I skipped the 3:30 session and began the trip home. It was about midnight when I finally arrived and I didn't waste much time hitting the sack.
In all, I enjoyed my time in Nashville and learned a lot. Looking forward to the next time.
JohnRowlandSongs |
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Starting at 9:00, the first three class sessions were all at Warner Records with Pat Pattison. Pat is on the faculty at Berklee College of Music and is very, very entertaining and instructive. We had a look at the power of lyrics (when properly done) as well has how to build a storyline from a title and how to marry lyrics to a melody (prosody). He is a master lyricist with tons of experience.
I skipped the 3:30 session and began the trip home. It was about midnight when I finally arrived and I didn't waste much time hitting the sack. In all, I enjoyed my time in Nashville and learned a lot. Looking forward to the next time.
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I had a very busy day with late start (since I had nothing in my 9:00 am slot). After breakfast, I went on over to NSAI to print some lyrics for a 1-on-1 with Brent Baxter. While there, I met John Braheny who was preparing to teach a session on songwriting for the film industry.
Next up at 11:00 was a class with Rick Beresf0rd on Powerful Melody and Chords, after which I hustled back to NSAI for my 1:00 1-on-1 with Brent Braxter. This was a very enjoyable opportunity with a talented young writer and he had some great advice for some of my current projects. Sandwiched between the 1-on-1 and my 3:30 class was a vocal coaching session with Shelby over at Brett Manning Studios. Again, a very productive time helping me get my head around things to work on for improving my singing. The last class at 3:30 was with Susan Anders, which again focused on singing. Her classtime dealt largely with techniques common to country music vocals and it was great to help me start to get some help in this area. Back at the hotel, I went down again for a Songwriter Night at the Commodore and heard some very outstanding singer/songwriters. Lance Carpenter shared one round and the most entertaining time of the evening was a round with Harley Lameraux and friends. All very enjoyable. Had a long drive up from Louisiana today and arrived Nashville just after 4 pm. I took the Church Street exit from I-40 to wind up at Music Row. It took a few drive-stop-mapcheck cycles to find my way (the streets in the Music Row area run at angles and have weird angular intersections -- whew!) such that I ended up at NSAI around 4:30.
Whitnei Jeffcoat showed me around the main area of NSAI and talked to me and -- thank you, Lord -- set me up a one-on-one with Brent Baxter at 1:00 tomorrow. I had tried to contact Brent on my own, but was unsuccessful. This is more than I could ask or think! I left NSAI and got checked into the Holiday Inn which is right across the parking lot from the Vanderbilt stadium. I went downstairs for dinner in the Commodore just as their songwriter rounds were starting. I heard about 18-20 fine singer/songwriters doing their songs in the approximately 2.5 hours I spent there. I was starting to fade, so I came up instead of staying for more (there was still a couple of hours worth of writers left to go). It's been a good learning experience so far and I look forward to more tomorrow. Oh, by the way, one of the later performers was a young guy from Sheridan AR (I drove through there on the way today). Also, one of the writers mentioned that Lance Carpenter was the co-writer of one of his tunes. A shout out to Lance! I will get to the title of my post in a minute. First...
- Follow-up to my fishing adventure. After the first evening and next morning in Poudre, I didn't have a single bite (!) until the last morning when we fished our way out of the canyon. There was a man fishing at one of our holes along the way who was just leaving and had caught a number of very nice browns. This kind stranger gave Sid and I each a lure that he was having success with and we proceeded to land about a half-dozen each of very, very nice browns. That was a pleasant ending to this year's fishing excursion. - I have to make another comment about the LefsetzLetter. I have really appreciated his observations about changes in the music industry. If you are interested, Google it and sign up. Very interesting reads. - I will be working Monday and Tuesday this week then driving to Nashville for the annual Songposium event. I signed up for 5 classes that fall on Thursday and Friday -- three of them with songwriter Pat Pattison from Berklee College of Music. Looking forward to that. I will be staying upstairs from the Commodore, so Wednesday and Thursday evenings I will get to listen in on a number of songwriter performances. I will also get an hour at Brett Manning Studios to get some vocal coaching. An action packed three days. - On that note, the post title, like I promised. I am standing up a new site called SongsAboutUs (thank you, Trace Adkins) that will deal with how a believer in Jesus can interface with the arts world -- with a specific focus on music. It is barely in its infancy but I hope to be providing some good content and things to think about. Oh, yes, the post title. A few years ago I wrote a ballad called "Stranger on Mars Hill" which was a retelling of the apostle Paul's visit to Athens found in Acts 17. You could say that SongsAboutUs is a re-visit to the same idea. Even though God is a staple in country music, sometimes I wonder if it is not like Athens, where the "Unknown God" is where Paul had to start with telling God's story anew. Hi. Writing from Colorado tonight. Trout fishing has been a little unproductive so far. My brother, Sid, and myself fished for a couple of hours after arriving here yesterday afternoon. We each caught one. Today Sid caught two and I caught one. Hopefully the rest of the week will be a little better.
Songwriters are understandably concerned about getting paid for their craft when their work is used by artists in various forms of media. Digital media -- the legitimate kinds like Amazon and iTunes or illegitimate kinds like the former Napster and other file-sharing sites -- have caused a sea change in the music industry that has resulted in a tremendous loss of staff songwriting jobs, closing of publisher offices, etc. A recent posting on the LefsitzLetter focuses on the changing nature of the music business. I found this quite interesting: "The major labels and in most cases the big promoters are built for a business that doesn't exist anymore. It's falling of its own weight. A new business is being born, of small acts that may never achieve world domination, but satiate hard core fans and then die. Or live. Depending on the perseverance and tenacity of the players. They're performing for the love of it. They see their fans as equals. And the fans don't look like reality TV stars, but regular people. In other words, music is leading the way once again. In an era when movies are unwatchable bloated behemoths made for worldwide consumption by people who in many cases don't even speak English, when big time TV is all about the lowest common denominator, reality shows featuring nitwits who will do anything for money, music is about emotion, expression, unfiltered, from the performer directly to the fan. Anybody who says the Internet revolution killed music is invested in the old ways. There's a vibrant scene. Being built by people who those in power won't give a chance. There's a burgeoning audience. It may be incomprehensible to oldsters, but the youngsters understand." This really explains the Taylor Swift phenomenon. Her career is built on going directly to her audience. She has done this masterfully. She is far ahead of the curve. Other artists have picked up on it, like Lady Antebellum. They understand the mindset of social networking and are going with the wave rather than resisting it. I had an enjoyable drive up to Little Rock. Had a few song ideas which I jotted down and lots of think and pray time.
I just checked into the hotel here in Little Rock. Joe will meet me here with Nichole and Kali in a little while so we can go out and enjoy dinner together (on Dad, of course!) When I checked in an went to the room, I was reminded of the many, many times Cindy and I stayed here when she had early morning scans and chemo. The hotel is comfortable, convenient and close to those things. Alas, this is the first time staying here since Cindy passed and it is a strange "feeling" to be here by myself. Tomorrow I will get up early drive over to Little Rock National to catch my Denver flight. Hope to have an enjoyable evening with Joe, Nichole and Kali but a bittersweet night after they are gone. Tomorrow I head to Little Rock for a flight to Denver and trip to the Cache la Poudre canyon west of Fort Collins, Colorado. My brother Sid and I will spend a few days together trout fishing.
We did the same last year at this time. After Cindy's funeral just before the 4th of July followed by a business trip to Houston and a hot summer, it was a very refreshing getaway. I'm happy to be doing it again this year. It is beautiful country and invigorating to be out in the mountain streams. I didn't reach the bar on the Christmas in July pitch CD for NSAI, but I still believe in the song (Tonight and Forever) and am thankful to have been recommended by one of the evaluators. Another time. In the meantime I keep writing. |
AuthorI'm John Rowland, a country songwriter, working man and father from East Texas. Archives
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