SGA News

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SGA April Events:
ASCAP Expo in LA; pro critiques, peer critiques and performance nights in Nashville and New York

Tuesday, April 7, 7 to 9 p.m.
Tunesmithing On Music Row (Nashville)
Edgehill Studios Café
(Open to the Public)

Hit singer-songwriter Jon Robbin (“I Guess You Had to Be There”/Lorrie Morgan) will headline Tunesmithing on Music Row from 7-9 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7 at the Edgehill Studios Cafe, 1201 Villa Place on Music Row. The event also will feature performances by Dale Allen, Bill Flowerree, and Cassandra Kubinski. Nashville publicist Chuck Whiting and the Songwriters Guild of America Central Project Manager Kimberly Maiers Shaw will emcee the show. Admission is free. Tunesmithing on Music Row is sponsored by Whiting Publicity & Promotions and the Nashville office of the Songwriters Guild of America. For more information about Tunesmithing on Music Row, call (615) 242-9857 or (615) 742-9945, or write Arts@WhitingPublicity.com or Nash@SongwritersGuild.com.

If you are interested in being considered for a future Tunesmithing performance, please email either Kimberly Maiers Shaw at kshaw@songwritersguild.com or Chuck Whiting at chucwhit@usit.net or call 615-742-9945 for details.

Wednesday, April 15, 6 to 8 p.m.
SGA Bluebird Showcase (Nashville)
Bluebird Café, Nashville
(Open to the Public)

The Songwriters Guild will sponsor a wonderful showcase at the famed Bluebird Café (4104 Hillsboro Pike) on Wednesday, April 15 at 6 p.m. Get your taxes done early so you can join us for a special “Songwriter Girl” night! We are turning the Bluebird Café into the Songwriter Girl Café! The evening will feature hit songwriters Kirsti Manna, Bridgette Tatum, Bonnie Baker and Melissa Bollea. Kirsti will also be bringing up some special songwriter “girls” from her Songwriter Girl Camp. This will be a wonderful evening that you won’t want to miss!

Reservations begin at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, April 8. To reserve your seat, please go to www.bluebirdcafe.com. There is a minimum $7 drink/meal fee for the early show and $1.50 reservation fee (per person) if you make a reservation. First come-first served seating is available at the bar and on the back benches.

Friday, April 24, 2009
Pitch Screen (Nashville)
SGA Members Only (a mail-in event)

A pitch screen means that an industry professional will listen to your song and determine whether or not the song is “pitch-ready.” "Pitch-ready" songwriters will be granted access to our online tip sheets for two months, providing “tips” about who is looking for songs and where to pitch your material directly to artists, labels, etc. Members who pass three screenings will have permanent access to our pitch page! This is NOT a song critique, so the expectation is that demos sound polished and professional—NO ROUGH-SOUNDING DEMOS.

Only a few spaces remain! See below for reservation information. Pitch Screen submissions must be received by Friday, April 24.

Instructions and Information:
· Call 615-742-9945 to secure a reservation. (Due to the high volume of submissions we have received in the mail, we are now taking reservations for the pitch screens.)
· Send ONE song only on CD to the SGA Nashville office by the deadline (209 10th Ave. South, Suite 321, Nashville, TN 37203)
· Write “Pitch Screen” on the envelope.
· Include a typed lyric sheet and a workshop release form with your CD. Make sure to include all of your contact information, including your e-mail address on both your lyric sheet and your CD.
· Participants will be notified within two weeks of the event whether their song passed or failed
· Online access to the pitch page (password) will be sent from webmaster
· CDs will not be returned or saved for future events.
· Email nash@songwritersguild.com with questions or to request a workshop release form (if one has not been submitted in 2009).
· You must be a current SGA member to participate.
· Failure to follow the above instructions may disqualify your submission from being accepted for the pitch screening session. Please follow instructions carefully.

April 23 through 25
ASCAP “I Create Music” EXPO (Los Angeles)

Get Connected! The 2009 ASCAP “I Create Music” EXPO is set for April 23 to 25 at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. Get more information on the event, here.

Tuesday, April 28, 6 to 8 p.m.
Workshop: Your Best Voice: Learning to sing your songs with your songwriting voice (New York)
Free to current SGA members (reservation required)

Whether you’re a songwriter or singer/songwriter, the ability to perform your songs- in your own unique voice- is a tremendous asset. No one can share the soul of your music the way you can… and that can make all the difference in the world when a demo singer or recording artist doesn’t quite ‘get it’, or an A&R guy wants you to hear live what new songs you’ve got in the pipeline. Bring your guitar, bravery and an open mind, and get ready to learn how to liberate your voice and discover your sound, as well as how dramatically these shifts will improve your songwriting.

Jennifer Hamady, voice teacher, singer and writer, has had the privilege of coaching, singing and touring with Grammy, CMA and Emmy award winners including Stevie Wonder, Patti LaBelle, Lee Ann Womack, Jessica Simpson, Smokey Robinson, Kid Rock, Christina Aguilera and Def Leppard, among others. Most recently, Jennifer was the lead singer in Cirque du Soleil’s DELIRIUM, performing for over 1 million people in 16 countries in 2007.

As a coach, Jennifer has been working for over ten years with pop, R&B, country and jazz singers, Broadway stars and television actors to release mental and physical tension, establish confidence and vocal strength, and embrace personal and musical optimism and wonder. Her approach centers around the idea that healthy, beautiful and powerful singing begins by first discovering, becoming comfortable with and allowing the unconscious, natural voice to emerge before developing and strengthening it. Training (in the traditional, classical sense) without first recognizing and nurturing this inherent understanding can create and manifest tensions- both physical and mental- that become increasingly difficult to extricate as time goes by. Jennifer’s insights and experiences have been captured in her ground-breaking book The Art of Singing: Discovering and Developing Your True Voice to be published by Hal Leonard in early 2009.

The first 12 current SGA members to call or e-mail for reservations will be accepted into the class. Serious singer-songwriters only, please. The workshop will be given at the Guild NY office 1560 Broadway (entrance on 46th Street), suite 408, and begins promptly at 6 p.m.

To register, call (212) 768 -7902 between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, or e-mail East Coast Project Manager Mark Saxon at msaxon@songwritersguild.com. Be sure to include all of your information in order to be confirmed, or to receive notice that the class is full. We will need your name (the name you used for your Guild membership), daytime telephone number, and e-mail address. If you have been accepted into the class, you will receive a confirmation.

Tuesday, May 5, 7 to 9 p.m.
Chick Singer Night
French Quarter, Nashville ($5 & Open to the Public)

Join us for a special night of music featuring talented women and SGA members at the French Quarter in Nashville (828 Woodland St.) on Tuesday, May 5 starting at 7 p.m. $5 cover charge.

Chick Singer Night is the nation’s most notable and longest-running songfest for female artists. The format is simple. All singers, all styles of music are welcome. Each singer shows up the afternoon of the show and runs her songs with the CSN Band. Later that evening they hit the stage with a hot band in a cool venue and give the performance of a lifetime! To be considered for Chick Singer Night in Nashville, email Jaclyn Brown at Jaclyn@chicksingernight.com or visit www.chicksingernight.com for more details.

Check out www.myspace.com/chicksingernightnashville for periodic updates on who will be featured on May 5!

Monday, May 11
Come join us at our very first OPEN MIC NIGHT of the year (New York)
At Kenny’s Castaways! (one drink minimum, no cover charge)

The Songwriters Guild of America is proud to announce the new performance home for East Coast performance nights… the legendary Kenny’s Castaways in the heart of Greenwich Village. The venue is home to the New York Dolls, Patti Smith and is the place where Bruce Springsteen played his very first New York gig, Kennys is now boasting a new sound system, great food and drinks, as well as a superb staff. The Songwriters Guild will host our brand new Songwriters Open Mic Night on Monday, May 11th. We’ll have a sign-up sheet ready at 7 p.m., and the show will run from approximately 8 to 10 p.m. Songwriters Guild members should come early to make sure to get a spot on the sign-up sheet. Depending on how many people sign up, you will be able to perform one or two songs if you make the list.

This is a great way to be heard for future SGA performance nights, where we will be highlighting some of the great talent we have. There is a one-drink minimum at Kenny’s, but Kenny’s has graciously allowed us to do this show with no cover charge. So please come to play or watch, bring your friends, and enjoy. Kenny’s Castaways is located at 157 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village in New York City.

Tuesday, June 9, 6 to 8 p.m.
Peer Critique (New York)
Free to SGA members (reservation required)

Unlike our ProCritique, where members generally bring in their songs completed and mixed to be played and critique’d by publishers and other industry professionals, our PeerCritique gives the writer a chance to bring in unfinished material, in rough form, to get evaluations by other Guild members before they spend a lot of time and money to produce their demos. Often, after someone has spent their resources completing a demo of a song they’ve written, they are naturally not as open to making changes in their songs, which can be costly and time-consuming. In an unfinished state, members can get opinions from other members on what might be done to improve a song lyrically, musically, production-wise, etc., before they’ve committed it to final mastering.

There are only 12 slots available for each meeting, so songwriters wishing to attend must call our NY office ASAP at (212) 768-7902 to reserve a spot for the event. Please call between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m to reserve your spot. Bring one song, on CD, and 14 typed lyric sheets. The PeerCritique will be held at our NY office, at 1560 Broadway, Suite 408 (entrance on 46th Street). The PeerCritique is open to current SGA members only.

Each Wednesday, 6 to 8 p.m.
ProShop (New York)

Songwriter Ann Ruckert presents her ProShop at the New York SGA office. At every session, twenty of the area's most talented up-and-coming songwriters play one track, each, for distinguished industry professionals from all walks of the music industry. Over 60 Pro Shop participants have signed recording and/or publishing deals within the last three years. Attendees must earn space in this class based on songwriting skills. To be authorized, e-mail ruckmusic@aol.com

Last Monday of every month, 7 p.m. (open to the public)
Songwriters Circle (New York)

Ann Ruckert, in conjunction with the Songwriters Guild of America, the Johnny Mercer Fund Songwriter Circle and 13 Stories Records, Inc., presents a fabulous FREE songwriters circle, attended by industry professionals, on the last Monday of every month. Listen to top quality songwriters and artists perform their original material in a great atmosphere. Event begins at 7 p.m. at the Red Lion, in the heart of Greenwich Village (151 Bleecker Street, NYC). For further information, e-mail ruckmusic@aol.com.