or twice you’ve left angry or hurt. I certainly have. That song is your baby, and no one wants to hear someone badmouthing their baby! But good things can come of it, if you don’t stay mad. For one, you’ll develop a thicker skin. That will come in handy when you submit songs to publishers and artists and studios, who will really tell you what they think!
More important, you may actually learn something. Even if you totally disagree with a criticism at first, don’t discard it without at least considering it. Maybe the critic is at least partially right. Or maybe, other people will hear it the way he/she hears it. It’s funny, but looking back, I think I’ve learned the most from the criticisms that stung the most. There’s a confidence, almost arrogance that all kinds of writers seem to have (many, in abundance). Maybe, having that confidence shook can be a sort of wakeup call.
So wake up! Accept your critiques cheerfully (even if you don’t really feel that way) and do a gut check later. You never know what you may find.
**************************************************************************************
December 2004 Top Five
(1) After You Know It All Bob Hames and Darrell Monroe
(2) First Lady Jacque Fain and Kelly Manke
(3) Holy Night Dan Cook
(4) The Shadow of Death Jeff Mason
(5) Let the Feast Begin Gar Brandt
© 2005 ISG