I’ve been writing songs I was 14 but I didn’t know I could join a songwriting group until I was in my late 30’s. I joined a “Producers and Songwriters Guild” songwriting group formed by two local gigging musicians and songwriters, Ruth Wyand and Tony Deluca. Although the group folded after a year of on-again, off-again meetings, I was hooked. A year later, Ruth, Tony and I co-founded the Garden State Songwriters and it’s been active ever since. In this article, I’m going to tell you what you have to do to start your own successful songwriting group.
Songwriting groups come in many forms, and everyone from beginning songwriters to established professionals can benefit.The late Jack Hardy (d.2011) ran a legendary songwriting group in NYC for years, which fostered the careers of a veritable ‘who’s who’ of contemporary folk artists like Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, John Gorka, Lucy Kaplansky and others. While I haven’t been able to find Hardy’s exact manifesto, the principles of the meeting are simple, but challenging:
1) Write (at least) a song a week
2) Meet with other songwriters every week
3) Share some good food or drink (potluck!)
4) Play your new song (unfinished is ok) for your peers (only people with a NEW song get to play)
5) Listen for what is working in the songs you hear and give positive feedback (if you can’t say something nice… 
)
6) Get over yourself and check your ego at the door… it’s all about the song!
Established songwriting groups you can join
Obviously, it’s easier to join a group that’s already established. The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) has local groups all over the world. NSAI provides tons of benefits to members, including a search for chapters and other members in your area. The Songwriters Guild of America offers regional events in NYC, Nashville and LA. Many other local or regional songwriting groups (Baltimore Songwriters Association, Connecticut Songwriters Association, the Philadelphia Area Songwriters Alliance, etc.) also have websites. A quick web search will lead you to regular meetings, workshops, open mics, house concerts and other events.
If you live in a remote area, or if the local songwriting group meetings are inconvenient, you can get feedback from online forums. Companies like Taxi and organizations like FAWM are great resources to get feedback and meet other songwriters. Becoming an active member of an active songwriting group can take your songwriting to the next level.
Okay, you want (or need) to start your own songwriting group, but where and when?
If you can’t find an already established songwriting group to join or ones that work for you, you can always start your own. The good news is that since you’re the one starting the group, you get to pick the place and time! Meeting at your house is probably the most natural place. If you live alone (or your cohabitants don’t mind) and you have enough space, you’re good to go. If that isn’t feasible (for whatever reason), and you don’t know anyone willing to volunteer their house, you’ll have to find something a bit more public. Bookstores, coffee houses, restaurants, church basements and public libraries are all possible venues, each with their own unique pros/cons.
The best times are probably Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday evenings as these are the least likely nights for band members to be gigging. If you can do it every week, great! That will really keep you writing, and will fuel great stuff. If not, at least make it a regular meeting, once a month at minimum. If you’re only meeting once or twice a month, it’s best to be consistent. The second and fourth Tuesday, for example, is easier than trying to pick a new time that everyone can make every month.
Where to find other songwriters
Invite any songwriters you know to the first meeting. If you don’t know enough songwriters, go to your local music stores and post something on the bulletin boards. Go to as many open mic nights as you can, and listen for original songwriters to invite. Set up a meetup. Hand out flyers if you have to. You’ll find them. Or they’ll find you. The ideal number varies, but most groups function best at between six and 12 people. Too few members and the group can falter if one or two people don’t show up. Too many, it’s hard to to give everyone enough time to be heard and too easy for everyone to get distracted by conversation.
Hosting the group
If it’s at your house, put on a big pot of pasta and sauce and open a jug of cheap red wine. Ask everyone to bring something tasty to share… salad, bread, cheese, fruit, dessert, more wine… Or it can be a lot simpler – a fresh pot of coffee and a big plate of cookies. Or just a pitcher of iced tea or lemonade. Make sure to give everyone time to relax, chat and eat before starting.
Sharing the songs
Have definite start and end times and once you start, someone (you!) has to act as a gate keeper to keep everyone focused and to keep the process moving. Everyone deserves the same amount of time, so if you have more people, that’s less time for each person. Remember that this isn’t a group for people to merely show off their playing chops. (That’s what gigs and open mics are for.) Your songwriting group is for giving and receiving feedback on songs that are ‘works in progress.’ Make sure everyone knows you plan to limit the playing to people who are working on new songs or rewrites.
If you budget four minutes per song, plus one minute of feedback per member, and you have eight members, that’s about 12 to 15 minutes per song, or a two hour meeting – just for the song share portion. Add four more group members, and that’s another hour. With fewer members, you can spend (a little) more time on each song, but not much.
It helps if you ask songwriters to bring enough copies of their lyrics to go around (sharing is possible). It’s not an absolute must, but it gives listeners the opportunity to see how the song is structured, and can focus feedback. The songwriters can pass out the lyrics before they play, but I prefer handing out the lyrics after the song has been played because that forces people to listen to the song. (Otherwise, people tend to read the lyrics.) If you have plenty of time or a smaller group, it’s a more organic way of listening, but bear in mind that holding the lyrics til after the song is played will take longer.
How to give (and receive) useful feedback
This is probably the hardest part of starting (and being part of) a songwriting group. For all songwriters, our songs are our babies. We went through hours (or at least minutes) of writing to give them life. When we play or listen to each new song, it either sounds beautiful to our ears, or we’re certain that it’s terrible and everyone will hate it. We’re alternatively proud of our work or terrified that our shortcomings will be publicly exposed and we’ll be humiliated.
In any case, each new song is something tender and fragile that we want everyone to love. We might be worried about the one line that we’re stumbling over, the melody note that doesn’t sound quite right against the chord, or any one of a dozen different things, but we are secretly hoping that it is perfect just the way it is. Rarely is that the case, especially for first drafts. So it’s important to be gentle when you’re giving feedback.
For any kind of feedback to be useful, it has to be specific. “It was a good song” or “I liked it” is the kind of pat on the back you can get from your mom, but it really doesn’t say anything truly helpful. Helpful feedback sounds like: “I really like how you kept the suspense up by going to the five chord at the beginning of the chorus instead of the one chord” or “I loved how you used internal rhyme in the bridge instead of end rhyme”. (I’m a word guy, so I’m always listening for the best lines.)
Accentuate the positive, decentuate the negative
The first thing you want to say when you’re giving feedback is what you liked about the song. Even if it’s only a great idea poorly realized, you can still say how fresh the idea is. There’s plenty of research to show that positive feedback (telling people what you like about them or their work) is more effective than any kind of criticism. And it helps encourage members to take creative risks if they’re not worried about being put down or picked apart.
If you decide that your group will also provide constructive critiques, do your best to limit them. Encourage members to identify the ONE thing they think could make the song better. Share that SINGLE piece of specific feedback as tactfully as possible. “Your song sucks, man,” isn’t going to win you any new friends, or make the person on the receiving end want to come back. Even the less objectionable “I didn’t like it” doesn’t say anything really useful. On the other hand, “I really wanted the melody to go up in the last line of the chorus” or “I was hoping for some longer notes in your hook” or “The opening verse was too abstract to really grab me” is the kind of actionable feedback that a songwriter can use.
If there’s something else you liked about the song, save if for after the ‘constructive’ critique because it’s always helpful to end on a positive note. Remember, too, that each member of the group is also listening to the feedback the other members of the group get as well, so another benefit is the learning by example that takes place.
Check your ego…
When it’s your turn to receive feedback, remember that is what you wanted when you started this group. Don’t waste time explaining the song or prefacing it with a long introduction. (If you have to do that, you haven’t done your job as a songwriter.) You can ask the group for specific feedback, but I prefer to play the song to see what everyone thinks. If there is anything specific that I’m concerned about, most of the time, someone will identify it. Have a copy of your lyrics so that you can take notes. In any case, keep an open mind. It won’t help you to improve if you take the criticism personally.
Hit songwriter Jason Blume (Collin Raye, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys) tells the story of his first pitch to publisher session in LA. After they played his song, the publishers on the panel proceeded to tear it apart, piece by piece. Jason drove home thinking that his life – and his dream – was over. But he suddenly realized that instead of trashing his song, they had actually given him the blueprint for making it better. His first cut came after seven rewrites. Realize that the feedback isn’t about you – it’s about helping you make your song the best that it can be. Whatever the feedback, and however it’s delivered, it’s best to receive it as a gift. Take notes, say ‘Thank you’, and think about it.
After the meeting
To write better songs, you have to apply the feedback that you received. Go back over your notes and try out the suggestions you got from the group. Re-write, re-write, and re-write some more. If there’s any feedback that might apply to your craft as a whole, apply it to other songs you’ve written or are working on as well.
Bottom line…
Like other arts, it takes time to develop the craft of songwriting, and feedback and support from other songwriters helps. There are many songwriting groups that you can join, but if you can’t find one, simply start your own. All it takes is a few like-minded songwriters, and a time and place to meet consistently. Share a meal, share your songs, lend your ears, share your appreciation and suggestions, and grow from the experience. Write, re-write and hone your craft. Maybe try co-writing or collaborating with other members of the group (more on that in another post). Repeat.
Do that for a few years, and your songwriting is bound to improve. Good luck!
