April Assignment
Bring an original song and lyric/chord sheets, or post your song at Facebook Pittsburgh Songwriters Circle for the
Monthly Assignments
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March 2021 Assisgnment
Monthly Assignments for March, 2021 Write a song using no more than three chords. This will be an easy one for members whose styles fall somewhere between traditional folk and John Prine. Concerned that three chords is too limiting, that it will restrict your ability to make the song interesting? Listen to the variety in […]
February 2021 Assisgnment
Structure a song that begins with the chorus.It’s an old trick used by early country artists to push the hookiest, most memorable part of the song through the radio speakers before listeners had a chance to change the station. The strategy was adopted with much success by pop and rock artists.Why put the chorus up […]
January 2021 Assignment
January 2021 Assignment Write a song in a form you haven’t previously explored, or reinvent one of your existing songs in a different vibe. Call it a comfort zone, call it a style, call it a rut. It’s easy for songwriters to pigeonhole themselves as creators of a particular type of song. Is it traditional […]
December 2020 Assignment
Diminished chords If you think of your songs as musical paintings, diminished chords can produce the nuances between the reds and the purples, or suggest the time of day through specific shades of gray. Usually used as a step in a progression — walking up or down between chords — a diminished chord is simply […]
November 2020 Assignment
At the group’s next meeting Wed., Nov. 4, the songwriting assignment will be to mashup fragments of two or more of your unfinished songs — think The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” and “I’ve Got a Feeling.”
OCTOBER 2020 ASSIGNMENT
The suggested songwriting assignment is “return.” But it’s been a while since we’ve met under a roof — any original song you bring will be appreciated.
April 2020 Assignment
Write a riff-based song. This will be easy for songwriters whose process starts with a short repeated melody line or chord progression — the song is constructed around the riff. Classical musicians might refer to an ostinato, or musical phrase that is persistently repeated at the same pitch. You know the five-note riff at the […]
March 2020 Assignment
Write a song inspired by a fortune cookie. At the February meeting, each member was given a wrapped fortune cookie. If you missed the meeting, visit FortuneCookieMessage.com. Mystically, cosmically, the message inside will somehow be the topic of next song that you write. Spooky! Typically there’s some educational value in listening to previously recorded songs […]
February 2020 Assignment
Write a song in a single sitting Sound difficult? You might be surprised to learn that some very popular songs were written during single sessions of explosive imagination. Feel free to cheat a little by including song ideas that have been stewing for a while. This assignment isn’t as much about stream-of-consciousness songwriting as it […]
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