JANUARY 2020 NEWSLETTER

Hey songwriters,

With more time to talk on no-deadline first Wednesdays at Hambone’s, Pittsburgh Songwriters Circle meetings keep getting better. With about 30 people including two new members gathered Jan. 8, the new songs that were workshopped and discussed came in a variety of forms. Many embraced the challenging January assignment of using only five words in each lyrical line. The group helped to develop music for an a capella rocker, assessed the possibilities of an instrumental piano piece under construction, considered the unique demands required of a fun tune written for a musical puppet show and marveled at an a capella song written on the spot during the meeting. That song, and February: Album Writing Month, inspired the suggested songwriting assignment for the group’s Feb. 5 meeting: Write a song in a single sitting. Learn more on the Monthly Assignments page.

FAWM

You might take the songwriting assignment a challenging step further by participating in the annual February: Album Writing Month. Participants are challenged to write 14 songs in 28 days. Click here for details.

2020 CDs

This is my annual “I’m not a warehouse” plea to members who haven’t picked up their CDs from the recent album project. Make special meet-up arrangements by contacting me through January at this address or 412-335-1446 (if you text, identify yourself). Fail to act and the 32 CDs you paid for that include the song you wrote and recorded will become property of the group to be used for promotional purposes.

SongSpace

Member Brian Junker (junkerb@gmail.com) reminds the group about the music series SongSpace at First Unitarian, a nonprofit “celebration of folk, Americana, bluegrass, singer-songwriter, old-time, and world music, featuring local, regional and national artists.” Performing 7:30 p.m. Sat., Jan. 11 is Afro Yaqui Music Collective. Click here for details.