Pat Pattison MASTER CLASS

Pat Pattison is presenting a series of Master Classes* this semester,
Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30.

The series will include presentations on various songwriting topics, some
from Pat, some from other songwriting faculty. In addition, he will be
working with student songs, both one-on-one and even with other
faculty members!

The master classes will be:

Sept 29 – 2E
Oct 6 -- 3F
Oct 13 --3F
Oct 20 – 2E
Oct 27 – 3F
Nov 3 – 3F
Nov 10 – 2E
Nov 17 – 2E
Dec 1 – 3F
Dec 8 3F

*All classes will be filmed

B.I.T.R. Tuesdays!

The RED ROOM @ Café 939 Berklee College of Music proudly presents:
Berklee-In-The-Round (B.I.T.R.) Tuesdays

7pm-9pm (doors at 6:30pm/FREE)
September 27
October 25
November 29
December 13
January 31
February 28
March 27
April 24

What is B.I.T.R. Tuesdays?
Berkee-In-The-Round Tuesdays is a free acoustic performance showcasing Berklee students, faculty, alumni plus special
guests. Inspired by the world-famous Bluebird Café rounds in Nashville, TN, B.I.T.R. Tuesdays are held on the last
Tuesday of each month during the semester. The writers are seated in the center of the room and perform their original
songs round-robin fashion, creating an intimate listening room vibe, as if the audience was joining the writers in their living
room.

A special chair is reserved in the round for a “mystery” guest. This person could be an established artist who visiting the
college or touring in the area, a hit songwriter, etc. You never know who may show up for a few songs, or join in for the
whole round.

Who can come to B.I.T.R. Tuesdays?
This is a free series, open to the public. It is a chance for the Boston songwriting community at-large to congregate and
network, as well as their friends and fans of great acoustic music.

Playing B.I.T.R. Tuesdays – Information for Performers
At this time, performers are limited to Berklee students, faculty and alumni only.
To be considered for a slot in a round, please submit:
• Three original songs (you must be the performer).
• A short bio with contact information
• Note: Links to your materials are preferred, mp3s are ok.
• Send your submission files and links to

Stan Swiniarski (sswiniarski@berklee.edu) do not send to the Red
Room, please.

Selection Criteria
You will be scheduled to perform based on:
• Your songs
• Your Presentation
• Compatibility with other writers being considered for a given round.

Additional Information for performers
Rounds are booked up to 6 months in advance. If you are invited, you’ll be given a date for your round. Please make
every effort to be available for the date. If you cannot make that round, there may be a long wait before another date
becomes available.

The show is two hours. You must be able to perform at least 30 minutes of your own original acoustic music. No
covers.

It is more entertaining for the listeners when performers can support each other musically or vocally; rehearsal is
encouraged! Generally you will know who you are teamed with about a month in advance of the performance.

You may bring an accompanist, but the total number of people sitting in the round cannot exceed 6 total, so generally
we can only accommodate one additional accompanist per round.

Independent Filmmaker Needs YOUR Song

Indie Feature Film Looking for Song!


Lightsmith Productions is looking for a featured song for their upcoming movie, “Ai Means Love”. The movie is a romantic comedy based in West Virginia about an American guy and a Japanese girl who fall in love.

We are looking for a “singer/songwriter” acoustic type song that would match well with the other featured songs in the film. For an example of what we are looking for you can go to http://jaymesalviati.com/

To view the scene in which the song will be placed, you can go to http://www.saraheide.com/movie/AML2M10.mov (please wait a couple minutes for the movie to load)

In this scene the girl and guy have not met yet and seem to keep missing each other.
The directors take special attention to the lyrics, so please keep that in mind.
Also recording quality will be a factor in which song we choose.

Because this is a small budget film, there will be no financial compensation if your song is chosen, though you will get an end credit.

Deadline for submission is September 23rd

Please send submissions to Sarahinjung@aol.com with the Subject header “AML submission”
Include your name, song title, an attachment of the song (mp3 format ONLY) and the lyrics to your song.

For any further information on the movie and the production company you can visit
www.aimeanslove.com and www.lightsmithpro.com

Music & Media Professionals: Opportunity To Gain Industry Exposure, Contacts, and Real-World Experience

NYC-based independent music supervisor Joseph Miller is looking to collaborate with songwriters, film scorers, and composers who are interested in film/TV/web placement opportunities!


If you are interested, email kmill@berklee.net for more information. This is a wonderful opportunity to get your songs heard! He also offers services as a consultant, manager, or agent for breaking into licensing and placement for media."

Rethink Music Competition Winners NuevoStage!

We were contacted by NuevoStage, a very exciting new website for musicians, with a way to possibly get to play in one of their concerts! Here's what they had to say:

nuevoStage + Berklee = Stage Space for you!

Berklee Songwriters!

We'd like to extend our first official outreach email to you! Hello, we're nuevoStage, and with a bit of help from you, we believe this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

If you haven't heard, we're the winners of the rethink music competition. We're a bit like Kickstarter for concerts. We log empty stage space, let you list potential shows, and then let fans pledge to buy tickets. Once enough of your fans pledge, you get a guaranteed contract. Basically, if you have the fans, you have the stage. We think, and hope you agree, that this will help young talent like yourself develop a track record of success faster than ever.

In the coming months, we're hoping to launch a concert series to promote the idea and prove it has value. We're currently running a Kickstarter campaign to raise funding for this idea (see here http://kck.st/qkxdVH). If you think we're on the right track, we'd appreciate your tweeting, blogging, or emailing your fans about the campaign. Any help makes a huge difference - even a $1 contribution bumps up our ranking on Kickstarter. Also, we'll need artists to take that stage space. So if you're interested in playing, please also sign up for our mailing list at www.nuevostage.com.

If nothing else, it would be wildly helpful if you could simply go to the Kickstarter page and "Like" us. Apparently Facebook likes drive placement throughout the site!

Hope you're enjoying your summers,

Max & Chris

P.S. The full link to Kickstarter can be found here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/maxwellelliot/stages-for-the-ages-emerging-artist-concert-series.

Berklee Gems: Women Raising Awareness & Responsibility in Entertainment

Berklee is making a great effort to create more support for its female students! We have entitled these efforts:

Berklee Gems: Women Raising Awareness & Responsibility in Entertainment.

Upcoming programming will include lunches featuring various women in the music and business industry, a mentoring programming that will connect an alumna with a Berklee student or new alumni for a year, various social events/gatherings, etc. These programming efforts will occur in all of our main alumni areas (Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Nashville and Atlanta to name a few).

To kick things off, we'd like to extend an invitation to the Berklee females to join us for lunch with alumna Annie Clements '03, bassist and backing vocalists for grammy award winning Sugarland on Thursday, July 21st from 1:00 - 3:00pm. Female students and alumni will come together, have a bite to eat and discuss ways in which we can offer solutions to some of the challenges currently experienced by female students and alumna.

I hope you can join us! Submit your RSVP to alumniaffairs@berklee.edu.

Straight From Nashville! Learn From Songwriter Gregory Becker!!

Gregory Becker is coming to Berklee to lecture and host a song critique session and YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS IT. A little about Gregory:

Gregory Becker is primarily known as a lyricist and top-line melody writer. He grew up in Boston, MA and began his musical career playing piano at the age of 5 and later playing drums and guitar in bands around Boston. He then focused his talents on writing and studied lyric development and commercial arrangement at the Berklee School of Music. Gregory moved to Nashville in 1995 and worked as a song plugger on Nashville’s legendary music row for several years while continuing to write. After having several major label cuts on songs he wrote and pitched by himself, Gregory left song plugging to begin his first publishing deal with Warner Chapell Music. Gregory is currently signed with BMG Rights and his songs have sold more than 20 million units worldwide and have been recorded by such acts as Meatloaf, Carrie Underwood, LeAnn Rimes, and Rascal Flatts. He works with producers, artists and writers of various genres in Stockholm, London and Los Angeles while residing in Nashville, TN.

This is a great opportunity to hear critiques from someone who knows the business first-hand!

Lecture:
When: Thursday, July 14th @ 11 am
Where: 150 Mass. Ave room 122

Songwriting Master Class:
When: Thursday, July 14th 7-9 pm
Where: 921 Boylston St room 511

The Britney Story...

How to write a hit record without really writing a hit record.

Jeff Fenster looked at myself and Jack Perricone and said "Gentlemen, the floor is yours."

This is easily the second best thing to hear from the head of A&R at Jive Records.  The first best, of course, being "This is AMAZING. Can we use it as the single on Britney's new record?

""Well," I said, "Theresa has put one of my songs on hold for the Britney album. It's been a few weeks and I just wanted to know where it's at?

""Of course.  I'll grab the latest status update."  Jeff calmly flips through a few papers, and offhandedly asks me the name of the track.

"Oh, our tune is called Criminal," I reply.

 Jeff stops looking for papers, and turns at me with a knowing smile on his face and says "Well, I can already tell you the title is going to be a problem."

In the .5 seconds of silence before he spoke again, my mind raced to fill in every possible reason why the goddamned TITLE of our song could cause a problem. Is britney going for a "goodie-two shoes" image? Is it a concept album where all of the songs start with the letter "B"? Just as quickly as I thought of reasons, I started formulating counter-defenses.

Jeff opened his mouth again, stopping both my heartbeat, and my thought process: "Well, you see, there's another song that is going to be on the album titled 'In Love with a Criminal' and of course--."

Really?  REALLY, Jeff Fenster?  We're going to lose out on a Britney cut because someone else used a similar title?  

My brain started to think that maybe, just maybe, there was a little itsy bitsy chance that "In Love With a Criminal" was JUST far enough away from "Criminal" that we could still have the cut.

 "Well," I ask, "While you're still looking for the list.  Would you mind at least taking a listen to the tune?"

We pop in the CD, he blares it louder than I do in my studio, is bobbing his head the entire time through and looks at me at the end of the cd and says "Yeah. It's a great tune for Britney!  Oh and Here's that status sheet." Jeff looked over the latest status sheet for Britney's album and chuckled, "Ah, and look what they changed the title to!"  

He slid the sheet towards me and, for a split second every cell in my body filled with the hope that the title was changed to something banal like "In Love" or "Loving a Convict" or some other horrible title in which I would find my ticket to the cut I've always wanted, or maybe the other tune would  be low enough on the list that OUR criminal still had a chance.

I looked at the list and froze.

In order of preference.  Jive Records' #1 PICK, by none other than Max Martin himself, who by the way started writing over 2 months AFTER we submitted our tune, has been retitled: 

"Criminal"

Oh, hi there Dues.  I must have forgotten to pay you.

On the bright side, it is an honor to be written off a Britney Spears record by Max Martin.

Max, as a massive fan of your work: I hope to be able to repay the favor some day. 

Re-Post: Writing Country? Only hits, please...

REPOST FROM:
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/genre/country/nashville-publishers-say-a-hit-is-still-1005220782.story


Nashville songwriters may be fewer in numbers than in years past, but they can rest well knowing that hits still pay well.

"The good news is a country hit is still worth as much as it's ever been," said Jody Williams, VP, Writer/Publisher Relations, BMI Nashville, at the second annual Billboard Country Music Summit in Nashville.

And there are many opportunities for publishers to get a song into the market, added John Barker, Founder and President, ClearBox Rights, such as synchronization uses and video games. "I'm optimistic about the future because now we so many more outlets for songs to be available."

But publishers don't have it easy, either. "We've all lost a lot of income to the decline of mechanicals," said Pat Higden, president, Universal Music Publishing Group Nashville. As album sales have declined over the years, the amount of mechanical royalties publishers earn from those sales has fallen (the full mechanical rate paid to publishers is 9.1 cents per track). In fact, Higdon claimed that three years ago Universal Music Publishing lost 45% of mechanical revenue that has yet to return to the company's books.

Fewer mechanical royalties from album sales means an album cut might not recoup a publisher's investment. The result is a market that is almost completely hit-driven, said Chris Dubois, partner at Sea Gayle Music.  "If you're a publisher and you're not getting singles, you're not surviving." And while Dubois agreed that digital has breathed life into mechanicals, he cautioned that mainly singles were the beneficiaries.

BMI and ASCAP are currently renegotiating their deals with radio stations, noted Williams, and the interim agreement has reduced BMI's collections of radio performance royalties by about $4 million.

Perhaps the biggest change in Nashville is the rise of the artist-songwriter. As labels seek out artists who can both perform and write songs, publishers are finding the best way to get their songs onto albums is for their songwriters to co-write with recording artists.

But it's a controversial aspect of today's artist development in Nashville. "There is a misconception with artists over the last few years that just because you have a record deal you are all of a sudden a songwriter," said Higdon. "Every artist is not a songwriter. There have always been those great artists that didn't write that just interpreted songs, and we still need those in the format."

It's just a fact of doing business in Nashville today if you want to get a song recorded, said Dubois. "The reality of it is if you're not getting cuts you're not making money then you're not going to be doing it for long. I think a big part of publishing has shifted from song-plugging to politically positioning your writers to have the best opportunity of getting cuts. That means trying to infiltrate the little camps that exist around town, around artists."

Carla Wallace, co-owner and VP Creative of Big Yellow Dog Music, takes a balanced approach to working with artists. "If it makes sense for Josh Kear to write with Lady Antebellum because musically it's a good match, then that's great."

CALL FOR SONGS: Singer/Songwriter Showcase!

For the first time over the summer, Songwriters Club is putting together a Singer/Songwriter Showcase! A panel of judges will choose the BEST from the TOP song submissions from the songwriters at Berklee to perform at the end of the summer. Don't miss this opportunity!

If you would like to perform, please submit ONE ORIGINAL song in mp3 format to berkleesongsubmission@gmail.com!

Deadline is July 8th

The concert will be held in The Loft in 939 on July 26th!

Write Jingles and MAKE MONEY

Recent Berklee grad, Tom Harrison, has developed a BRILLIANT way for jingle writers and companies to reach each other. As it says on the website:

"All businesses would benefit from having their own Advertising Jingle to use wherever they want. . .Until now this has been a prohibitively expensive process and the business owner would have to put his faith in just one composer. Equally young upcoming composers face an uphill struggle to get their work noticed by companies large and small and spend too much of their time chasing difficult to achieve business."

The Jingle Works connects businesses and composers to make the process quicker and simpler! Go check it out and sign up, this really is a great opportunity!

Re-Blog: How much money can I make with Songs?

Original at http://blog.startmysong.com/2010/01/02/songwriting-how-much-money-can-i-make/

Songwriting: How Much Money Can I Make?

JANUARY 2, 2010

tags: music supervisors, performance rights payments, song publishing, songwriter profits, Songwriting Help, sync license

by Scott McIntosh

According to Dan Kimpel’s article in Music Connection Magazine, “Songwriting, Where Did All The Money Go?”, the following amounts are the average payments songwriters are receiving for song use:

$45,500 : One song on a million-selling CD. This is based on the 9.1 cents per album sold mechanical license rate with a publisher taking 50%. If the songwriter self-published their music, then they would get the full $91,000 per million albums sold.  This rate can further be reduced if the label or artist has negotiated a reduced mechanical rate.  Standard reduced rate is 3/4  or 6.8 cents per album sold.

$15,000 – $60,000 : Feature film, one song, writers and publishers share sync fee’s.  (Synchronization License - syncing  music to moving images).  This can vary greatly depending on the use of the song in the film.  A song used for the end-credits or trailer would demand much higher fees than a song used in the background.  This is all negotiated between the music supervisor and publisher (or songwriter if he/she has been able to make the film aware of his/her music).  Well known songs can demand more where unknown songs will garner much less from a sync license.  The exposer may be worth the low sync license though as people who see the movie hear the song.  If a soundtrack is released, this will lead to mechanical rates generated from soundtrack album sales (see above).

$20,000 – $100,000 : Non-hit song, national commercial.  Advertising agencies and music supervisors are looking for new music to use with commercials and sometimes prefer unknown songs and independent artists as they are less expensive.

$75,000 – $1,000,000 : Hit song, national commercial.

$60,000 – $70,000 : Unknown song, major film trailer.

$12,000 – $100,000 : Known song, major film trailer.  ”Negotiations will take into consideration whether or not the song that accompanies the visuals is a theatrical trailer for in theater use only, or a television or internet commercial.”

$300,000 + : Hit song, major film trailer.

$2,500 – $20,000 :  Song used in video game.

$1,000 – $3,000 : Indie artist, network television show all-in (master + sync) fee.  All-in meaning the TV show gets all options for use of the song without further payments.  So if the show was later released in a different medium such as an internet channel, home video, or on-demand, the show would not have to pay more monies to the songwriters.

$800,000 : U.S. radio and television performance royalties, hit single.  There are three performing rights societies that make sure the copyright owners of songs are paid performance royalties when those songs are performed in public.  This includes radio, television, restaurants, nightclubs, dance halls, websites, and other venues and broadcasters.  The three societies are ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC and they receive payments from the music venues stated above for the right to perform the songs in their respective catalogs.  The performance rights agencies use their specific systems to determine the amount of times songs are played throughout the different venues and send publishers / songwriters royalties checks based on amount of play.  Published songwriters must choose which agency to register with based on the different pros and cons of each organization.

0.66 cents : iTunes takes .34 cents per download from the standard .99 cent fee charged (although the rate now varies between .66 / .99 / 1.29 cents per song due to new negotiations between Apple and the labels).  If a song is attached to a label, the label will take .46 cents giving the songwriter .10 cents and the artist .10 cents per download.  If two songwriters co-wrote the song then this is now .5 cents per download.  It is also .5 cents per download if a publisher has 50% rights to the song.  Of course, you don’t need a publisher to get your songs onto iTunes or in other music stores, you can pay TuneCore a small fee and then keep the .66 cents per download.  Tunecore special offer below:

Sign Up for a free TuneCore account, save 30% on first distribution

(Note: You can also place your songs for sale right on Start My Song and keep 100% of your revenues from downloads using the Bandbox music widget.)

Again, the above numbers are just an idea of potential income that a great song can make when used through different venues.  Amounts will definitely vary depending on the negotiating power between those looking for music and those providing music.

Disclaimer: This article was not written by a lawyer and the information is the opinion of the author only. This article is not intended as legal advice or counsel. The author does not make warranty or representation as to the accuracy of contained statements.

Want the best secret to getting your videos to go viral?

Want to get your video to go viral?  Here's a quick tip: Have John Mayer blog about it!

Read on, and please re-tweet, re-blog, or re-post this to help Ken get his video going viral!

John came to Berklee to do a songwriting clinic for a few selected students, one of whom is a friend of the club, Ken Yates.  Since then, John has been radio silent on his blog (for over a month), but as of Thursday morning at 1AM, John Mayer posted the following entry, titled:
"Want to hear a great song? (I mean a REALLY great song?)"

Want to hear a great song? (I mean a REALLY great song?)

I taught a songwriting class at Berklee College of Music in Boston in March where I heard so many talented songwriters play some really great songs. Very few of the students have yet to record the songs they played for me, but Ken Yateswrote a tune called “I Don’t Wanna Fall in Love” and posted a live video of it on YouTube. This song moved me when I first heard it in the room and it still does today.

I love teaching at Berklee because I get to meet the artists that are going to keep the music world going strong
before the rest of the world does.

Enjoy, two years early.

(lots of love to everyone else that day who fearlessly played their songs for myself and the rest of the room.)

-JM

New Course: Writing the FILM Musical!

NEW COURSE: Writing the Film Musical (Fall 2011)

A Pro-Arts Experience

Writing the Film Musical (PW-468) will match Berklee songwriters--composers and lyricists--with Emerson screenwriters to create original screenplays with songs. Students will study the screenplays of a variety of film musicals from the beginning of the genre to the present. Working in groups, writing students from Emerson will complete an outline and first act of an original screenplay, and Berklee composers and lyricists will write songs that help tell that story. The semester will culminate in a staged reading—with music—performed by acting/musical theatre students from both Berklee and Emerson.

Writing the Film Musical is the winner of a new course development contest sponsored by the Pro-Arts Consortium to foster cross-pollination of school communities. We will be working closely with Emerson screenwriting faculty member Diane Lake (whose impressive credentials include the screenplay for Frida starring Salma Hayek).  The Emerson course meets on Tuesdays from 4-8pm.  The Berklee course officially only meets from 6-8pm on Tuesday nights.  However, if it’s possible for any of you to keep free 4-6pm on your Tuesday schedule, you will be encouraged to audit the first two hours at Emerson as often as possible.  There will be a lot of screenwriting material covered that would still be invaluable for all of us to learn.  However, rest assured that this would only be encouraged, but not be required.  The homework load for Berklee students will be more song-focused and less screenwriting focused.  There will, of course, still be some screenwriting concepts to learn and work on for homework assignments, even for the songwriting students.

Title: Writing the Film Musical

PW-468

Credits: 2

Course Weight: 1.25

Contact Hours: 2

Tuesdays, 6-8, Uchida 511 [optional auditing of Emerson portion Tuesdays 4-6pm]

Cap: 15 students

Pre-requisite waiver requirements

The pre-requisite for PW 468 is either of the following:

• completion of SW-345 Musical Theater Writing 1 or SW-445 Musical Theater Writing 2

• demonstration of equivalent songwriting/composition ability via electronic submission of mp3/pdf of either music or lyrics or both of an original song (see details below)

In addition:

• to help me meet my goal of creating a balance of abilities among composers and lyricists and composer/lyricists – please describe your background/interest in writing music and/or lyrics

• don’t forget to send your student ID #

• be prepared to do summer reading assignment

Song submission

If you have not taken the course SW-345, please send a work sample of a song for which you composed either music or lyrics or both.  If it’s in the musical theater genre, great; if not, try to choose something that demonstrates writing for character or story if possible.  Instrumental composers must submit a song, so if you don’t have one in your repertoire, find a song lyric text (or a lyricist!) and write something new.  Ideally your work sample demonstrates a mastery of song form with clear hook (ie. Verse/Refrain, otherwise known as AABA form; or Verse/Chorus).  Send lead sheet or piano/score pdf and an mp3 demo of a vocal performance of the song.  Professional notation should at a minimum include melody, chords, lyrics; well-constructed and notated piano accompaniment is a plus.

Summer Reading

To hit the ground running, all pre-registered students should plan to do the following reading before fall semester begins:

Required:

The Musical Theatre Writer’s Survival Guide by David Spencer (one copy on reserve in the library, and the Bookstore should have some for purchase in the textbook section)

Highly recommended:

Finishing The Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes by Stephen Sondheim (an expensive hardback; I just put in a request for the library to get a reserve copy)

Melody in Songwriting by Jack Perricone -- Composition/Film Scoring majors who have not taken Songwriting 1 are highly encouraged to purchase and self-study this BerkleePress textbook.  There are a few library copies and also available at the Berklee bookstore.

Thanks again,

Michael Wartofsky

mwartofsky@berklee.edu

Associate Professor, Berklee College of Music

Music and Emotions Lecture!

Date:	Thursday, April 21 · 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Location:	150 Massachusetts Ave, Media Lab

How does music move us?

Music reflects the human social-emotional brain, but how? Is music a cognitive fashion accessory -- something that the advanced brain does for fun? Or does music tap a powerful emotional mechanism in the human brain? How do we regulate emotions with music and why do we listen to sad songs? Dr. Susan Rogers will present leading researchers' thoughts on how and why music and emotions are linked and discu...ss the implications for music-makers.

Music moves us in ways that are both obvious and mysterious. In her work as a clinical music therapist and researcher, Dr. Suzanne Hanser presents a variety of clinical cases whereby people are deeply moved by music, to the extent that they overcome deep physical and emotional distress. She presents research to support changes in emotion, and poses theories to explain how music gains its power to influence the way we feel.

Join us for this fascinating glimpse into the research of these two amazing Berklee faculty members!

Songwriting Department MASTER CLASS THURSDAY!

WHERE: 1140 Boylston, Room 1W
WHEN: April 14th, 1pm-2pm
WHAT: Songwriting Clinic

Please join the Songwriting faculty: Pat Pattison, Jimmy Kachulis, Scarlet
Keys, Mark Simos, Jon Aldrich, Susan Cattaneo, John Stevens, Stan
Swiniarski, Sarah Brindell and Chair, Jack Perricone as they listen to
selected student songs and give comments and helpful suggestions to
make the songs better. Use their critique to examine ways to improve your
own songwriting. This is a unique opportunity to watch the Songwriting
faculty in action. Come and observe this clinic done in a master class
format.

ASCAP Day Monday! - Patrice Rushen Speaking at Cafe 939

Please join ASCAP, the Film Scoring and Songwriting Departments in welcoming Berklee Ambassador of Arts in Education Patrice Rushen. Patrice has amassed an impressive numbers of “firsts.” She was the first woman to serve as Musical Director for the 46th, 47th & 48th Annual Grammy Awards, the first woman in 43 years to serve as Head Composer/Musical Director for television's highest honor, the Emmy Awards and the only woman Musical Director/Composer for the “People’s Choice Awards” and HBO’s “Comic Relief.”

As a gifted pianist, arranger, producer, vocalist, and composer, Ms. Rushen has recorded with Carlos Santana, Chaka Khan, Teena Marie, Quincy Jones, Jean Luc Ponty, George Duke, The Dazz Band, Lenny White, Prince, Edgar Winter & Rick Derringer, Shirley Bassey, Alphonso Johnson, Flora Purim, Sheena Easton, Wayne Shorter, Stanley Clarke, Babyface, Joe Williams, Peabo Bryson, Will Downing, Sonny Rollins, Gerald Albright, Vesta Williams, Gary Taylor, Stanley Turrentine, Terri Lyne Carrington, Hubert Laws, Bobby Caldwell, Pauline Wilson, Herbie Hancock, Ronnie Laws, Grover Washington. Jr., Minnie Riperton, The Temptations, Lonette McKee, Ndugu Chancler, Kevin Eubanks, Lee Ritenour, Vinx, Dianne Reeves, George Howard, Sheree Brown, Holly Robinson, Eddie Murphy, Ramsey Lewis, Vanessa Williams, Kenny Burrell, Paul Jackson, Jr., Abraham Laboriel, Alex Acuna, Justo Almario, Al Jarreau, George Benson, Greg Phillingaines, and Harvey Mason.

When: 2:00-3:30 April 11th

Where: Cafe 939 The Red Room

FutureHit.DNA Author JAY FRANK visits Berklee! (Thurs 4-6)

WHEN: Thurs, Apr 7 4pm-6pm
WHERE: 150 Mass Ave, Rm 118

WHAT: Future Hit.DNA outlines 15 points that must change in a song if the artists, songwriters and producers of tomorrow want a chart topping hit. Jay Frank shows how small changes can result in large royalty checks. Songs can now earn more money than ever, as long as the creator knows the tricks.

For the first time, Future Hit.DNA delivers inside tricks from both the music listener and music industry perspective. When utilized, these tips result in significant advantages in those songs’ abilities to become hits. This unprecedented insight gives its readers a leg up over the competition, thereby making the book an essential read for music makers.

Jay Frank is Senior VP of Music Strategy for CMT. Frank oversees music strategy as it relates to all of the network’s on-air and digital music initiatives across all properties, including CMT, CMT.com, CMT Mobile, games, touring and other businesses. He works closely with music labels and artists to create multi-platform promotions that leverage all of the CMT brands to enhance artist reach and drive awareness for the channel.

Under Frank’s leadership, music video ratings have reached an all-time high for the channel, with an incredible 43 percent growth in 2009 with stunt programming and exclusive premieres as part of an aggressive multi-platform promotional strategy.

Breaking Barriers - How to take your art to the next level!

 BREAKING BARRIERS

How an effective songwriter can break through to the world around us!


WHEN: Tues, Apr 5th, 8pm-10pm

WHERE: 921 Boylston Street, Room 411


WHAT: 3 Short lectures on how your songs can break barriers you face with yourself (overcoming creative shortcomings), your society (changing the world through art), and your music itself (understanding why you write, and what effect your music has on others!)

Pratt Bennett (B.A., Certified Life Coach)

Do you feel "stuck" in your writing/career/life?
Pratt will talk about how to avoid ruts, and use tools you already have to conquer change and new situations, and to take your creativity and writing to the next level! 

"My rule of thumb is very simple: whatever you're working on, make it valuable today. Make it count today. When you are receptive to what's happening in the moment, you relax so much more about the outcome and, in my experience, you often get a better result."

Ross Bresler (B.A., M.A., Ph.D)

Ever feel your songs are "too personal" for others to get them? Ross will be riffing on the creator's internal narrative, and external appearance to his/her audience.

In addition, he'll discuss Breaking social barriers with art -  audience and market expectations, and how those expectations cause your work to be viewed differently.  

"My classroom teaching is a microcosm of my work at ProArts, where I develop pathways for students and faculty of different arts disciplines to engage with each other and think about ways that different media play on one another. That interconnectivity across disciplines crosses over into the ways I teach art history to music students."

Teodros Kiros (Ph.D)

Is your music more than "just a song?"
Teodros will be discussing how to create change in the world from the art you have within, and in contrast, how to create change inside yourself through your art.

Become better musicians if you are philosophically trained... Make conscious, vigilant, and careful analysis of why you do music. To generate money? To train the public? 

Think, and add purpose and value to your artistic creations...

Want to play your songs for a cause? Audition for Stand With Japan: A Benefit Concert!

Are you interested in performing for an amazing cause?!
“Stand with Japan: A Benefit Concert” is looking for bands and solo performers to donate their time and talent for one night of amazing music to raise money for Japan disaster relief. While this is an incredible performance opportunity to promote your music (covers or originals!), this is also an opportunity to be apart of something to reach out and change lives of those affected by the tragic earthquake and tsunami in Japan. We’re looking for performers with energy, a desire to help, and songs that can promote hope and change! If you’re interested, auditions will be held on THURSDAY, MARCH 31ST, at 8pm in 150 Mass. Ave. Meet in the lobby and there will be someone with a sign to tell you what room to go to. Have two songs prepared (but we’ll probably just have you play one) that you think would be appropriate for this event! ☺

If you have any questions about auditions and this event, or want to be apart of organizing this fundraiser (we need more people!), please feel free to contact us at: swjapanberklee@gmail.com. Or call the Head Coordinator, Kylie Rothfield, at (925)683-4208.

Also, look for our events on facebook: “Stand with Japan: A Benefit Concert AUDITIONS” and “Stand with Japan: A Benefit Concert Information Meeting”

THANKS!

-Stand With Japan Fundraising Group

Submit Your Songs to the Japan Benefit CD

Lossless is putting out a benefit CD with Berklee songs only! Here's your chance to help out through your songs.

Japan Benefit digital release information:

The criteria for submission is not meant to exclude anyone but rather to INCLUDE as many people as possible:

* The submitted track must be in lossless CD quality (for example .wav, .aiff or .flac) - more info about this at the very bottom.
* It cannot be a cover - the person (or group) submitting the recording must be the songwriter(s)
* It must feature at least one Berklee student or faculty member
* The song must be in good taste because this is to raise money for disaster relief.
* The track cannot prominently feature musicians that are already on another submitted track. This is so everyone gets an opportunity to have a song on this release.

Submissions are due Tuesday March 22nd at midnight

Send an email to jweisser@berklee.net with the lossless recording attached, or if it's too big, use drop-box (send to weisserj@gmail.com) or something else. Also be sure to include one photo, a url where we can hear more music, and a short two or three sentence bio. There is information about about lossless formats below.

About Lossless (also posted on FB):
All submitted tracks MUST BE LOSSLESS CD quality (either wav, flac, or aiff). You CANNOT create a proper lossless file by converting the mp3-that just makes an MP3 that is labeled as a WAV. To make a lossless file you must rip a retail disc or bounce the recording in the recording program that was used. Email jweisser@berklee.net if you need help!

FREE Concert! Weds Mar 23rd! Songwriters In The Round!

WHERE:  Royale Ballroom (279 Tremont Street, 2 blocks from Boylston Street T-Stop)

WHEN: March 23, 2011 at 7PM

HOW MUCH: TOTALLY FREE ADMISSION!

WHAT: SONGWRITERS - IN - THE - ROUND 

Some of Berklee's best songwriters performing on stage with local Boston favorites, and featuring a special guest Berklee Alum.  Hear some amazing songs, and the stories behind the songs! 

Presented by The Bowery Presents: Boston, Berklee’s Songwriter’s Club, & Royale Nightclub

featuring:

LIZ LONGLEY
http://www.lizlongley.com/

BRIAN DUNNE
http://www.myspace.com/briandunnemusic

SHARIN TORIBIO
www.reverbnation.com/SharinOfficial

MIKE MAVEN
http://www.myspace.com/mikemaven

CLARA BERRY
http://www.myspace.com/claraberry

SAM CHASE
http://www.samchasemusic.com/live/

RYAN HARRIS BROWN
http://www.ryanharrisbrown.com/

ZARNI DE WET
http://www.myspace.com/zarnidewet

HOLDEN KOVACH
http://www.myspace.com/holdenkovachmusic

Event Coordinator - Nick Riebel
http://nmrmanagement.tumblr.com/