Let the exchange begin!
Songwriting, Professionalism & Networking - I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me your… skill set and showmanship 😉
Protocol Preshow
Rendez vous at 7:30 am to head out with the Embassy team and rub elbows with the government officials for Solwezi and North Western Province. We receive a friendly, albeit formal, introduction from Col. Katambi and his staff who express their support for our project and its goals in the interest of boosting the economic viability for local talent. We mustn’t linger however for there’s a room full of aforementioned talent waiting for us down the road to get this project rolling!
Show and Tell
This morning’s scheduled topic is songwriting. But Daniel and I wanted to be sure to get a sense of who is in the room, what their primary instruments and level of professionalization might be, and what main concerns they face in their present creative lives.
Once their basic info forms have been shared, it’s then time to get to know each other musically!
Daniel and I have prepared a mini concert to kick that off - with a selection of our own compositions deliberately chosen to demonstrate the sweet spot of our individual as well as our collective styles. The classic swing of my “What a Lovely Day” song paired with Daniel’s more modern crossover sound on “So It Goes” get the ball rolling.
And now it’s their turn! First ready, first served - who has a composition they can perform for us all right here, right now?
Elizabeth kicks us off to help open the discussion around tools, tricks, and conventions for developing the dramatic arc of a composition and finding that sweet spot between familiarity and novelty which draw the listener in.
As each additional participant steps up to share their music with us - a full range of compositional devices is highlighted as participants discuss the structural, lyrical, and musical choices demonstrated by the composer.
We trust that Ranice, Bill, Kachaku, and Bright have left us each and all with fresh food for thought towards pushing the envelope of our own respective music writing efforts.
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