Song Talk with Morry Campbell

United for the Ride

Sometimes I think Terry Christopher has more energy in his little finger than I can muster in my whole body.

Recently, Mr. Christopher (in all of his spare time) put together a CD project, called United for the Ride, which will benefit the 2009 Braking the Cycle bicycle ride from Boston to New York City and the sponsor of said ride, the New York City LGBT Center. He approached all the artists, coordinated the mastering process--hell, he even did some design work on the website.

And in honor of him and his heroic effort, I'm putting out this additional project call. In anticipation of the 2010 edition of the United For the Ride effort, write a song that could be considered for the project.

 It doesn't have to deal directly with HIV or AIDS (though it could), but something "uplifting" or "hopeful" or "I will survive-ish" or...you get the idea.  You'd have to be willing to donate the proceeds of the sale of the song to Braking the Cycle/LGBT Center of New York to be on the CD.

In his own words, here's how Terry describes the songs he's looking for:

I just wanted to reiterate that the message of the songs is so very vital. If you can start with Hope and Perseverance as the main anchoring message to your song, that would be awesome. Love, Sense of Self, Determination etc...are also great, positive, hopeful themes in these songs.

There is no "due date" on these songs for now. I'll keep you posted on that front. However, if you'd like to get an early jump on it, and would like more info, you can get in touch with Terry here.

Staying un-stuck

For reasons beyond my control, my songwriting group is only meeting once this month. And that's tonight. The good part of that is that everyone, including me of course, had extra time to prepare a song following the current guidelines; i.e. write a song in 3/4 time. And I have one. In my estimation a pretty good one. And I also have a rewrite of last month's song, ready for a second round of critiquing. What's a guy to do? Which brings me to the point. Once a month isn't enough.

I've been sitting on these songs, practicing them so I can sing them correctly, and at this point both are almost memorized. I could probably do either of them at a gig without too much trouble. So the question becomes, what am I going to do with the criticism I get from tonight's group? The more set a song becomes, the more difficult it becomes to make changes based on feedback. When we only meet once a month, it's too easy to let things set up.

When we work alone, as many of us do, it's easy to work in a vacuum, writing for ourselves, and to hell with what anyone else thinks of it. And that's fine for making records that we want to keep in the basement. But if we want our music heard and appreciated by anyone other than our mother (hi mom!) it's essential, or at the very least extremely valuable, to get objective, outside feedback from someone, preferably before the song has had a chance to "set up."

So we either have to meet more often, or I have to wrote more than one or two songs a month...time to become an insufferable overachiever?

Waffling back to pirates

So apparently there's convincing evidence, from fairly reliable, objective sources, that say the "music pirates" actually end up buying ten times more music than listeners who don't take part in "file sharing." And in this article, of course, the big labels are all, "Yeah, right." They are mystified as to how to explain their falling revenue without putting blame on the pirates. Yet according to the article, there are at least two reputable sources saying this is the case. So-called pirates may very well also be the biggest music buyers. The Labels, in pursuing the piracy cases, may be going after their best customers.

Is Google a music pirate?

There was a huge victory for copyright owners recently when Swedish "file-sharing" website The Pirate Bay owners were slapped with a year in jail and a $3 million dollar fine. This is probably a good thing, and sends a strong message that illegal downloads are not going to be without consequence.

But now, this is a little bizarre. This article points a finger at Google and says that they're the next big haven for piracy, because users can search for "Wolverine torrent," for example, and be directed to a site where the yet-to-be-released film can be downloaded free (and illegally).

Future shock

We're entering a Brave New World. Soon, everything we do online will be traceable, if it is not already. Privacy is going to be a huge issue. This is not an urban fairy tale or a Sci-fi espionage story, this is happening. Here's two articles that go into a little detail; one from the New York Times summarizing and speculating a little about the future, and one kind of chilling story about Comcast picking up a twitter and acting on it as if they were notified by the customer. 

There might be some good things about this. It looks as if the technology will be available to everyone, and yes, it will allow small businesses (and indie musicians) to do their own market research and demographics. However, is it worth the price? There are real issues of privacy at risk here. It's all very 1984, and I am not sure I'm ready for it. Does that make me sound like a Luddite?

Jammin' with Carene

I play guitar for a beautiful person who goes by the name of Carene Lydia. You will not find a singer with more heart or soul than Carene, nor a more eclectic song list. And she's doing two sets on Saturday, May 2, starting at 11:30PM, at Mood Restaurant in Kew Gardens. If you're in the area, or even if you're not, come out and give her a listen. You will have a good time and hear the widest variety of songs that you have possibly ever heard. Details, and Carene's bio, are below the fold.

iTunes trouble

UPDATE: Podcasts will only be available at iTunes for 60 days after they were posted, but they will always be available on the archive page here at this website. Thanks for your patience. All podcasts are now showing up in the iTunes store...and a few things I wish weren't showing up there are also for now available. Live and learn. Apparently any sound file (or pdf, for some reason) shows up at iTunes as a podcast. So right now, at iTunes, you can get a cheesy 12-bar blues progression I posted for reference when talking about the blues, and a pdf file on pornography consumption rates in "red states."  Enjoy, and in the future, I'll find a way to link to those things that does not involve the creation of another "podcast."

iTunes seems to only keep the most recent of my podcasts available. I'm not sure if that's something I can fix or not. I'm researching the issue now. 

But all of the podcasts will continue to remain available here on Songtalk. Just go to the archive link at the top of the left column. Thanks to you, listeners, Songtalk Podcast is starting to draw attention. I'm grateful for your support.

Songtalk Podcast: Terry Radigan, Part 1

Songtalk Podcast is a production of Perpetrators Undisclosed Music and Songtalk.net. All music clips are the property of the artist, and are used with permission.

I sat down with Terry Radigan in her recording studio in Brooklyn for this edition of Songtalk Podcast. You can listen/download here, or go to iTunes and subscribe by following this link. You can also subscribe to the blog and podcast at the top of the righthand column of this blog.

If you go to terryradigan.com, you will discover that Terry does not yet have a website. However, you will also discover that she has such a loyal fan out there somewhere that he saw that she didn't own her domain name, purchased it, and is holding it in perpetuity for her until such time that she needs it. All I can say is, wow. That's loyalty. 

Simplify and make that chorus soar

I think one way young songwriters (and this includes me) (and this means songwriters new to the craft, not necessarily young in age) get into trouble is that they try to keep the verse going in the chorus. In other words, the chorus follows the same basic patterns as the verse. One way to mix it up a bit is to simply make the notes of your chorus twice as long as the notes in your verse. i.e. if your verse moves in eighth notes, make your chorus move in quarter notes, or even half notes.

You might also want to make the pitches ascend as you move to your chorus, and make the notes of your chorus hang out in a higher tessitura (musical term for "average pitch range"). This in combination with the longer notes can really make your chorus take off.

The chorus should be the distilled message your song is trying to convey. Simplifying it down (by making the notes longer) is one way to get there.

Not every chorus does this. Not all of your choruses have to do it either. But if you find your song is missing something, this might be one way to kick it up a notch.

Great video

Hey, y'all,

I  am veering from the usual songwriting fare to post this video. This is one of the clearest, most concise debunkings of the scare-mongering arguments put forth by the Far Right against Marriage Equality.

And, hell, why not write a song about it?

Inspiration

Just because it's Friday, here's a picture (taken by celebrated photographer Teresa Campbell) of a sunset.  Have a great weekend everyone.

Songwriting in a nutshell

A past songwriting teacher of mine, Tony Coniff, sent me the link to this clip. It's a very basic how-to video on how to write a song. Enjoy.

M

Extend your songwriting brain

Discover Magazine has an interesting article on how Google is making us smarter. You can read the full article if you like (as it is an interesting read), but the gist of the article is that our environment is actually a part of our brain. In summarizing the research of philosophers Andy Clark and David Chalmers, he says:

... the mind is not simply the product of the neurons in our brains, locked away behind a wall of bone. Rather, they argued that the mind is something more: a system made up of the brain plus parts of its environment.

In other words, an iPhone is more than just an iPhone, it actually becomes an extension of the brain, because the brain assigns certain tasks, such as remembering, for example, the address of a museum or a music venue, to the device.

Break

Hey all,

Be back on Monday with fresh Songtalk for you. 'Til then, keep writing.

M

I need a bridge

Presented my new song, Good, last week at my songwriter's event, and got a lot of feedback. I've taken much of that feedback and rewritten the song, and I have a bridge. Well, it has no words, but it has a chord progression and a melody. And now I'm stuck. In the muck. Send a truck. 'Cause I'm out of luck. I don't even know what the bridge is about. Send your creative impulses to:

Morry's Brain
Wherever It's Wandered Off To
Earth
Solar System
Milky Way Galaxy
The Universe  1MT11-476H5--42

Don't forget that zip code.