Guiding Artists Along the Path from Creation to Realization to Proliferation

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1 July-August 2013 Vol. XXXIV Number 7 Issue # 395 Combining Arts, Education, and Community Outreach : 34 Years of Combining Arts, Education, and Community Outreach PERFORMANCE EVENT IN JULY! Saturday July 13th. 1-6pm CSA is invited for a performance and networking event: The 10th Annual House Party and Jam in Wethersfield. Great sound stage, and a full sound system and backline is provided. Great food, fun, and the company of other creative folks. Come share your songs and let other musicians find parts in your songs that you never knew existed or bring your lead sheets so that others can play along with you. Hosted by John Pytel and Gary Gidman. More at: ======================== COMING SEPT 8: CT Folk Festival COMING SEPT Virtual Songwriter Showcase COMING OCTOBER IMC CONFERENCE COMING IN THE FALL: CSA Midi Workshop and PRO Workshop Success comes from opportunity. Opportunity comes from involvement. Get involved CRITIQUE SESSIONS Following regular CSA programs, as time permits, there will be a critique session. To participate in the critique session, members may bring a song on CD (or do it live), with 15 copies of typed lyric sheets, and receive constructive feedback. Critique sessions are a good forum for works in progress or rough demos. For best feedback, note on your lyric sheets the intended genre and audience for your song, and what your goals are (i.e. picked up by a commercial artist, self-produce, etc.). The programs at most CSA monthly meetings, except for special workshops, are free to members, $10 to non-members, applicable toward membership if you join within 30 days. Members are encouraged to bring a friend who might be interested in what CSA offers.. EVENT CALENDAR (for complete listing see July 13 CSA is invited to the 10th Annual House Party Performance and Schmoozing event. August -- CSA takes a break for the summer Sept Virtual Online Singer Songwriter Conference Sept 8 CT Folk Festival & Songwriting Contest Finals (CSA judges) Sept 11 CSA Meeting, Glastonbury Fall IMC Conference Nov - Meeting at Wesleyan Univ. Dec 4 CSA Meeting, Glastonbury Dec 7 The 17th Annual LUNCH Holiday Show CSA 2014 SONGWRITING RETREAT Go to the Front of the List! It was an amazing weekend, again eliciting descriptions of "Life-Changing" and "Inspiring". If you missed out this year and would like to get first shot at the slots for April 2014, let us know NOW, and you'll go to the front of the list. (info@ctsongs.com) FULL INFO AT Guiding Artists Along the Path from Creation to Realization to Proliferation

2 WHAT: 10th Annual House Party and Jam WHERE: 809 MAPLE ST. (RT. 3) WETHERSFIELD, CT WHEN: Saturday JULY 13, 2013 FROM 1 P.M.- 6 or 7 P.M. For additional info: Call Gary at PLEASE NOTE: If you have any used printer ink cartridges, please bring them with you to any CSA meeting. CSA can recycle them and receive a donation. GET A NICE TAX DEDUCTION FOR YOUR OLD STUFF! If you have any old music or office equipment lying around or just old "stuff" that you don't need, consider donating it to CSA and you'll get a generous tax deduction! CSA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and all items donated to us can be deducted at their maximum fair market value. We have helped many folks get nice deductions for their old items, which certainly can be useful to us either in our regular CSA programs or our community outreach programs through LUNCH. We can use any office equipment and supplies, computers and electronics, any type of music and studio equipment, and any type of item that could be used for auction or raffle. We'll provide a tax receipt that will give you the best possible tax-deduction. If you have anything that you might like to donate, contact Bill Pere at bill@billpere.com. THANKS! SPETEMBER 21-22: Present your songs to a national audience of industry folks and other artists without leaving your home at the first ever virtual online singer-songwriter showcase. LEARN MORE HERE at Sign up through this link and CSA gets a donation. October 19-23, Hollywood, CA, The 2013 Independent Music Conference. Since 2003, IMC has been a premiere learning and networking event for Independent artists. CSA is proud to be a sponsor of IMC for 14 years! Visit IMC on Facebook: IMC WEBSITE:

3 CSA IS INVITED TO The 10th Annual House Party and Jam! Hosted by John Pytel and Gary Gidman Saturday July 13, 2013 WHO: EVERYONE WHO LOVES TO LISTEN TO OR PLAY ALL GENRES OF MUSIC! WHAT: OPEN MIC FORMAT FOR MUSIC FAMILY STYLE DIG S FOR EATING Hamburgers Hot Dogs Condiments Watermelon Soda/Water Tented Stage - Complete Sound System - Stage piano 5 piece trap set w/ some percussion instruments Bass amp w/ Electric bass guitar Acoustic or Electric guitars to borrow. Feel free to bring an instrument or just hum along! Talent has been incredible over the years. Come enjoy and bring a friend! Network and make new contacts! Questions? Call Gary at WHERE: 809 MAPLE ST. (RT. 3) WETHERSFIELD, CT WHEN: Saturday JULY 13, 2013 FROM 1 P.M.- 6 or 7 P.M. - WE SETUP AROUND 10 A.M. Help us setup please! We're getting way too old to be lifting things. WHAT CAN YOU BRING: SIDE DISH, SALAD OR DESSERT? DEFINITELY YOUR OWN FOLDING CHAIR(S) WHY: This started long ago as a tribute to Gary's Dad after his untimely death. For all Singer/Songwriters, that always wanted to play in or with a band, this is your venue. A great way to spend an easy afternoon enjoying music, good company, and showcasing your talent in one of the best venues an artist can have!

4 REGISTER NOW! 2014 SONGWRITING RETREAT

5 CSA Happenings Bill and Kay were representing CSA as mentors at the NERFA Conference at University of Rhode Island ======= CSA helped do the first line of judging for the CT Folk Festival Songwriting Competition, selecting 5 finalists to perform at the Festival in Edgerton Park on Sept 8 in New Haven. ========= NEW CSA COMPILATION CDs WILL BE COMING SOON Have you submitted your songs yet?

6 THE UN-COMFORT ZONE with Robert Wilson Robert Evans Wilson, Jr. is an author, humorist, and coach. He works with people who want to achieve more without sacrificing life balance. Contact Robert at Change Please Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. These are the words of the woman who became the poster child for overcoming adversity. A woman who was isolated into the two dimensional world of touch and smell at the age of 19 months. Yet, she went on to inspire millions around the world. Sightless and deaf, Helen Keller resolved to make something of her life. She lived with a keen understanding that change is inevitable, but growth is intentional. Unwilling to give in to her blindness, she chose to strive for a normal life. Motivation is all about motion or movement. In other words, if you are comfortable, if you are happy and content, then you DO NOT move. You do not change. Why would you? On the other hand, if you are uncomfortable, if you re unhappy, then you want to change. You want to move back toward your comfort zone. There are millions of motivators in the world and all of us at any one time is being motivated by a dozen or more: Hunger, Safety, Sex, Love, Enlightenment to name just a few. Interestingly, you can take all those motivators and boil them down to a variation of two basic emotions: Fear and Desire. You are either moving toward something you desire; or you are moving away from something you fear. Fear, however, can become paralyzing and will keep us in one un-comfort zone because we fear the perceived discomfort that comes with change. We fear that change could open a Pandora s Box of more and scarier changes. I ve seen it in relationships and in business. I know a married couple who over the years have drifted apart and their marriage has become stagnant. I know they both desire greater intimacy with the other, but they both fear rejection and so they do nothing. I know a small business owner who watched his business shrink in the recent recession. His self-esteem is closely tied to his success and his falling income triggered fears of inadequacy. Frozen by fear into doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, he has not adapted to the changes going on in his market. Helen Keller once again has wise words for such situations, When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. When couples try new things together they actually stimulate the receptors in their brains that invoke the feelings of romance. Taking a class or starting a new hobby together is a great way for couples to renew their feelings for each other and discover a greater depth of intimacy. For small business owners, a recession is a great time to try out a new idea or innovation. It attracts renewed interest in the business and can even create new customers and open new markets. The trick is getting comfortable with change a little at a time. Start engaging in simple changes at home. Low risk changes will generate immediate rewards. Here are a few you can make that will help you get into a habit of adapting to change: If you drink coffee every day, switch to tea for a week. If you always listen to rock music on the radio, switch to country, jazz, or classical for a week. Rearrange one piece of furniture in your house. Read a section of the newspaper that you ve never read before. Take a continuing education class in a subject not related to your career. Join a hobby group on MeetUp.com. Taste an exotic food that you ve never tried before, (as an alternative revisit a food you think you hate). Robert Evans Wilson, Jr. is a motivational speaker and humorist. He works with companies that want to be more competitive and with people who want to think like innovators. For more information on Robert's programs please visit

7 The concepts discussed in this article are a part of the comprehensive analysis of songwriting presented in the complete book "Songcrafters' Coloring Book: The Essential Guide to Effective and Successful Songwriting", by Bill Pere. For additional information or to order a copy, visit (More on this topic in the complete Songcrafters' Coloring Book) (Lots of additional information on this topic in the complete "Songcrafters' Coloring Book", Chapter 22) Rhyming is More than Just Per-Verse by Bill Pere What do the following songs have in common (besides being hits...)? Mrs Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter (Herman's Hermits), Day Tripper (The Beatles), WOLD (Harry Chapin), At the End of the Day (Kretzmer, from Les Miserables), The Yard Went on Forever (Jim Webb/Richard Harris), Something About You (Level 42), Magic (Olivia Newton-John) Answer: They all have memorable cross-verse rhyme. Tight song construction is like building a house--you need to provide reinforcement in each of the three dimensions -- height, width, and depth, to achieve something solid and long lasting. In a song, we usually think of rhymes as being points at the ends of lines that help us remember and anticipate lyrics. These rhyme points can be arranged in various patterns which we call a rhyme scheme, and the general guideline is to keep a consistent pattern from verse to verse. Mary Had a Little lamb... (a) A little toast, little jam...(a) Ice cream soda topped with fizz...(b) Oh how sick our Mary is (b) This rhyme scheme is aabb. Subsequent verses which maintain that pattern will be easier for a listener to process, allowing the lyrical content to have greater impact. The chorus can (and perhaps should) have a different pattern to help give it distinct identity. Rhyme is not limited to the ends of lines. Another common type of rhyme is one which is internal to a line, for example: It's a slow motion night in the hot city light Past time when the good folks are snoring in bed On a loose jointed cruise to recolor your blues With illegal notions alive, alive in your head... (a-a)... (b)... (c-c)... (b) In addition to the end-line rhymes, there is also a horizontal pull in lines 1 and 3 from the night/light and cruise/blues combinations which give the lyrics additional structural integrity. The pattern is consistently maintained through the many verses of the song. Of course, very intricate patterns can be constructed from these two techniques, and as long as they're consistent from verse to verse, the lyric is structurally tight. Do you hear it there in the children's laughter... (a-b) Their kites dance in the air and avoid the wire rafter, so free... (a - b - c ) The old man hears the sound, today he's kind of smilin'... (d - e)

8 The squirrels gather 'round and watch his shadow sway silen t-ly...(d - e - c ) Like the twisting of an old cypress tree...(c) Or this example: The alarm clock says it's dawn...(a) I creak up out of bed and put my work boots on,...(a) For another day of working in that same old place...(b) I slip out but she doesn't hear,...(c) She's not heard for eighteen years,...(c) And the only thing that's different from yester day...(d) Is another touch of gray and wrinkle on my face...(d - b) But this covers only two dimensions -- within a line and from line to line. How about the third dimension -- across verses? This is a less used technique, mostly because it's difficult and it imposes more restrictions on the structure of each verse. But when it can be used, it certainly makes for memorable lines. Quite simply, this is a rhyme scheme where a word in a line of one verse rhymes with the corresponding word in the corresponding line of the next verse. Mrs Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter (Herman's Hermits) (verse 1, line 1): Mrs. Brown you've got a lovely daughter... (verse 2, line 1): She wants to return those things I bought her Day Tripper (The Beatles) (verse 2, line 1): She's a big teaser, she took me half the way there (verse 3, line 1): Tried to please her, she only did one night stands... WOLD (Harry Chapin) (intro, line 1 ): (outro, line 1 ): Hello, honey, it's me... Okay, honey, I see... At the End of the Day (from Les Miserables) (verse 1, line 1) : At the end of the day you're another day older... (verse 2, line 1): At the end of the day you're another day colder... The Yard Went on Forever (Jimmy Webb) (verse 1, line 1) : There were houses, there were hoses, there were sprinklers on the lawn... (verse 2, line 1): There were blouses with print roses, checkered shirts and white levis... Providing consistent rhyme schemes in three dimensions is certainly a great way to make your lyrics tight and memorable, but remember a golden rule of good songwriting -- never use a word just for the sake of making a rhyme or maintaining a pattern. First and foremost is that it must be the right word to convey your meaning. If you can also make it rhyme in three dimensions, so much the better, but don't start out by making that your goal. Often times, three dimensional rhymes come about as you're crafting and re-writing and you find that a particular word just happens to fit naturally. Then, having established a pattern, you can try to craft -- but not force-- the rest of the lines to maintain the pattern. If successful, your rhymes will have crossed the line and be totally per-verse. ================================================================= Grammy-Winning songwriter Bill Pere was named one of the "Top 50 Innovators, Groundbreakers and Guiding Lights of the Music Industry" by Music Connection Magazine. With more than 30 years in the music business working with top industry pros as a songwriter, performer, recording artist and educator, Bill is well known for his superbly crafted lyrics, with lasting impact. Bill has released 16 CDs, and is President of the Connecticut Songwriters Association. He is an Official Connecticut State Troubadour, and is the Founder and Executive Director of the LUNCH Ensemble ( Twice named Connecticut Songwriter of the Year, Bill is a qualified MBTI practitioner, trained by the Association for Psychological Type. He is a member of CMEA and MENC, and as Director of the Connecticut Songwriting Academy, he helps develop young talent in songwriting, performing, and learning about the music business. Bill's song analyses and critiques are among the best in the industry. Bill has a graduate degree in Molecular Biology, an ARC Science teaching certification, and he has received two awards for Outstanding contribution to Music Education. Copyright 2013 Bill Pere. All Rights Reserved. This article may not be reposted without permission of the author. Reproduction for educational purposes is permitted with proper attribution. For workshops, consultation, critiques, or other songwriter services, contact Bill via his web sites, at and ===================================================

9 SONG CRITIQUES Members may bring a song or lyric on CD (or do it live) to the monthly meeting for critiquing by fellow members. Please bring 20 copies of typed lyric sheet. Out-of-State members may have their songs or lyrics critiqued by sending one submission with 20 typed copies of lyrics to: CSA, PO Box 511, Mystic CT Include an address or a double stamped return envelope. Please note that since critiquing is designed to give constructive feedback and suggestions for improvement, songs which are meant only to be shared for self expression (as opposed to critiqued for improvement) should not be submitted. These can be presented in songsharing opportunities. Questions about CSA Programs? Need To check your Membership status? Have a news item to submit? Want to volunteer for a project? Seeking a collaborator? Change of Address? It's easy to contact CSA. General Info: info@ctsongs.com Change of Address, Newsletter, Membership, Special Projects: CSA membership PO Box 511 Mystic CT info@ctsongwriters.com COLLABORATION OPPORTUNITIES AND NETWORKING : CSA provides opportunities to meet collaborators and providers of various music services. Make sure you're listed on our web site. SONG SCREENING : CSA helps its members get well-crafted songs targeted to their best potential market. Songs may be screened at meetings or by mail. Selected songs are eligible for inclusion on CSA compilation albums which are often given to industry pros. Songs submitted for screening must have been presented at a prior critique session. (exceptions on a case-by-case basis) PARTICIPATION IN CSA MARKETING OUTLETS AND DISTRIBUTION : Recordings by CSA members may be made available to retail outlets, radio stations, or Internet Distribution channels. COMMUNITY OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES: The LUNCH Program offers opportunities to be involved in the production and performance of benefit shows to address hunger and poverty. For details, contact info@ctsongwriting.com CSA on the Web: www. ctsongs.com CSA REGISTRATION FORM FOR NEW MEMBERS NAME ADDRESS: E_MAIL (required for newsletter) TODAY'S DATE: BIRTH DATE PHONE: ( ) OCCUPATION: CHECK WHERE APPROPRIATE Songwriter Lyricist Vocalist Composer Musician Patron Other: Membership Categories (outside the U.S., please add $10 to all categories) (All memberships include free electronic Newsletter Subscription. For a paper copy by mail, add $10 per year) 1 year New Membership $45 2 year New Membership $80 (save $10) 3 year New Membership $109 (save $26) Full Time Student (under 19) $40/yr Senior Citizen (60+) $40/yr Lifetime $400 one time total e-newsletter Subscription only ($25/yr. 12 issues) Members receive a free 1 year subscription to the monthly newsletter Connecticut Songsmith, free or discounted admission to monthly meetings and critique sessions, participation in the Song Share Sessions, Song Screening Services, eligibility for inclusion on Compilation CDs, free classified ads, and discounts on goods and services. Enclosed is my check or money order to CSA for $ Mail to: Go to: CSA Membership OR and PO Box 511 you may join online using Mystic CT PayPal info@ctsongs.com An investment in CSA is an investment in yourself! An Educational, Non-Profit Organization Dedicated to Improving the Art and Craft of Original Music since 1979