Belmont Songwriters Guild

Belmont Songwriter Showcase - Call for Performers

This is our first call for songwriters to register for the upcoming Belmont Songwriters Showcase. I
This Showcase is open to any songwriter who has attended a Belmont Songwriter Guild meeting this year. Since we will have a limited number of slots for the Showcase, we will give preference to those who have attended BSG meetings more regularly.
With this Showcase, it is our desire to invite Belmont Church members and your friends and family to experience the wonderful and diverse musical creative expressions that are coming out of the Belmont Songwriter Guild.

Date: Thursday October 29th
Place: Belmont Church Chapel (the old church sanctuary)
Time: 7:00 pm to 9:00-9:30 pm

Here is how the Showcase evening will run:
• We will plan for 20-24 performance slots of 5-6 minutes each.

• Each performer will prepare a written statement about the origin of their song that can be presented in 60 seconds or less. You will verbally give you prepared statement to the audience when you perform your song. We want you to express your heart but not take too much time.

• You will have the remaining time to present your song.

• While we prefer to have live performances, we will consider allowing you to present a pre-recorded CD of you song.

• Your primary audio setup will include a keyboard (we will provide), guitar input or mic (you bring your instrument), vocal mic, or other input for a primary instrument if not a keyboard or guitar.

• You can invite any of the following for an accompanist.
o Up to 3 back ground vocalists
o A percussion instrument, like a djembe or conga
o A second guitarist
o A instrument with direct input (bass, electric, etc)
o A instrument to be miked (violin, flute, etc)

• We will try to plan for a pre-Showcase run thru, but we may need to call you in early on the day of the Showcase for a sound check. If we just sound check, we will likely just do a few sound checks and run the rest in real time. Please be flexible with us, we will minimize the prep time as this is all volunteer work.

How to register as a Showcase performer
Please respond to this email with the following information:
• Your name
• How many times did you attend a BSG meeting
• Title of your song
• Timing of your song in minutes
• Would you prefer to present a pre-recorded CD of your song rather than a live performance
• What instrument will you play
• Will you sing for yourself
• What accompanying instruments do you want to use besides your lead vocal and lead instrument

Our next Belmont Songwriters Guild meeting is Thursday, September 17, at Asaph's on the Belmont Church campus. We will gather at 6:00pm and fellowship for half hour or so. You are welcome to bring your dinner to eat. After that we will share songs and then discus the upcoming BSG Writer's Night (October 29!).
Bring your newest or a favorite to share.

God is the Creator. All creativity is derived from Him. Thus, our creativity contains the essence of God. So, we can find Him through sharing our creativity...if we listen.

Our next BSG meeting is Thursday,August 20th, 6:00pm at Asaph's on the Belmont Church campus. See you there!
Casey

Hey friends. Concerning registration of new site members:
Because of registration spammers I had to turn on admin approval for new members. And now I am having to spend days at a time away from a net connection. So I just need someone who wouldn't mind checking once a day for new members and approve them if legitimate.
Very light duty, guaranteed.
If you can help just put a comment on this post to let me know.
Thanks.
Joe

I just had to let you to know that I started (and almost finished) a song tonight that was inspired by Mark's idea of giving a song to a carrier pigeon who flies away with it.

Rob Still said, "Julie, you should write a song about a carrier pigeon," and I replied, "No, I can't do that." The song must have overheard me and laughed at me because that VERY second, it popped into my head almost entirely and I had to write it down.

I figured out the final melody when I got home to my piano (with a little inspiration from my own Rob) and now it is 95% done!

I can't believe it. That NEVER happens to me. It must have been all that creativity oozing about the room.

I think it will be a great song for The Lovespies, and it sounds like it will have an accordion solo in it.

We'll be sure to play it for you at the next meeting, although we don't have an accordion.....

Hey Guys !

Can't wait to see you all this Thursday. Hope you are all having a great summer, and WRITING ! What a blessing that Casey and our church have a heart for us writers, to provide this kind of support for us. I know that we are all so thankful to the Lord, and to those who are bringing this encouragement to us through the Belmont Songwriters Guild. And aren't we all enjoying the awesome website, too? Thanks, Joseph !

I am pretty excited - I recently got a MySpace music page up with 3 songs posted.

http://www.myspace.com/backtobethelministries

As I have shared with you guys before, I wish that I could have figured out how to invest more time in my music, down through the years. I really tried. But sometimes, as they say, "Life comes at you fast," and it can bring us some very cold, winter winds. In these times, we have to hold on tight to the Lord to "outlast" bleak, desert seasons, as we await the unfolding of God's goodness and His promises to us. We need to remember: Winter does not last forever, and Spring will come again!

ATTENTION - NO BSG MEETING THIS THURSDAY (JULY 16) due to the event in the Belmont worship center. We will meet next Thursday, July 23 at 6:00 pm for a discussion followed by songs. More details to follow. Sorry for the late notice. Please tell anyone you know from BSG. - Casey

Update:
Our next BSG meeting is Thursday, July 23, 6:00pm at Asaph's on the Belmont Church campus. I want to continue our discussion from last meeting and get some more song-share time in. Feel free to bring your brown-bag dinner to eat. Our topic this week "What do I do with my music." We'll start song share at 7:30 and go to 9:00.

Hi All,
As a songwriter you will benefit from watching the link below and learn! Each video is only 4-8 minutes long. Enjoy!Click the link, sit back and turn up your sound....smiles!

Melodic Rhythm and Lyric Rhythm: Four Lessons:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid23873432001?bclid=238423...

Let others know what you think by adding to this blog.

To quote Jay-Z, these are just my thoughts.

Songwriters,
Wow, what an amazing meeting we had Thursday night (6/18). We are so diverse…it’s wonderful. I have this new favorite word that I use a lot these days…vibrant. I’m craving vibrancy; things that energize or refresh my life, my mind, my soul. Well, our first BSG discussion meeting was vibrant. We spent over 2 hours answering the question, “Why do I write songs?” I think we heard from just about everyone - over 30 folks. So, we got over 30 different answers. I loved it! And I related to every one. Here’s just a few of the themes:

• I feel good when I complete a song
• It’s my personal expression
• I can’t help it, I have to create
• When love flows, I write
• To say what needs to be said
• It’s like an infants cry…for attention
• I hear from God through my songs
• I tried to stop, but my soul needs it to stay healthy

And we touched on some of the pain we experience in our writing journey; the unfulfilled longing or the gap between where we are and our hopes or dreams for our music. A question that came up in the discussion is “How do you define success for your songwriting”. I think this is an important question and I encourage everyone to continue to consider what this is for you personally.

As I told the group last night, I desire that each of us would find a place of peace and joy in the exercise of our creative gift. I believe that working through these kinds of questions can help us find this peace and joy.

I look forward to our ongoing discussions.
Our next meeting is Thursday, July 16.
Happy writing.
Casey