Songcraft: Looking Back At 2007, Looking Ahead To 2008

Photo (“Guitar Closeup”) by adhd

It all started sometime in March or April this year, I can’t really remember exactly when.

I had watched the movie “Music & Lyrics” and had felt really inspired to write some new songs. Songwriting had always intrigued me, but I never really had the resolve to sit down and seriously write some real complete songs. Besides, I felt there wasn’t any real point in writing songs if there was no one to hear them. It’s usually very difficult to get someone to sit down and listen to a new original song of yours.

(It’s different if you were, say, Paul McCartney during the Beatles era, and you knew that every song you wrote would be heard by millions of fans around the world…hence you’d be motivated to write your best stuff.)

I had grown tired of trying to seek out songwriting circles/support groups in Singapore. After a long period of futile searching, I had come to the conclusion that there were none. (Unless you want to consider the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore (COMPASS), which was not really what I was looking for.)

Songwriting seemed to be one of those unsung artforms which people rarely talked about. I mean, there are writers’ circles, filmmakers’ circles, photography clubs, drama troupes, a capella groups, poetry slams and stuff like that, but how come there was so little activity when it comes to songwriting? Surely there are many people in S’pore who are into creating music as well?

I had a strong feeling there were many songwriting enthusiasts out there in S’pore, just like me. What was needed was some kind of circle to be formed, and hopefully these songwriters would come to know about it in due time, and then this whole songwriting vibe can flourish.

My ambitions weren’t big.

All I wanted was to create a cosy little environment whereby we can come together to share our songs with one another, and in the meantime, get inspired by one another’s songs. That was it.

I never wanted Songcraft to become big. And I still feel the same way. It would be too much of a headache to run a huge group. Smaller is always easier to manage.

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One Weekend

So anyway, that’s what I did.

In one weekend, I set up a blog. I thought of a name for the circle. I ended up with the word “Songcraft”. (It is a word, isn’t it?) I wanted a name which was synonymous with songwriting, and yet was unique (so that it would turn up well on Google searches, haha!).

I came up with the goals and objectives of the circle. I started searching high and low for places to hold our first session. I started telling friends about the blog.

All within one weekend.

Now I’ve done a number of spur-of-the-moment things in my life. Some ideas turn out well, some don’t. That’s the way it goes…you win some, you lose some. But I still believe in doing something which you believe in.

And as luck would have it, things turned out pretty well for the Songcraft Songwriting Circle.

And as I write this post on the Songcraft blog on the very last week of December 2007, I can safely say that the whole Songcraft thing turned out MUCH better than I would have ever dared to imagine. All in a short span of eight months. When I look back at my first few posts on this Songcraft blog, I can really see how far we’ve come in just a short period of time.

And of course, the year-end mini-concert was the ultimate icing on the cake to what has been an already fantastic year.

I guess there were songwriting enthusiasts out there in S’pore who bought into the idea of what Songcraft was all about, and shared the same vision and ideals as I did.

We’re not about grooming people to become the next big superstar songwriter. We’re not about helping you network your way to becoming a songwriter for the Taiwanese pop music industry. We’re not about competing to see who writes the best (or most popular) songs via a voting system.

What we are is a simple little circle which comes together to share our songs with one another. No expectations, no pressure. Just share what you like, however you like.

Music, after all, is the universal language.

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Friendships

One thing I really really cherish about the Songcraft circle was the many new friendships that I’ve forged through meeting new songwriters.

It’s the unspoken knowledge that we all share the same passion for Music that brings us so close together. There’s just something about interacting with fellow musicians/songwriters. It’s as if everyone shares the same telepathic understanding, and it’s so easy to communicate with one another when we all share the passion for music.

I really enjoyed meeting and making friends with so many musicians/songwriters whom I’ve never met before prior to Songcraft.

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Songcraft In 2008

Photo (“Pensive”) by Shawi

What’s in store for Songcraft in 2008?

Well, I always believe in not fixing something which ain’t broke. Which means I do not intend to tinker with something which seems to be working pretty fine. The monthly sessions will still remain as they are. Nothing’s gonna change much as far as that is concerned.

However, I do have quite a few ideas up my sleeve for the Songcraft circle for 2008. Some may seem a bit far-fetched, some may seem a bit crazy. (But hey, I have been known to try doing crazy things.)

Now that you’ve so kindly read this blog post till thus far, I shall share some of my possible plans for Songcraft in the year 2008:

1) Registering Songcraft as an arts group/society: This is something which I’ve been thinking about, but I’ll have to look further into this. I need to study and explore whether there is i) a necessity for us to register ourselves as an arts group/society, and ii) whether there are any substantial benefits to the circle if it is indeed going to be registered as an arts group/society.

2) Seeking sponsorship: This might possibly tie in with No. 1 (registering as an arts group/society), since arts-related charities in S’pore “may also gain tax exemption benefits for their donors through obtaining Institution of Public Character status”, according to the NAC website. This sponsorship funds may be used to put up songwriting-related events such as seminars and concerts (see No. 4 and 5).

3) Collaborating with another arts group on a project of some sort: I was thinking if would be cool if let’s say, for example, the songwriters from Songcraft could team up with a theatre group, as well as some writers/playwrights, and put our collective creative juices together to stage a musical. We could start small, maybe a small-scaled production or something. Don’t have to aim for the stars in our first attempt. Or, we could help write some music and songs for filmmakers to be used in their films. Things like that. Basically, it entails collaborating with artists of other artistic genres and creating an exciting piece of art together. Putting our collective talents to good use, in other words.

4) Organising public outreach events relating to songwriting: This means reaching out to the general public in hope of spreading the love and passion for songwriting to them. For example, we could hold some little workshop at the Esplanade Library whereby a few songwriters could share about how they come up with songs, their approach, their techniques, their inspirations, their methods. The whole idea is to i) educate and ii) spread the awareness of the craft of songwriting to members of the public who might only have a faint interest in songwriting.

5) A slightly more ambitious concert: I was thinking of staging one of those “Singer-Songwriter Festivals”, whereby it would be THE definitive event in S’pore when it comes to indie songwriting. Just like ZoukOut is the definite beach party event, and Mosaic is the definitive music/jazz festival, and the S’pore International Piano Festival is the definitive classical piano festival…our very own Songcraft singer-songwriter festival could just be one of those eagerly-anticipated yearly events whereby people who are interested in indie singer-songwriters can go catch some of the most unheard of (but very talented) singer-songwriters perform. We could open it up to even more singer-songwriters than just those in our circle, and we could try to invite as many indie singer-songwriters in S’pore as we can, e.g. Ling (of YouTube fame), Amanda Tee, Michael Cho, Richard Philip, etc. If we can secure funding from sponsors, we would have a slightly larger budget to work with and we could stage something slightly more ambitious than our inaugural mini-concert.

Are some of these ideas unrealistic? Sure.

But it doesn’t hurt to dream right?

Life isn’t that fun if we always stick to doing the same things.

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How long will the Songcraft Songwriting Circle last? Will it last through 2008?

I seriously don’t know.

I don’t really know what the future holds for Songcraft, and neither do I know if I will continue running the group.

I mean, you never know with such things. Unforeseen circumstances might always occur. I might lose interest in Songcraft (unlikely as it may be). Or I might find myself too busy to run Songcraft any longer. Or I might have to relocate overseas or something like that.

You can never say for sure how long it will last.

But as for now, I think I shall treasure this wonderful thing that we have.

Here’s to a musical 2008!