Uniting Songwriters Throughout Northeast Ohio

News And Updates Volume 1 Issue 3 July 2017

A Note From The Top

Big Changes Ahead

Don Henson, President

When this all began in 2003, our members played locally, membership was drawn from local venues and our vision was local. Who knew we would expand our circle to include members from Cuyahoga and Stark counties, and as far away as Pennsylvania and West Virginia?

We never thought our name would limit our ability to attract new members. Well it turns out that there were many potential members that thought they had to live in Summit County to be a member, so they never attended a meeting. This perceived limitation will eventually disappear as we are moving to change the name of our group.

What will we be called? The answer was staring us in the face the whole time and our website address was the key: SongwriterSummit.com. We will eventually be known as the Songwriter Summit. This will include a new logo along with other things we probably haven’t thought of yet.

Here is the first draft of the logo. Let’s watch how it evolves. Here’s hoping more songwriters will “Reach for the Summit” and join us at our meetings.

If you have ideas for our Logo or other changes, or you would simply like to help, please contact me or one of our board members.

A Productive Meeting And This Month’s Video

Ahead of a one month break from our monthly meeting so the Board and members can all enjoy the annual picnic, our June meeting was a busy one.

We confirmed that the The Bridge will feature a full length video of one of the songs presented at our meetings to showcase the talent that shines each and every time we get together.

In line with the plans to enhance our image with the local songwriter community we are exploring the design of a new logo to accompany what will most likely be a rebranding of the group as Summit County Songwriter Circle DBA Songwriter Summit. That will bring our identity in line with the URL for our website and lessen the image of being a group limited and constrained by geography.

As part of that plan we are also reviewing the current by-laws of the organization and making changes as needed. Copies of that document will be available to all after the final review at our August meeting.

One of the things we are investigating is providing insurance coverage for the officers and members of the Board to protect against any liabilities that might arise during SCSC sponsored events.

Thanks to Dave Palomo, we are investigating a possible songwriting class for children, and separately for adults. We might be able to partner with the JCC (Jewish Community Center) on this project

Finally, we decided to cancel the July meeting in favor of the annual picnic. Our next Board and general meeting to be held on August 7th, 2017. We hope to see you there.

A Good Reason To Attend Meetings

Sure, our meetings feature a chance to sit around and connect to other area songwriters, grab a refreshment at the bar and even enjoy a little nosh while doing all that. But the real reason to show up is to experience the wide variety of song styles and genres presented by members and non-members alike. A great example of what you might experience at one of out gatherings is this new tune from member Guy Randall called Scrapbook. Take a moment and listen and enjoy his lyrics.

Area Sightings

SCSC Members can be found all over the area performing, teaching and sharing their music. You could be listed here!

Add your next gig or event to our calendar. Send your information to the .

This just in from member Jim Dutter…

There will be a Folk Jam at the Mount Union Nature Cente r on the first Sunday of every month from 2 to 5. We play and sing folk, old time and Celtic songs and sometimes even pop and country. It's different every time but always a lot of fun!

Come learn a new tune, bring a tune or two to share and join us when you can. All musicians and instruments, levels of expertise, singers, and listeners are welcome.

A new open mic…

Members Ken Moody-Arndt and Bob Sammon wandered out to a new open mic hosted by Tom Honsa at the Wembley Club in Chagrin Falls a few weeks back. The next dates for the event are July 20th and August 17th for those interested in trying a new venue with an appreciative audience.

Want To Write For The Bridge?

Last month we featured an article by Bobby Patetta detailing a great experience he had at a songwriter circle in Nashville. This month Ken Moody-Arndt shares some thought on jumpstarting the creative process that led to new songs in his catalog. What do you have to share with our readers?

We’re looking for articles that might be of interest to our members. They could be about a particular song you’ve written, an approach you take when performing, advice to new writers or just about anything related to the art we practice as songwriters and performers. They don’t have to be long and our dedicated team of editors will clean up minor errors at no extra charge.

Interested? with and idea or just send in an article. We’d love to hear from you and look forward to sharing your thoughts and ideas.

Make Us A Part Of Your Plans For July 1st

Whatcha doin' Saturday, July first? Uh-huh, nope, guess again. One more try...wrong-o! You're going to the SCSC Annual Picnic at Don's house. Don't know where Don's house is? Just pick any house in the Falls, sit in the front yard, get out your guitar and start singing and playing. I'm sure they'll love you for it. (Actually, for the address.) It all starts about 1:00 p.m. and goes until Don has had enough.

We will provide soft drinks (bottled water and sodas), chicken wings, pizza, ice, paper plates, cups and utensils. If you want a beverage with a bit more oomph to it, that would be your responsibility. We do ask that you bring a covered dish (with something edible in it) and/or a dessert to share.

Music? Of course there will be music. Provided you bring your instrument(s) and

voice. No, you don't have to bring 20 copies of the lyrics to share. We'll let it slide, this time.

The only way you can get out of this commitment is in the case of mutual assured destruction via nuclear weapons. Hell, that might happen there too, just for kicks and giggles.

For Your Enjoyment

Every now and then we’ll take a look back at events that our members have helped to make very special. Here’s a performance of Old Habits Die Hard from Michael Grady going back a few years. Michael can be heard around town with Cathy Grady doing mostly original music as the duo Grady Miller. New songs or old, our members continue to create fine music every day.

Rules For Songwriters:

being a report on an attempt to jumpstart myself

Ken Moody-Arndt

The British novelist Somerset Maugham is reported to have said, “There are three basic rules to writing a novel. Unfortunately, nobody knows what they are.”

I had not written a song in over a year, and I was now officially worried. I had gotten back into music almost twenty years earlier — at first, just because I wanted to be the best guitarist I could be. I wrote songs only occasionally, almost as an afterthought, something musically different to be about every now and then, and I was okay with that. Then, I joined this august group, at first simply because I was in a dry place with music, no one in my life interested but me, and I just wanted to be around other musicians. The songwriting — art or craft or whatever we shall call it — slowly grew on me and I had reached a point where I had produced a CD’s worth of songs, with another on the way, and I was, if not churning out a song a week and pitching them to some breathlessly waiting Music Row or other, at least coming out with a song every other month or so, or more, or less, or whatever, but now — nothing. For over a year. I needed inspiration, I needed rules; I would gladly have taken even rules that nobody knows. I needed something.

And it was Lent. Perhaps providentially, perhaps coincidentally, perhaps nothing, depending on where you come out on things, it was Lent, and I have always been devout. So, in the contemporary spirit of taking something on for Lent rather than giving something up, I took on the discipline of writing a song a week during those austere forty days.

At first, it went well. I had collected snatches of lyrics, here and there, I’d been careful to keep them more or less together in one notebook. Shaping them into songs came together surprisingly easily, where before, when I’d first gathered in the lyrics, it hadn’t. There came a song about “Neighbors,” based on the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Another one based on another of Jesus’ parables (I don’t know whether or not Lent had anything to do with the devotional nature of the songs). I had more lyrics I was struggling with, Week III — and then, out of nowhere, a third song that had nothing at all to do with the lyrics I was struggling with: I had been learning the Lennon/McCartney song Eleanor Rigby on the ukulele. Great song, I always thought, with a valid message, but a message that nevertheless always bothered my devout self. Why not, it occurred to me, write another song with an equally valid message from another angle? So I did. Just like that.

And then it stopped. Once again, high and dry with snatches of lyrics — but no songs. I came to the end of Lent three songs short, and with no clearer an idea how this mysterious process works than I had before. Start with lyrics? Start with a chord progression? Start with a melody? Start with something eating at you that can only eat its way out by following whatever breadcrumb bits new song construction leaves behind? All of the above. I guess. Do any digging into any “Songwriters on Songwriting” publication, and you’ll find advocates for any one or all of the above. There are those who rigorously force themselves to sit down and produce a song a week, even if it’s bad. There are those who await the movement of the muse, or spirit, or “inspiration," or whatever it is that drives us.

But in the end I think there was something that did jumpstart me in Lent. I think that was simply the intention to do it, the desire that kept me casting a line into whatever body of water I found myself adrift upon, cast a line, come up dry, cast it in again.

So in the end I can offer two rules for Songwriting — only two, I admit, but they are rules, nonetheless; not unknown rules but real rules, that you can memorize and ponder. Here they are. I offer them free of charge, with no copyright or PRO strong-arming attached or implied:

• Being worried about it is something, anyway; it shows that the art, or craft, or

whatever we shall call it means something to you.

• Your muse, soul, or spirit, or whatever we shall call it, sees the need and feeds upon

it and draws nourishment from the need in ways you can’t consciously know.

So there we have it. Sorry I can’t be more helpful. Go fish. Wait for them to bite.

General Announcements

Our Next Meeting Will Be In AUGUST

We meet next on August 7th at the B.P.O.E (Elks) at 2555 State Road in Cuyahoga Falls at 7:00 PM.If you are presenting a song please bring 20 copies for distribution to the members. You do not need to be a member to attend a meeting.

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While you’re browsing the web drop in on our site for member lists, open mic suggestions, and so much more. You can find it right here.

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