NSAI Charlotte (NC) » Agenda

September 13, 2011 – Agenda

rebechel3 — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:39:48 +0000

Thanks to everyone for coming out at last night’s meeting. Below are the materials used in the presentations. Please post your comments about the meeting on our website…what you found most beneficial that will help you in song writing, and your general impressions of the evening.

Thanks to Raul, Cate and John, Steve, Bill and Scott for sharing your songs during the critique session….and remember…

…It All Begins With a Song!….

Kevin Kronk – Creativity and his process
NSAIhandoutKevin
Becky Helms – Unnecessary Words and Being Concise
NSAISeptemberMtgWebsite

September Meeting: Skype with George Teren!

zero360 — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 02:45:43 +0000

OK, so you can’t miss this months meeting tomorrow night because we have George Teran! He wrote “I’m a Real Good Man” for Tim McGraw. (Fiona’s favorite McGraw song ever!) George will be visiting us through Skype, talking about writing for the celebrities, and taking questions from our group. Here is some more scoop on this songwriter icon.

George is an NSAI Vice President, serves on the Membership Committee and also participates as an Adopt-a-Shop mentor. He serves on the Legislative Committee and has lobbied with NSAI in Washington, D.C. George’s songwriting credits include Chuck Wicks’ “Stealing Cinderella,” the Brad Paisley-Dolly Parton duet “When I Get Where I’m Going,” which was named one of NSAI’s “Ten Songs I Wish I’d Written” for 2006. George is also the writer of Gretchen Wilson’s “Homewrecker,” Trace Adkins’ “Ladies Love Country Boys,” Tim McGraw’s “Real Good Man,” the Tracy Byrd-Mark Chesnutt duet “A Good Way To Get On My Bad Side,” Gary Allan’s “Man Of Me,” Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Busy Man,” Rick Trevino’s “Running Out Of Reasons To Run,” Kevin Sharp’s “She’s Sure Taking It Well” and Billy Dean’s “I’m Not Built That Way.” George also has written, produced and sung radio and TV themes for the NBA, College Football and the Winter Olympics.

Bring a song for critique and register for our fast-approaching workshop in October! See you tomorrow night (September 14) at 7:00 PM at The Well in Pineville!

Fiona, Carl and Angelo

July Meeting Tomorrow Night!

zero360 — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:41:27 +0000

Just a reminder that we have our July meeting tomorrow night (see Meetings page for details).

This month’s main topic is a digest of Odie Blackmon’s recent webcast topic “What the Artist Needs Out of Your Song.” While not all of us endeavor to be commercial writers, Odie brings to light several great perspectives many writers might find useful additions to the toolkit.”

We will also be evaluating the latest #1 Hit “Water” by Brad Paisley. Great and fun song! Come and dissect it with us to identify how to construct your own summertime hit!

Bring your latest song project to share… it doesn’t have to be finished.

Looking forward to some learning, some friendship, some fellowship, and some good music!

February Meeting – Featuring Thom Shepherd!

zero360 — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:58:35 +0000

Members and non-members are invited to come to our Charlotte NSAI meeting this Tuesday night with multiple #1 Nashville songwriter Thom Shepherd visiting us for storytelling, teaching and answering questions via Skype! Hear his story and his songs. Thom is a NUT you will love this visit (FREE for members, $12 for non-members). We are looking forward to seeing everyone for this fun evening!

Thom Shepherd is a songwriter and performer from Nashville, Tennessee, whose songs have been recorded by Tracy Lawrence, George Jones, Trailer Choir, Montgomery Gentry, Pam Tillis, Buddy Jewell, Kevin Fowler, and Cledus T. Judd. He is the writer of the number 1 hit single, “Redneck Yacht Club,” from Craig Morgan’s GOLD certified album “My Kind of Livin’”. His first number one was “Riding with Private Malone,” recorded by David Ball. It won an Achievement Award from the Nashville Songwriters Association, voted on by their members as “the song you wish you had written.” Thom even got to be in the video, playing the title role. The song opened the door for Thom to perform for our troops overseas; he has been on seven tours for Armed Forces Entertainment, bringing his music to servicemen and women in thirteen different countries.

“As songwriters, we have no idea how our songs are going to affect people,” says Thom; “I met a soldier in Qatar who was on leave from Baghdad, and he told me he joined the military because of Private Malone. He asked me how that made me feel and I said Responsible! Then when we went to get our picture taken, he showed me the shattered LCD screen of his digital camera – shattered because it was in his shirt pocket behind his flack jacket when he took a round from an AK47. That camera saved his life. That is powerful stuff.”

Thom was born in St. Louis, Missouri and spent his high school and college years in Stephens City, Virginia. He is a graduate of George Mason University and moved to Nashville in 1993. He is a two time cancer survivor, and a full time songwriter and performer. He is co-owner of a publishing venture called The Bourbon Street Music Company, and co-president of RedneckYachtClub.com, a website that sells merchandise relating to the song and the boating lifestyle.

Agenda for February 9, 2010 Meeting @ The Well

6:30 Open up and sign in. We will open up a little earlier so folk can chat and visit. So we can leave on time as a courtesy to those locking up.

* Members please check your name on the member roster.

* Visitors fill out the vistor form and questionaire. We are really glad you joined us!

* Non-members who have visited more than twice, place $12 fee in provided envelope with your name in box.

* If you have a song for critique:

o bring 30 copies of the lyrics

o place a lyric sheet in the box by the door

o sign the release provided.

* Susan provides coffee and latte’s, water, soda’s for a donation. Please support her and be generous. We really appreciate her letting us use the facility.

7:00 Start with business:

1. Planning session, Spring workshop with Brian White. We are VERY excited to have someone of this caliber here with us!

2. 2010 budget, brainstorm fund raising ideas.

3. Open mic sign ups.

7:30 Skype session with multiple #1 hit songwriter Thom Shepherd. He is an informative and fun guy. A writer and performer with key to repeat success

8:30 Question and answer session with Thom

8:45 Break

9:00 Song Critiques — Some great music!

1. Active members first

2. Then paying guests

3. First and/or Second time guest

10:00 Special thanks to Susan for hosting our meetings. Please come early to socialize and prepare to leave promptly so she can close up.

1st Meeting of 2010 is January 12th at The Well

zero360 — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:02:20 +0000

We are going to blast off into 2010 with our first meeting of the year at the Well in Pineville this coming Tuesday night at 7:00. Check out www.the-well.org for directions. We have a lot to cover, and a lot of fun planned for this meeting!

We want to welcome Carl Dews as a new Coordinator for the group! Carl is in Nashville this week so we will “deal” with him at the next meeting.

We will start the year with a review of the 2009 song of the year: “In Color” performed by Jamey Johnson, written by Jamey Johnson, Lee Thomas Miller, and James Otto. (The Charlotte members to went to Tin Pan South last year saw Lee Thomas Miller.) It is a killer song we will play it and dissect it and learn from the best of 2009. But we can’t take long because…

The main focus of our meeting is to plan what YOU want to do in 2010. We’ll take a moment to reflect on our writing goals and what our group could do as a whole, to help each other as developing individuals. The coordinators have met and come up with a list of possibilities. We will review last years goals, and achievements, this years possibilities, and come up with a plan.

Song critiques to follow. Remember, it is the song not the performance. .. and have fun!

Take care and we hope to see you all at the meeting.

Fiona, Angelo and Carl

December Meeting

zero360 — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:59:45 +0000

Our Charlotte NSAI December meeting will be a holiday social rather than our normal meeting. Same night, same time, same place as our normal meeting (Tuesday, December 8th, 7:00 to 10:00 pm, at The Well). Spouses and guests are invited. Dress is casual. We’re going to have a covered-dish social this year, and we’ll be playing songs for each other (Christmas songs or anything you want to play), so bring your guitar or keyboard. We won’t be critiquing the songs, so no lyric sheets will be necessary.

We’ll be buying a ham, beverages, plates, napkins, and utensils with money out of the kitty (thanks to those of you who work concessions at the Tosco Music Parties). If you have a favorite dish that you like to make, please bring it to share. Just so we don’t end up with 25 dishes of the same thing, please reply and let me know what you’re planning to bring, and if someone has already signed up to bring that, I’ll let you know. There will be nothing wrong with duplicating some things, since we’ll probably have 50 people attending. Listed below are items that might be nice to have, just to give you some ideas.
- salad/dressings
- breads
- condiments
- desserts
- appetizers
- other sides (vegetables, rice, etc.) If you have a CD of holiday music that we could play as background music while we’re socializing, please bring it. If you have CD’s of your own music that you would like to share, whether studio-recorded or home-recorded, please bring copies to swap. If you would like to come by to say hi but don’t feel like cooking, please come on by! It’ll be a good way to start the holiday season. We’ve had a great year, and this will be a good way to celebrate it and launch us into the new year! Please reply to let me know that you’re planning to come and how many guests you plan to bring, so we can plan appropriately.

Directions to The Well are pasted below. Hope to see you Tuesday!

Steve, Fiona and Angelo

The Well in Pineville

The Well http://www.the- well.org/ in Pineville.
220 Main Street Pineville , North Carolina 28134 – Right next to the Police Station.
Directions: Here! (Click on “Directions and Parking” if a map does not appear)
This is less than a mile west of the I485/Rt51 interchange.

November Meeting – Main Topic

zero360 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:10:28 +0000

Fiona went to SongPosium in Nashville in September and came back with a bunch of contacts – people in the music industry who would be willing to talk to us via Skype Internet magic.

She has arranged for one of those contacts, Robin Earl, to talk to us during our November meeting this coming Tuesday, November 10th. Robin Earl and her husband Gary own a recording studio in Nashville, and they produce music for TV/Movies/Commercials. Robin is also a vocal coach, and Gary does tracking and sales workshops for the music industry. Robin will be talking to us about how things work on Music Row in Nashville… how songs get in and go through… and some do’s and don’ts for songwriters who don’t live in Nashville. She will also talk about her career in music, how trends change in country music, and what she sees coming and going.

It’ll be a great presentation! Thanks for arranging it, Fiona! And of course, we’ll be critiquing each other’s songs, as usual, during the second half of our meeting. The meeting agenda is posted and distributed via email.

See you Tuesday at 7:00 pm!

September’s Main Topic

zero360 — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 12:56:56 +0000

Do you know what your vocal range is? That is, do you know the lowest note you can sing and the highest note you can sing? I don’t. But I should if I want to write songs within that range.

At last month’s Charlotte NSAI meeting, several members who attended the Swannanoa Gathering gave a few pointers they had picked up there on vocal techniques, and it seemed that there was interest in learning more. So, in this month’s meeting this coming Tuesday night (September 8th), we will be watching a video titled, “The Total Singer,” taught by Lisa Popeil, voice coach (www.popeil.com). It covers range, breathing, larynx positions, power techniques, control of nasality and breathiness, vibrato, ring, registers and break elimination, and support. After watching it, you will be able to do a better job of delivering your songs to the world.

And of course, we’ll be critiquing each other’s songs, as usual, during the second half of our meeting. It’ll be a good meeting! Don’t miss it!

See you Tuesday!

Steve, Fiona, and Angelo

August Meeting — Swannanoa Recap!

zero360 — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:50:45 +0000

At this month’s Charlotte NSAI meeting this coming Tuesday night (August 11th), those of us who attended the Swannanoa Gathering last week will be sharing with the group some of the tidbits of information we picked up in our classes there. It was a great week of music and inspiration and we’re looking forward to sharing the good stuff with you.

For example, do you know why the chorus of Don McLean’s beautiful song, “Vincent” is so pleasing to your ear? It’s because the verses consist of short, rapid-fire phrases, and when your ear is starting to get tired of hearing them, along comes the chorus with its long, drawn-out notes that your ear is ready to hear (“Now I think I….. know……”) . Some people call that type of change a “release.”

It’ll be a good meeting! Don’t miss it!

And of course, we’ll be critiquing each other’s songs, as usual, during the second half of our meeting.

See you Tuesday… 7PM at The Well in Pineville, NC

Steve, Fiona, and Angelo