The How and Why of Hosting an In-House Songwriting Group

An in-house songwriting group will help you gain confidence as a songwriter.

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Songwriting circles are very beneficial ways of making connections with other writers in your area. A songwriting circle is often built around the involvement of a professional songwriter who acts as the “special guest”, demonstrating their music while guiding the songwriters and offering inspiration and expertise.

But this sort of thing doesn’t need to require a lot of planning, and short of an official “songwriting circle”, you could be creating a small, informal in-house songwriting group that brings you and a few other friends together once or twice a month.

If you are interested in forming a songwriting group, here’s a way you can do it:

1. Plan to set aside a 1.5 – 2.5 hour time slot, once or twice a month. Get the word out to friends and acquaintances.
2. If possible, invite a well-known songwriter from your area (especially for that first meeting) who could do a short Q&A about songwriting, perhaps demonstrate his/her own recent compositions.
3. Allow for 2 or 3 members to play a new song, either complete or works-in-progress, for the other members of the group to comment on.
4. Allow for discussion time for members to brainstorm regarding any problems with current songwriting projects.

Some comments:

1. If you bring in a professional musician to take part, be prepared to pay for their involvement. A professional may offer their services for free if they’re a friend, but even in that case, a small honorarium is a nice gesture.
2. It hopefully goes without saying that comments made by members about other writers’ music should always be made in helpful, positive terms. Constructive criticism  can be incredibly helpful. Further to this, playing your music for others in this kind of setting only works if you can accept constructive criticism. It’s worth considering having a short “Rules of the Songwriting Group” pamphlet that lays out some ground rules for expectations and group behaviour. 
3. If you’re forming a group for the first time, you might want to consider either forming a Facebook group, or sending a message out via Twitter or other social media as a way of getting interest. But for the kind of group that you might host in your own house, word of mouth may be the best way to start.
4. You might need to collect a small fee if you plan to invite a professional to each meeting of your group, but don’t feel that having a pro in attendance every time is necessary. Just getting together and playing/singing for others can be a wonderful learning experience.

If you are planning to form a group, or have done so recently, and would like to post a guest blog article here on “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” blog, please write me directly: gary [at] pantomimemusic.com, or post a comment below. I’d be very interested in hearing of your experiences.

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Written by Gary Ewer. Follow on Twitter.

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