Back to work

It has been some time since I posted anything here.  Lots of other stuff going on, much of it music-related, hence fair game for “Diary of a Music Man.”

For the last half a year or so, I have been a member of songwriter’s group.  It is not the usual writer’s group (songwriter or otherwise) in that there is no teacher and no lessons.

The premise of the group is “We are the writers at a music publishing company and we are all writing on assignment.”  So, every time we meet, there is a new assignment and it’s usually something along the lines that an artist or his/her manager would be seeking.  Then the group members do the assignment with the goal of creating something of good and marketable quality.

I would like to give special thanks to my friend Jane Bolduc for suggesting me to the group (you can only join by group consent and pretty much everyone in the group was brought in by by someone they knew who was already in the group).

This group (and the two others like them in Southern California) was established by songwriter Marty Martin, a longtime fixture on the L.A. songwriting scene, who passed away prior to my appearance in the group.  I am grateful to him for starting these groups as I see myself and the other writers improving and writing more commercially competitive (and just better) songs in this environment.

At the start of each 14-or-so-week session, each member puts in a check for $100 (made out to no one).  Then we write a song every two weeks, according to a new assignment.  So, at the end we will have five or six new songs.  One of the meetings is set aside to present a rewrite of any of the previous assignments.  At the last meeting of the session, we have a “Song Off,” in which each of the 10 members plays two of the five or six songs they wrote and the top three are chosen.  Sometimes the choosing is done by the group members (you can’t vote for yourself) and sometimes by outside people from various areas of the music industry. Then the checks are divided up into a first, second and third prize (the first being the most money and so on).

This last session, our “judges” were songwriters Kevin Fisher and Warren Sellers, each of whom possesses some pretty admirable songwriting credits.

I am proud to say that I took first prize with my song, “Rails.”

Here's the money shot.

It’s a soothing sort of thrill to be crowned by your peers or even those who are at a higher position but winning at songwriting (or any art) is a subjective exercise–not anything near as objective as having, for instance, the shortest time in the 50-yard dash.

I appreciate Warren’s and Kevin’s talents.  They are without a doubt uber-qualified to select a good song but had someone else been in their place, we’d certainly have had a different set of winners.

Winning is great but in the ever-truthful words of Bachman-Turner Overdrive: “You’re only as good as your last record.”*

Yeah, winning is great.  Recognition is nice.  Money is always good.  But none of that is IT.  IT is continuing to work, to write better, more meaningful and more accessible songs–giving people what they want to hear and/or need to hear.

I’ve got lots of new stuff you ain’t heard yet (yeah, that’s right: ain’t).  Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading,

Steve

*Lyric from the “Rock is My Life and This is My Song,” written by Randy Bachman, from the album Not Fragile, released in 1974.

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