Songwriting Secrets Revealed! FREE Lecture 3/22/2011

Tues, Mar 22nd : Songwriting Department Super-lecture!  Ever been "stuck" on a song, and not sure how to finish it?  Ever wanted musical x-ray vision so you could see how a #1 hit works? Ever felt like you weren't communicating the true emotional depth of your lyric? Want a sure-fire way to create catchy hooks that stick with your listener?

Jack Perricone - Chair of the Songwriting Department
Will be doing an X-Ray analysis of a Top 10 hit to let you see exactly how it works!

• B.M., Hartt School of Music
• M.M., Indiana University
• Numerous recording, producing, and songwriting credits for Janet Lawson, David Geddes, Angela Bofill, Jerry Butler, Michael Jackson, Lou Rawls, and others
• Composer and producer of internationally aired jingles and commercial themes, and music for theater and films

Mark Simos - Songwriting Faculty
Ever had an unfinished song that you just weren't sure what to do with? Mark will give his best tips and tricks to finish that song that has been laying around your notebook forever!


- Writer for Alison Krauss, Jimmy Barnes (Australia's top selling recording artist), and more!

Jimmy Kachulis - Songwriting Faculty
Jimmy will discuss melodic phrasing techniques that create catchy, memorable choruses that stick with your listener!
Jimmy also "wrote the book" -- a few of them, actually -- on which the Berklee Songwriting Curriculum is based.

• B.S., Hunter College
• M.A., Tufts University
• Arranger and composer or conductor for Eric Gale, Stuff, George Coleman, Jon Hendricks, Frank Foster, Martha Reeves, John Lewis, Empire Brass Quintet, and String Fever
• Guitarist for Eric Gale, Stuff, A Chorus Line, and Pe De Boi
• Papers delivered include "Ewe Polyphony" and "Ewe Bell Improvisation" at the Society for Ethnomusicology conferences
• Listed in Who's Who of American Teacher

Scarlet Keys - Songwriting Faculty

Scarlet will show you how the right verb can cause a lyric to go from "blah.." to "BLAOW!" by looking at examples of extremely well crafted lyrics you can model in your own writing! 

• B.M., Berklee College of Music
• Staff songwriter for Warner Chappell/The New Company Nashville
• Live performances include the Blue Bird café, Nashville; ESPN; Bass Masters Classic, New Orleans Arena; and venues in Nashville, California, and New England as featured pianist/vocalist
• Gold record for song "So Much Love to Make" recorded by Swedish artist Jill Johnson
• Single "Gonna Dance" recorded by jazz artist Anna Wilson
• Charted on Billboard's jazz chart in 2008 with Anna Wilson's Christmas album Yule Swing; Number 1 single on British country chart with artist Lucie Diamond; Number 2 on the European country charts with single and title track to artist Lucie Diamond's record entitled "I Wanna Be Rich."

Showcase YOUR SONGS in LA! Great Opportunity!

Got a song you want to pitch to TV? A killer stage presence? A record you want to promote?

Berklee's LA Alumni Chapter is looking to feature the best of the best at our annual live music showcase. Last year’s show was a huge success with performances by Femke Weidema (’06), Manda Mosher (’97), Mike Schmid (’01) and Ernie Halter (’97) just to name a few.

Now we’ve set our sites on Molly Malone’s rock club and we’ve brought back Berklee alumni owners of RAWSession to A&R the event. The kicker? This year, we’re not just looking for the best song, we want the whole package!

TO ENTER:

Email us at berkleesongwritingshowcase@gmail.com

Subject of email: NAME – Submission for Berklee Live Music Showcase

Attach your best song (1) in MP3 format ONLY (no aac, wav, etc.)

3-5 sentence bio including years you attended Berklee - Keep it short & simple!

Include links to your following:

·      Your website

·      Facebook

·      Twitter

·      Youtube Channel

·      ReverbNation

·      Myspace

DEADLINE:

All emails must be received by Friday April 8^th 11:59PM PST


Please note: If selected, you will be responsible for your own transportation costs.

~ MARK YOUR CALENDARS ~

Berklee LA’s Live Music Showcase

May 12^th 2011

Molly Malone’s

Open to all alumni

For questions, email Justine Taormino, LA Chapter Leader: laalumni@berklee.edu

Free Lesson: Song Analysis by Mark Simos!

Mark Simos has graciously given a free analysis for Songwriters Club to pass on! Check it out HERE

This is what he has to say about it. . .

Hi folks:

First off, hope you're having a great Spring Break!

Last week we had some excitement as Sierra Hull, a Berklee student and a smokin' bluegrass mandolinist and vocalist, released her new Rounder album Daybreak. Right now her new video on CMT is getting more spins than any bluegrass or acoustic music has in a long time and excitement is running high. I wanted to help her out while at the same time furthering our goals of learning more about songwriting. So I have prepared a little Spring Break gift for all of you - a complimentary lesson which is an analysis of the Kevin McClung song on the video. You can watch the video here

The handout will be particularly useful to lyric writing students as the song is a nice example of a particular type of verse-refrain form; and to songwriting students, as it's also a nice example of combining front-heavy and back-heavy phrasing. Anyone interested in roots music and songwriting as part of those genres will also find it a great song worthy of some study.

As a special one-time offer: I hereby give you permission to pass this handout PDF on to fellow students, songwriters or musician friends of yours who might be interested in it. Please pass on the PDF with my copyright notice intact! Remember this is pretty technical, so it's not for the fans or the faint-hearted! But it is a glimpse into the way we dig into song structure in songwriting classes at Berklee. And a nice testament to how well contemporary bluegrass songwriting holds up under that analytical lens. enjoy!

Mark Twain: "The difference between the almost-right word and the right word is the difference between a lightning-bug and lightning."

2011 Lecture Series! (FREE!)

Songwriters Club is hosting a series of amazing TED-Talks style lectures for your edification!  We're getting the industry's best talent to talk about production, making money, music publishing, songwriting, and more.  Click below for specific info on each lecture -- all lectures are Tuesdays 8-10pm in 921 Boylston, Room 411!

Tues, Mar 22nd : Songwriting Department Super-lecture!  Ever been "stuck" on a song, and not sure how to finish it?  Ever wanted musical x-ray vision so you could see how a #1 hit works? Ever felt like you weren't communicating the true emotional depth of your lyric? Want a sure-fire way to create catchy hooks that stick with your listener?

Tues, Mar 29th : The Real Deal - Eric Beall!  Eric is the VP of A&R at Shapiro Bernstein (Rihanna, David Guetta, Flo Rida, Black Eyed Peas, Corinne Bailey Rae, Etc) and author of the Billboard Guide to Writing and Producing Songs That Sell and Making Music Make Money.  He's agreed to come up and give a private listening session for the SW Club. Send in YOUR SONGS to be critiqued by a major music publisher!  





Tues, Apr 5th : Breaking Barriers!   3 of Berklee's most INSPIRING and ENGAGING teachers will discuss how to create breakthroughs in your creative process, artists who have used their art to defy social conventions, and what makes art "art."  This is one of the most "TED TALKS" format lectures that we're hosting and is NOT to be missed!




Tues, Apr 19th : Perfect Pitch. BE THERE.

Experience Nashville IN BOSTON

Experience Nashville before the trip! Kathy Mattea is putting on a master class, clinic, AND concert this week!

Twice named Female Vocalist of the Year by the Country Music Association, Kathy Mattea carved out a role for herself in the late 1980s and 1990s as a sensitive yet energetic artist. She won her first Grammy in 1990, earning the Best Female Country Vocal Performance award for “Where’ve You Been". With nearly thirty Top 40 country hits, and five gold albums and a platinum-selling greatest hits compilation, she is among the most successful women in the genre’s history.

“My Coal Journey” Grammy Award-winning singer Kathy Mattea presents “My Coal Journey”, a one-hour program incorporating stories from her family history and her current advocacy for the environment, combined with a performance of songs from her 2008 release, “COAL”. The pre- sentation traces Kathy’s motivation for beginning the recording project, her research into the musical genre’s history and elemental style, and her family’s ties to coal mining culture in Appalachia, along with discussion of environmental and social justice issues surrounding coal mining methods in today’s world.



Monday, March 7th, 1:00 pm Vocal Master Class
Lawrence and Alma Berk Hall 1A 1140 Boylston Street

Tuesday, March 8th, 1:00 pm Clinic: My Coal Journey
Red Room @ Cafe 939 939 Boylston Street

Thursday, March 10th, 8:15 pm Concert
Berklee Performance Center 136 Massachussetts ave.

What Berklee SHOULD be teaching you, but isn't...

Michael Hazani ('10) 

Three Lessons I Wish They Taught Me at Berklee

In this short talk, alum Michael Hazani (’10) will discuss his successes and struggles as a full-time songwriter and producer in New York, in light of a few lessons that proved indispensable through his first half year as a professional songwriter; lessons that nobody taught him during his time at Berklee, and that in retrospect, would have saved him a lot of time, money and anguish both throughout college and in the so-called "Real World". 

This is not a talk about songwriting - it's a talk about songwriters: it's about making that leap and following that dream, in all its marvel, magic and mayhem, delivered by someone who can relate to the thoughts, fears and hopes concerning those first few steps because that's how he spent the last six months.

Michael Hazani was born and raised in Jerusalem, Israel. In 2007 he moved to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music; after graduating Summa Cum Laude he moved to New York to pursue a full-time career in writing and producing popular music. In the six months since graduating he had a song licensed  for a national TV and web campaign, signed a song shopping deal with an LA-based artist, and is currently involved in multiple projects, having his music pitched both domestically and overseas 

Joren van der Voort ('10) 

What makes Pop "Pop?"

Joren will be discussing genre-specific techniques of melody, harmony and rhythm.  While Berklee traditionally focuses on songwriting as separate from the genre, there are certain stylistic moves that, for example, are far more common in Rock than in R&B, there are harmonies perfect for Jazz, but not for most Pop.  He'll discuss a few examples of current hits to give you fresh ideas to include in your own writing.

Joren has won several awards at Berklee for his songwriting,  had songs placed on television, and had a song on hold with Britney Spears.

Ben Camp 

Strategies for Success.

Ben will be discussing specific outlooks and techniques you can apply to increase the level of success you are having on your path as a songwriter. The talk will be focused on internal successes (writing the songs you want to write, finding your motivation, and setting your own goals) to external successes (creating opportunities, marketing yourself, and becoming the "go to" writer for your clients.)

In his time at Berklee, Ben has grown the songwriters club from 300 members to 850 members, and has created several initiatives on-campus (from the MP&E/Songwriter collaboration database to the student-run Singer/Songwriter concert, to the Perfect Pitch contest), and maintained a 3.8 GPA. Off campus, he's had experience as an in-house producer/arranger for a classical-fusion organization,  had music placed on CBS, NBC and MTV. He's scored a national TV commercial, and has toured internationally as a DJ. As an entrepreneur, he has built record labels, real estate companies, and a music publishing/production company from the ground up.

Songwriter's Dept. Clinic Thursday March 10th!

WHERE: 1140 Boylston, Room 1W
WHEN: March 10th, 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.