July 2006
Guild Tidings
The official publication of
The International Songwriters Guild
Volume 11, No. 7
NEXT MEETING: 5:00pm Sunday, July 2nd, 2006
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. For more information, visit our website at www.isgorlando.org .
Officers:
President/Treasurer
Russ Robinson (407) 851-5328
Vice President/Member Reception/Newsletter
Matthew Griffin (407) 903-1212
Secretary
Jacquelyn Fain, crosstyes1@yahoo.com
Website
Carlos Colon (352) 326-4295
Archives
Barbara Ross (407) 862-2795
President's Letter
Dear Members,
Hi, and Happy Fourth! Most of us probably don’t give thought to why we celebrate that day. But if you listen to the lyrics of the most fitting song “It’s a Grand Old Song”, it’s the perfect song to explain. Hey, why don’t we try writing new lyrics regarding the Fourth of July? If we could write a real good one, it’d be guaranteed to be heard in July every year like Christmas songs in December. We could use a new patriotic song, anyhow. There hasn’t been a good one done recently, not since Lee Greenwood’s “I’m Proud to be an American”. Think about it.
I’ve had several calls from new prospective members here recently. Hopefully, getting new blood in the group will be inspiring to all. New members would not be aware of the funful time we had on a boat trip from Cape Canaveral last year. There’s a gambling boat that goes out in the evening for about 6 hours or so, called the Sterling Cruise Lines. They have entertainment and decent finger food. Best thing is that it doesn’t cost anything, unless you gamble of course. They even have a bus that picks up and drops off in the Orlando area. If you’re interested, come to the meeting Sunday and we’ll talk about setting up another one-night cruise.
I recently heard from ISG member Evelyn Nelson. Evelyn has been in California only a short time, and seems already to have made a number of good contacts. We’ll keep in touch with her, and learn more about what’s going on with her in the future.
Hope to see you all Sunday. Best ever!
Russ
Choosing Chords--Diatonics (Part 1)
By Matt Griffin
How do you pick the right chords for your song? The topic is important enough and complex enough that we’ll spend several months discussing it. I’m going to assume some basic understanding of music theory, including key signature and chord types. Note that these articles will lean heavily on Jai Josefs’ fine book “Writing Music for Hit Songs.” I highly recommend the book, by the way, as a detailed guide for songwriters of all levels (beginner to expert) interested in improving their musical composition skills.
The idea is to assemble a large set of possible chords to choose from, chords that will sound good in your chosen key. What you’ll see is that there are many, many compatible choices. Once you know what the candidates are, you can let experience and your ear make the final decisions. I’ll use the key of C in my examples for simplicity (except as noted), but the concepts presented here certainly apply to any major key. By all means, go to your piano or keyboard or guitar and listen to how these musical constructs sound.
A chord is called diatonic if all of its notes fall within the given key. For example, G-major (G for short) is diatonic to C because its three notes (G B D) all belong to C (C D E F G A B). G-minor is therefore non-diatonic because its second note (Bb) is not germane to C. Diatonic chords are the building blocks of musical composition; in fact, many songs in pop and country and other genres are composed entirely of diatonics.
A triad is a chord with three notes. Seven basic diatonic triads can be formed by starting with the seven notes in the key of C and using notes 1-3-5 from that point: C (C E G), Dm (D F A), Em (E G B), F (F A C), G (G B D), Am (A C E), and Bdim (B D F). A common notation uses Roman numerals I to VII in place of the starting notes, allowing a generic discussion without referencing any specific key. So the generically-named triads become I (the triad C in this case), IIm, IIIm, IV, V, VIm, and VIIdim.
Further, each of these triads can be made a seventh chord with the addition of a fourth note (1-3-5-7). These chords are Imaj7, IIm7, IIIm7, IVmaj7, V7, VIm7, and VIIm7b5. An example in the key of C: Fmaj7 (F A C E) is the IVmaj7 chord. So we already have 14 chords at our disposal, though VIIdim and especially VIIm7b5 are seldom used in modern music.
I really like a couple of V-based chords called suspended chords, created by replacing the third note with the fourth (so the chords read 1-4-5 and 1-4-5-7). The Vsus4 and V7sus4 (in C: Gsus4 or G-C-D, and G7sus4 or G-C-D-F) sound a little odd by themselves but often beautiful in progression. Try sprinkling them in where you’d normally put V (G) and V7 (G7).
There are other diatonic chords that we’ll discuss in more detail later on, but just to whet your appetite: off of I and V you can have second chords (1-2-5, or C2 and G2) and sixth chords (1-3-5-6, or C6 and G6). On V you can also create ninths (1-3-5-7-9, G9), elevenths (1-3-5-7-9-11, G11), and thirteenths (1-3-5-7-9-11-13, G13). And there are many variations that drop one or more notes in these extended chords. For example, Gadd9 is G-B-D-A (1-3-5-9).
Diatonic chords are useful and pervasive in music. Next month we’ll discuss some interesting non-diatonic variations that will add color and variety to your chord progressions.
ISG Bulletin Board
Lead Sheet preparation by Carlos Colon. A simple lead sheet contains the melody, lyrics and chord symbols. For more information, visit my website at www.cecoriginals.com and click on “Services” at the top of the page. Website design also available. Use your website address in advertising. Newspapers, business cards, fliers, to name a few and let’s not forget the use of email. Send your link to potential clients. For more information, visit a few of my clients sites at http://www.websandresumes.com/clients.htm.
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.
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 email him at isgorl@cfl.rr.com . 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 with the ISG . For more information on display advertising and/or classified advertising for non-members, please call Russ or Matt or email: isgorl@cfl.rr.com .
Why isn't your gig announced here? Call us with your appearance schedule!
Place your classified ad or gig announcement here! Free to ISG members as always! Just get your text to Matt by the print deadline (usually the Friday 16 days prior to the monthly meeting); email is best ( isgorl@cfl.rr.com ).
New members always welcome!
June Top Songs—Results of monthly critique session
No formal critiques in June; check back next month!
© 2006 ISG