| 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.) Meetings are held the first Sunday of each month at 5:00 P.M. The location is 3020 E Robinson St., Orlando, Florida. (The American Federation of Musicians Union Building) |
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