On Monday night, we visited the Rock Hill gathering of the Nashville Songwriter's Group for the first time. We know several of the members, and have been looking forward to attending one of their meetings for quite a while. This was their first meeting since they took their summer break. It seems that everyone is so busy with family and playing music that this group doesn't usually get together during the summer months.
Tim Jones and Butch Oneppo are the coordinators for this group, and they do a great job. We enjoyed hearing all of the songs that were presented that night even though we didn't get to perform one. I'm still coughing, so that means no singing right now. Most of the writers and coordinators from this group live in York or Rock Hill, SC, and do most of their shows in that area. There are a few exceptions, and several of these guys come up to the Charlotte NSAI meetings as well.
The meeting was centered around the "rules" for writing commercial music. Most commercial songs are around 3-3 1/2 minutes long, and basically follow the intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, ending format. As a writer, you can write in any format that you chose. However, if you are trying to get your music on radio, the above format is the most common one that you will hear in commercial music. You should be into the chorus before the 40 second mark if possible, and musical introductions to the song are kept very short. Universal themes are always more marketable than the abstract, and in country music, imagery is king. This is why you hear so much of the "we had hot dogs and pork and beans on a sultry hot summer night. Sitting on your daddy's old whitewashed porch, we watched the stars go by " kind of thing in country music. They want you to paint the picture for them. In rock and pop music, it's a little different. You tend to see songs with a lot more emotion and a lot less imagery. After a while, a writer will be able to look back on their catalog of songs and see what type of writer that they are. And, some writers have the skill to be able to write across many different genres.
We are planning on hanging out with this group 3 or 4 times a year if we can. They were so nice to give us our first opportunity to play in a festival. This group is the one that organized the musical line up for Lilyfest. We really enjoyed getting to spend some time down in SC at Woody's studio with such a great bunch of writers. We'll be back soon!
Comments