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| September 2001 Guild Tidings The official Publication of The International Songwriters Guild Volume 6, No. 9 NEXT MEETING: 5:00 P.M.Sunday September 2nd 2001 The International Songwriter's Guild meets the first Sunday of every month at the Central Florida Musician's Union building at 3020 East Robinson (at the extreme east end of Robinson less than a block from Herndon Airport). Songwriters, composers, performers, publishers, and the curious are encouraged to join us. Non-members are invited to attend a meeting or two to get a feel for our group and what we do. Officers: President/Treasurer Russ Robinson (407) 851-5328 Co-Vice President/ Member Reception Matthew Griffin (407) 903-1212 Secretary Evelyn Nelson (863) 644-8699 Web Consultant Asli Walker (407) 359-0506 Welcome Prospective Members By Russ Robinson It is with great pride we welcome new writers (established or beginners) into our Guild. The group is 25 years old and, as the founder and President, it has always been a pleasure to meet new and prospective songwriters. Everyone is welcomed. Our purpose is to help you with your writing craft and generate your ideas and talents. Over the years I've seen many of our members fulfill their writing desires. Our Guild is the stepping stone for those desires. We are always happy to hear your opinions and original works. This is the place to develop your talents and meet others with similar interests and goals. President�s Letter Dear Members, With thoughts of the next meeting coming up, I plan a little session of ideas. I hope those of you I'm thinking about will not be negatively affected by my ideas. Take it for what it is, I'm only giving an opinion and hopefully a lesson. I find during our critiques that some of you seemingly aren't writing in acceptable structure. I have separate page charts (to be given out Sunday) that might help you select the structure you need to follow. Too, I've noticed some of you seem to be writing in minor signatures. Are you aware that very few songs are written in minor keys? I can think of only two popular songs that are written in minor ("Autumn Leaves" and "September Song"). If you listen to the lyrics, you'll find that they are both sad songs. I remember a songwriting course I had at Columbia University, where our teacher said "only write sad songs in minor keys." He gave "The Funeral March" as an example. Now don't be confused; I put minor harmony chords in many songs I play or write, but these are fill chords. The song itself is written in a major key. I'll explain this better at the meeting. I am delighted with some of our new members. Last month 3 music professionals joined. Those of you who are beginners, take note and learn from the pros. We all learn from each other; I think I learn something new every month. That's what's great about our Guild! See you all Sunday, Russ Robinson Protecting Your Songs, Part 2 by Matt Griffin In July we discussed protecting your songs in a general way. This month we'll talk about a more formal means of protection: copyright registration. Every song is considered legally copyrighted as soon as it is written down or recorded. You can and should put the copyright symbol (� or (c)), the year, and your name on every lyric sheet and tape/CD you make; it's your legal right and privilege. Although this helps establish you as the author, it's not all that useful if you must sometime prove that you wrote the song. At some point you should consider registering a copyright for your original songs. This is the quintessential songwriter's badge of ownership, and it's easy to get. Forms can be obtained by writing the U.S. Copyright Office. If you write a letter requesting "Form PA with instructions", they'll even send you a free packet with several forms and an instructional pamphlet. The address is: Library of Congress, Copyright Office, 101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20559-6000. You can also download forms or request the info packet from their impressive website (www.loc.gov/copyright). Use Form PA (Performing Arts) to copyright a "song" lyric, music, or both; you'll need to submit some kind of recording of the song-even a simple, rough tape recording will do-and a check for their processing fee, currently $30. If you also submit the Continuation form with Form PA, you can copyright up to 20 songs at a time as a "collection" for the one $30 fee. I like to send in a single copyright registration each November or so with all of the songs I've written that year, under a unique identifiable title (such as "Matt Griffin Collection 4"). Also, there are other forms available for related copyrights. For example, you can submit Form SR (Sound Recording) to copyright a sound recording, which is not the song but the recording itself. The website has all of the forms and more information than any sane human is likely to want. It takes about 4 months to get back your official copyright registration. I suggest you send the packet Registered/Return Receipt Requested; a small receipt will be sent to you within a couple of weeks verifying that the copyright office received your mailing. This gives you a way to prove you've submitted a copyright registration request (though it doesn't tie the request to an individual song or songs), and it confirms that our beloved postal workers didn't lose your mailing when they opened fire on the most recent customer to ask for Christmas stamps in July. The bottom line is that you need to get your songs heard, which means you have to play them for strangers. Take reasonable precautions and then go for it! Welcome new members Rose Marston, Kathleen Kane, and Bob Luft. ISG Bulletin Board Paul Vernon appears Fridays and Saturdays on the patio at Jungle Jim's in Lake Buena Vista (in the Cross Roads Shopping Center) from 6:30 to 10:30 PM. Asli Walker will be playing at Tabu for the ASCAP "Quiet on the Set" Songwriters event on Thursday August 20th. The show starts at 7:00pm, and admission is free. Web Chatter [email protected] Central Florida Folk will be sponsoring a show at Leu Gardens on Sunday September 30th at 3:00 pm. The featured performer will be Sam Pacetti, who is a guitar phenomenon, as well as being a great singer/songwriter. He is from St Augustine, and studied with Gamble Rogers. Leu gardens Address is 1920 N. Forest Avenue, and suggested donation is $5 (Kids under 12 free) In October, the featured performers are Grant Livingston and James Hawkins. See the website for details of the rest of the shows for the year. http://members.aol.com/OTownFOFF/LeuGardens.html SusieCool and Asli Walker will be performing at Barney's at Cafe Venezia on Sand Lake Road, Friday September 14th from 7:00 to 10:00pm. SusieCool will be hosting an Open Mic at Lost and Found in Longwood on Wednesday September 19th at 8:00pm. Admission and one free drink if your birthday is in September. She has been nominated for "Best Female Solo Artist" by the People's Music Awards. There is online voting at http://www.Where2Groove.com Lisa Firestone, Stephen Currence, Serina Jung, and the SSA crew will be playing at a Music festival in Deland on Saturday September 29th. There will be over 60 performers and 8 stages. Details can be found on the SSA website http://www.ssa.cc �DUES CLUES� We are trying to keep better track of dues payments. You will notice that your mailing label has a date in the top right hand corner. This represents the date that we have a record of your last payment. As Russ has mentioned, this needs to be updated, so if you see ?? Or an incorrect date on your label, please let us know so we can correct it, and if the Date is more than a year old, then our �Dues Clues� will tell you it�s time to send that check to Russ again!!! (If you see �Guest� written there, it means that this is one of a few complimentary issues we are sending you since your visit with us. This will give you an opportunity to see what we are all about, and decide whether you want to join our Guild.) August TOP FIVE WINNERS Of last month�s Evaluation Session (Members only) (1) Accident of Birth Michael MacMillan (2) Ctrl Alt Delete Me Bill Frank (3) tie Fifteen Little Words Kym Brunson (3) tie Holiday Jeff Mason (5) Kingston Bay Barbara Kaelin and Susan Foster-Trewick � 2001 ISG |