October 2006
Guild Tidings
The official publication of
The International Songwriters Guild
Volume 11, No. 10
NEXT MEETING: 5:00pm Sunday, October 1st, 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,
Wow! The holidays are coming. We’re not that far from turkey time. And all ages of us know what that means. THANKSGIVING! But hey, can you think of other holidays and come up with songs that suggests them? Other than Christmas songs, there aren’t that many songs like “My Funny Valentine” and “Easter Parade” that use a holiday name in its title. We never expect to hear these songs at any other time of year.
Having been an entertainer for many years, piano and vocalist, I have really taken advantage of song titles. Now for a challenge: let’s concentrate on writing some holiday music. Let’s think about this and come up with songs appropriate for an ISG album. We could release it to be sold as a celebration, to give or send to your friends in place of a greeting card (or along with one).
Let’s discuss this idea at the next meeting. Who knows? Maybe we can put ourselves in business! To produce or manufacture whatever it takes, we’d need professional recording equipment. I’m willing to sink some money into it. Come on, be a part of it.
For those of you who missed it, we had a terrific meeting in September. The room was full of songwriters. Veit and Janice Renn were very interesting, and we learned a lot.
Hope to see you all this Sunday. Looking forward to it!
Russ
Choosing Chords—Non-Diatonics (Part 2)
By Matt Griffin
How do you pick the right chords for your song? We started answering this question with a discussion of diatonic chords in the July newsletter (which we followed in August with a Dan Jones article on basic music theory). Today, we’ll begin a dialogue on a few useful non-diatonic chords. As before, I’m going to assume some basic understanding of music theory, including key signature and chord types. Note that these articles continue to lean on Jai Josefs’ fine book “Writing Music for Hit Songs.” I highly recommend the book as a detailed guide for songwriters of all levels (beginner to expert) interested in developing or improving their musical composition skills.
As previously, 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. It will be helpful for you to go to your piano or keyboard or guitar and listen to how these musical constructs sound.
A chord is called non-diatonic if one or more of its notes do not fall within the given key. G-minor is non-diatonic to the key of C because its second note (Bb) is not part of C (C D E F G A B). Not all non-diatonic chords will sound good, and in fact if you picked them out randomly, many or most would sound downright dissonant in your chosen key. So we must be more selective.
We mentioned in the first article that the diatonic triad and seventh chords built off of the seventh note in a major key (in our notation, VIIdim and VIIm7b5; in the key of C, Bdim and Bm7b5) are seldom heard in most modern music. But if you flat the root of those chords, you’ll get two non-diatonic chords that are quite common: bVII and bVIImaj7. In C, these chords are Bb (Bb D F) and Bbmaj7 (Bb D F A). Try playing either chord in a progression of diatonic chords. The non-diatonic nature of bVII and bVIImaj7 gives them an exotic sound, but not one that sounds out-of-place in the base key.
Next we’ll discuss a class of chords that Josefs calls “secondary dominants”. A standard seventh chord like G7 is called dominant in function. Dominant chords “need” to resolve to another chord. For example, the G7 (V7 in C) creates a tension that is resolved by the tonic chord of the key (C-major in this case); play it and see. A secondary dominant is a non-diatonic seventh chord that resolves to a chord in your chosen key. For example, D7 (D F# A C) is non-diatonic to C, but resolves to G which is diatonic. Sometimes the resolve-to chord can be minor (though we really haven’t discussed minor keys). Thus B7 (B D# F# A) resolves to Em which is diatonic to C; this works because B7 is the V7 chord of the keys of Em.
What do secondary dominants do for us? Try using one as a sort of change of pace, then follow shortly thereafter with the resolve-to chord to bring the music back to the key. The effect is almost like a very brief, temporary key change. Note that the role of secondary dominant can also be played by a simple triad (B instead of B7) or even a V7sus4 (B7sus4) for additional variation.
Non-diatonics add color and variety to your music. In our third and final discussion of how to find chords, we’ll talk about inversions, extensions, and alterations.
ISG Bulletin Board
Jeff Mason’s gig schedule:
Appearing At O'Keefe's Irish Pub, Fridays & Saturdays from 5pm
115 S. Rockingham Tavares, FL, 352-343-2157
Appearing at Tijuana Flats on the Patio (weather permitting), Thursdays at 6pm
444 S. Hunt Club Blvd , Apopka , FL 407 774 0402
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!
© 2006 ISG