November 2020 Meeting

Many great songs (yet again!) at last Friday’s Toronto Songwriters Association meeting. The optional exercise was to write a song about a home you used to live in or one you’d like to live in. The meetings are virtual (Zoom) so any songwriters anywhere are invited to join in on the 2nd Friday of every month at 7:30 pm Eastern.

the blakeley walker band
Live at The Central Saturday, Jan. 26

the blakeley walker bandThe blakeley walker band performs at The Central in Toronto on Saturday, January 26, starting at 6:30. The Central is in the Annex, at 603 Markham Street, Toronto (see map below). Stacey Shopsowitz joins them on bass and Xavier Enriquez on drums. Dante Matas opens at 6:30, and the band starts at 7:30.

Sandy and Eric are members of the Toronto Songwriters Association. Accomplished songwriters and musicians on their own, they have also played together and co-written many songs over the years. There is a melding of songwriting and stylistic individuality, and tight musical and vocal cohesion whenever they perform together at TSA meetings. That’s what you are in for at The Central on January 26.

The blakeley walker band in performance.

The blakeley walker band in performance.
L-to-R: Stacey Shopsowitz, Eric Walker, Sandy Blakeley

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Monthly Songwriting Assignments

Each month, we unleash chaos theory and cook up a songwriting assignment for the next  month’s meeting. The assignment could be anything from a general theme or a definite song title to a challenge to write, for example, ten new songs in ten days. Members are free to work on the assignment or follow the path of personal inspiration instead. Some of our best songs have come from assignments. Assignments are always optional (you can present any new song that you worked on).


2025

JANUARY 10 FRIDAY 7:30PM EST:

In-person meeting with online Zoom video meeting option. Message us for an invite / exact address in the Greater Toronto Area / the Zoom link.

Optional assignment: Write and present a new song that has anything to do with the concept of island / tropical music. For example, something with a reggae or calypso feel, or words that have to do with the tropics.


2024

There is no December 2024 meeting, just a pre-holiday party (with lots of live music) in-person at a member’s home.

NOVEMBER 08 FRIDAY 7:30PM EST:

In-person meeting with online Zoom video meeting option. Message us for an invite / exact physical address in the Greater Toronto area / the Zoom link.

Optional assignment: Write and present a new song that has anything to do with the word or concept of “creepy.” It’s only a coincidence that Hallowe’en was the month prior. 🙂


OCTOBER 11 FRIDAY 7:30PM EST:

In-person meeting with online Zoom video option. Message us for an invite / Zoom link / exact address in the Greater Toronto Area.

Optional assignment: Write and present a new song that has uses at least one diminished chord.


SEPTEMBER 13 FRIDAY 7:30PM EST:

In-person meeting with online Zoom video option. Message us for an invite / Zoom link / exact address in the Greater Toronto Area.

Optional assignment: Write and present a new song that has anything to do with travel / traveling.


AUGUST 09 FRIDAY 7:30PM EST:

In-person meeting with online Zoom video option. Message us for an invite / Zoom link / exact address in the Greater Toronto Area.

Optional assignment: Write and present a new song that makes you or someone else want to dance.


JULY 12 FRIDAY 7:30PM EST:

In-person meeting with online Zoom video option. Message us for an invite / Zoom link / exact address in the Greater Toronto Area.

Optional assignment: Write and present a new song that uses around 10 (or any number) of lines from a TV show episode or movie that you have watched.


JUNE 14 FRIDAY 7:30PM EST: In-person and hybrid online video meeting. Message us for an invite / Zoom link / the exact address in the Greater Toronto Area. Optional assignment: Write and present a song that has 2 minor chords in the verses, and 2 major chords in the choruses.


MAY 10 FRIDAY 7:30PM EST: In-person meeting in the Greater Toronto Area. Message us for the exact address. Optional assignment: Write and present a new children’s song.


APRIL 12 FRIDAY 7:30PM EST: In-person meeting in the Greater Toronto Area. Message us for the exact address. Optional assignment: Take any melody from a song that you like written by someone else, and change it or be influenced by it to write your own song. Even use the influence of the melody in your instrument instead of your vocal.


MARCH 8 FRIDAY 7:30PM EST: Zoom Meeting. Optional assignment: Write and present a new song that is about the disappearance of something from your culture (like rotary phones), or from your life.


FEBRUARY 9 FRIDAY 7:30PM EST: In-person meeting in the Toronto Roncesvalles area. Message us for the exact address. Optional Assignment (musically-based rather than conceptually-based): Write and present a new song that has two very contrasting musical styles within it. For example, bluegrass and metal; rock and ska. Or just have two very contrasting sections within your song.


JANUARY 12 FRIDAY 2024 7:30PM EST: Optional Assignment: Write and present a song that is based on the lyrics that you submitted in the November 2023 meeting. If you didn’t write lyrics for that assignment, then message us for access to the many lyrics that members submitted that month.


2023

OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT FOR THE NOVEMBER 10 2023 MEETING: Write and present a new song based on the winning lyrics from group submissions in October. Contact us for a copy of the (currently) anonymous lyrics.

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OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT FOR THE OCTOBER 13 2023 MEETING: Write and present a new song that is in an alternate tuning (e.g. Drop D on guitar).

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OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT FOR THE SEPTEMBER 8 2023 MEETING: Write and present a new song that mentions any sense (smell, sound, taste, etc.).

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OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT FOR THE AUGUST 11 2023 MEETING: Write and present a new song that has reverse-order chords from any existing song that you like, even one of your own! PS This meeting will be the first in-person meeting in over 3 years near the intersection of Eglinton and Dufferin in Toronto. Message us for the exact address if you wish to attend.

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OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT FOR THE JULY 14 2023 MEETING: Write and present a new song with a minimalist sound: Minimal lyrics, minimal chords.

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June 2023: Write a song that contains a riff.

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March 2023:  Write a song entitled “I Didn’t Know That”.

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February 10: Write a song that takes a turn musically on the middle for example starts slow and gets fast, starts happy and gets sad, etc..

Optional: Bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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January 13: Write a song that begins with the chorus.

Optional: Bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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2022

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December 9: Write a love song that could have been heard on the radio in the 60s.

Optional: Bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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November 11: Go for a walk with your phone – then at some point during your walk, sing or hum something or say some words into your phone to subsequently use for a new song.

Optional: Bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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October 14: Choose a book title and write a song around it.

Optional: Bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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September 9: Write a song with happy chords and a happy vocal melody, but with dark lyrics. (eg Hanson – Mmmbop; Foster the People – Pumped Up Kicks; Boomtown Rats – I Don’t Like Mondays)

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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August 12: Pick a phrase from any Leonard Cohen song and use it verbatim in your brand new song.

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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July 8: Write a 2 chord song.
Good luck to everyone. Here’s to choosing the right 2 chords!

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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June 10: Write a song entitled “There’s No Quitting You”.

 Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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May 13: Lyric Exchange! More details to come.

 Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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March 11: Use a sign as a song title or opening line of a song.

 Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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February 11: Write a complete song in under an hour

 Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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January 14: Write a song to your enemy about forgiving them

 Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

2021

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November 12: Pick up the nearest book, turn to a random page, read the first paragraph and write a song about what you find there.

 Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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May 13: Write a sequel to one of your old songs.

 Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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August 13: Write a song about a puzzle, or that has something to do with a puzzle.

 Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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July 9: Write a song with an alliterative title. (eg. Bob’s Burgers, Bamboo Blade, etc)

 Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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June 11: Write a song about or based on a conversation around a dinner table.

 Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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May 14: Write a song based on a proverb.

 Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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April 9: Write a song from the point of view of an inanimate object

 Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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March 12: Write a song about or inspired by a street name.

 Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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February 12: Write a song that incorporates a litany of things (people, places, things, whatever).

 Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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January 8: Write an up-tempo song. Good writing to all!

 Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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2020

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November 13: Write a song about a home you used to live in or one you think you’d like to inhabit. Good writing to all!

 Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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October 9: Write a song that is lyrically minimalist. Use as few words in the song as you can manage – keep them 6 feet apart, as it were!

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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September 11: Write a song that incorporates a phrase or idea from another language. Use that language in the lyric of the song.

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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August 28: Write a song that is conversational, i.e. in which two or more characters are talking to one another.

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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August 14: Write a song that has no rhymes.

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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July 24: Write a song about or from the perspective of not fitting in, not belonging (and that’s not necessarily a bad thing).

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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July 10: Write a song about something you need, want, or desire, but which is forbidden.

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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June 26: Write a hit song, whether it’s as a mockery or for real. Try to write the kind of thing that ends up at the top of the charts these days.

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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June 12: Write a song about dreaming — daydreaming, night dreaming, any kind of wishful thinking.

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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May 22: Write a song based on a photograph. If possible, show the photo as part of the presentation of the lyrics.

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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May 8: Write a song that “Takes us outside”; e.g.: trees, a trail, a river, a lake, ocean, clouds, rain, storm, mountains, beach etc.

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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April 24: Write a song about something positive that could come from COVID-19 and the isolation we’re dealing with.

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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April 10: Write a song inspired by the name of a TTC subway station.

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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February: Use a single word or phrase from the lyrics to Stairway to Heaven as the title of your song. Have fun with this one!

Here are the lyrics:

There’s a lady who’s sure
All that glitters is gold
And she’s buying a stairway to heaven
When she gets there she knows
If the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for
Oh oh oh oh and she’s buying a stairway to heaven
 
There’s a sign on the wall
But she wants to be sure
‘Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings
In a tree by the brook
There’s a songbird who sings
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiving
 
Ooh, it makes me wonder
Ooh, it makes me wonder
 
There’s a feeling I get
When I look to the west
And my spirit is crying for leaving
In my thoughts I have seen
Rings of smoke through the trees
And the voices of those who standing looking
 
Ooh, it makes me wonder
Ooh, it really makes me wonder
 
And it’s whispered that soon, If we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason
And a new day will dawn
For those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter
 
If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow
Don’t be alarmed now
It’s just a spring clean for the May queen
Yes, there are two paths you can go by
But in the long run
There’s still time to change the road you’re on
And it makes me wonder
 
Your head is humming and it won’t go
In case you don’t know
The piper’s calling you to join him
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow
And did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind
 
And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll
And she’s buying the stairway to heaven

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January: Write a song from the point of view of an unreliable narrator. Jayne provided some notes about unreliable narrators:

Here are a few examples of songs with unreliable narrators.

They seem to fall into 2 broad categories:
1) Narrators who are not being direct about how they feel about another person
2) Narrators who know more than they are saying about some nefarious event
or both, as in the Tom Waits and Bobby Gentry songs.

Ode to Billy Jo by Bobbie Gentry
It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin’ cotton, and my brother was balin’ hay
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And mama hollered out the back door, y’all, remember to wipe your feet
And then she said, I got some news this mornin’ from Choctaw Ridge
Today, Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
And papa said to mama, as he passed around the blackeyed peas
Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense; pass the biscuits, please
There’s five more acres in the lower forty I’ve got to plow
And mama said it was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin’ ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billy Joe MacAllister’s jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
And brother said he recollected when he, and Tom, and Billie Joe
Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show
And wasn’t I talkin’ to him after church last Sunday night?
I’ll have another piece-a apple pie; you know, it don’t seem right
I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge
And now ya tell me Billie Joe’s jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
And mama said to me, child, what’s happened to your appetite?
I’ve been cookin’ all morning, and you haven’t touched a single bite
That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by today
Said he’d be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way
He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge
And she and Billy Joe was throwing somethin’ off the Tallahatchie Bridge
A year has come and gone since we heard the news ’bout Billy Joe
And brother married Becky Thompson; they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus going ’round; papa caught it, and he died last spring
And now mama doesn’t seem to want to do much of anything
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin’ flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge
 
Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis by Tom Waits
Hey Charley I’m pregnant
And living on 9-th street
Right above a dirty bookstore
Off Euclid avenue
And I stopped taking dope
And I quit drinking whiskey
And my old man plays the trombone
And works out at the track.
And he says that he loves me
Even though its not his baby
And he says that he’ll raise him up
Like he would his own son
And he gave me a ring
That was worn by his mother
And he takes me out dancin
Every saturday nite.
And hey Charley I think about you
Everytime I pass a fillin’ station
On account of all the grease
You used to wear in your hair
And I still have that record
Of little anthony & the imperials
But someone stole my record player
How do you like that?
Hey Charley I almost went crazy
After mario got busted
So I went back to omaha to
Live with my folks
But everyone I used to know
Was either dead or in prison
So I came back to minneapolis
This time I think I’m gonna stay.
Hey Charley I think I’m happy
For the first time since my accident
And I wish I had all the money
That we used to spend on dope
I’d buy me a used car lot
And I wouldn’t sell any of em
I’d just drive a different car
Every day dependin on how I feel.
Hey Charley
For chrissakes
Do you want to know
The truth of it?
I don’t have a husband
He don’t play the trombone
And I need to borrow money
To pay this lawyer
And Charley, hey
I’ll be eligible for parole
Come valentines day.

Optional assignment: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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2019

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November: Write a song that includes the 5 senses and/or focuses on one sense.

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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October: Write a song with a question as the title, or the title as a question.

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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September: Write a song based on a cliche/axiom/famous phrase. Add a twist to the exercise by taking the opposite meaning of the cliche/axiom/phrase..

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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August: Write a song about an article of clothing.

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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July: Two options: Write and present a song that includes a word that you made up, or that includes a non-4/4 time signature for at least part of the song.

Optional: bring us a new song from your personal songwriting inspiration for feedback.

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June: Write a song that has something to do with ‘Vision’.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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May: Write a song called ‘Green’ (or alternately has the word ‘Green’ in the title).

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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April: Write a song that has something to do with a year (e.g. 1965, 20,000 B.C., year 2070).

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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March: Write a song with the name of a city in the title.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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February: Video Exchange Revisited. Submit a short video, get one back submitted by another participant. Write a song inspired by the video you receive.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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January: write a song about “Celestial Body”, however you want to interpret that.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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2018

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November: write a song entitled “Talk”.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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October: write a song about a force of nature.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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September: write a song about an evening or an event that happened in your life.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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August: write a song with or about a limitation. For example: write a song using only the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G in your lyrics; write a song with sea food or subway vocabulary in every line of the lyric. Impose a limitation on yourself in lyrics or music and see what happens.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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Julybook title exchange. Send a book title. You will then receive a book title in return that will be the title of the song you write for the July assignment.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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 June: Write a song entitled “Offline”. You may add the following to the exercise: write the song in a minimalist style —that could mean very few words or whatever ‘minimalist’ means to you.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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April: Anonymous Photo Exchange.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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March: Write a song about… uh, I forget. No, actually, write a song about forgetting, something forgotten, forgetfulness.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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February
: Write a song about opposites/contrasts.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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January
: Write a song about an appliance.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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2017

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Novem
ber: receive a brief song description and write a song based on that description.  The October meeting attendees created brief descriptions and have already received their (anonymous) descriptions. For anyone who wasn’t at the October meeting, you can still participate because we created extra descriptions. Please let us know if you’d like to participate and we will send you a description.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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O
ctober: Write a song from the point of view of a child.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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September: Write a song that has something to do with a letter of the alphabet. You could have a lot of words starting with that letter, write about that letter, use that letter in a key word, or any other creative way of working with a letter.

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August: Bring 2 songs. Previously written ones, that is. We’ve all got songs no one else in TSA has heard yet. Let’s each of us bring a couple of them and have a fun night of getting to know each other a bit better through our songs.

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July: Wizard of Oz. Write a song inspired by the Wizard of Oz.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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June: Video Exchange Revisited. Submit a short video, get one back submitted by another participant. Write a song inspired by the video you receive.

Optional: bring us a song from your own personal songwriter inspiration.

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May: Write a song that has something to do with Science Fiction. You get a high-five for a  new song about sci-fi that you can later share over wi-fi in hi-fi.

Optional: bring us a song from your own songwriter personal inspiration.

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April:
Video Exchange. Submit a short video, get one back submitted by another participant. Write a song inspired by the video you receive.

Optional #1: Write a song with a singalong component. Teach us the singalong part when you present the song.

Optional #2: Bring us a new song from your own songwriter personal inspiration.

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March:
Write a song that has something to do with a PRODUCT. Maybe it’s the iPhone, maybe it’s your favourite brand of evaporated milk. Maybe it’s an imaginary product. Maybe you hate something about a particular product.
We’ll send our finished songs to the manufacturers and all make thousands of dollars, or be taken to court, as the case may be. May the muse be with you.

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February:
Write a song that has something to do with “no emotion.” Maybe your song could actually be called, “No Emotion,” or maybe it could be related to that feeling —  whatever tickles your fancy. It could be the opposite of traditional Valentine’s Day ideas.

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January:
Write a song inspired by Leonard Cohen.

2016
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November:
Write a song for Remembrance Day. Our meeting falls on November 11, Remembrance Day. So write a song called “Remembrance Day” or a song that has something to do with Remembrance Day.

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October:
Write a song with lyrics based on the viewpoint of a gender other than your own. This could be fairly broadly defined and could include any creature of the animal kingdom, trans-gendered giraffes being a definite possibility.

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September:
Lyric Exchange. Write lyrics to the title “The Lift” — submit these lyrics by next Friday August 19. We will then send your lyrics to another TSA member who will write a song based on those lyrics. Try to complete 2 verses and a chorus (a complete song is ideal but submit as much as you can).

This is an opportunity to whip off a set of lyrics in 10 or 20 minutes!! You won’t have to work with them!

To participate, contact us via the contact page for further information.

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August
Write a song about a cause. Any cause will do, but maybe one that you are passionate about. Below are some possible causes to get your creative juices flowing, but you would probably want to get more specific:

• Advocacy & Human Rights
• Emergency & Safety
• LGBT
• Animals
• Employment
• Media & Broadcasting
• Arts & Culture
• Environment
• People with Disabilities
• Board Development
• Faith-Based
• Politics
• Children & Youth
• Health & Medicine
• Race & Ethnicity
• Community
• Homeless & Housing
• Seniors
• Computers & Technology
• Hunger
• Sports & Recreation
• Crisis Support
I• mmigrants & Refugees
• Veterans & Military Families
• Disaster Relief
• International
• Women
• Education & Literacy
• Justice & Legal
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July: 
Write a song about a mythical creature or fictional character.

Optional sub-assignment:
Include a “riff” that reflects your mythical creature or fictional character.

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June:
Write a song that has some talking, speaking, or rapping in it. A tiny bit or a lot — it doesn’t matter.
One example of a song that has a LOT of speaking in it is Somewhere Down the Crazy River (Robbie Robertson) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KP9PNSUME4

Optional sub-assignment:
Write a song that has a time signature that is not 4/4.

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May:
Write a song with a one-word chorus. Or two words if you absolutely need two, but you get the idea. One word can paint a thousand pictures.
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April:

1. Choose a song that was written specifically about another person (E.g. Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” Elton John’s “Daniel,” Jefferson Starship’s “Sara.”). The name doesn’t necessarily have to be mentioned in the title of the existing song, but that might make it easier and fun to do.
2. Write your own song from the perspective of the person who was mentioned in that song.
Have fun!
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March:
Write a song based on a favourite song. Take a favourite song of yours — famous or not — but somebody else’s song that you think is great. Then rewrite the lyrics so your lyrics exactly match the meter/structure of the song you’ve chosen. In other words, you could take your lyrics and completely replace the original lyrics. Then, rewrite the music using your new lyrics.

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February:
Write a song based on James Bond. Really, it’s about anything related to James Bond. Shake it and stir it any way you want.

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January:
Write a song based on a phone number. Here are some options:

  1. Use the digits in the number to suggest a chord progression. For example, if the first 4 digits of your phone are 4213. In the key of C that suggests the chord sequence F, Dm, C, Em or, if you want something jazzy, FM7, Dm7, CM7 and Em7.
  2. Use the digits to represent notes in the scale. 1 thru 8 give you do, re, mi … If you get 0 or 9 you could decide they are wild cards or a rest.
  3. Write about something the number suggests. 967-11-11 could be food related for example. 911 might prompt a cautionary tale. What is the first phone number you memorized? What does that bring to mind?
  4. If you’d rather use another number, PIN, SIN, serial, address, etc. Go for it.

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2015

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November:
December. Write a song about December — whatever that suggests to you.

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October
:
Work of art. Write a song based on a work of art — preferably a painting but not necessarily. Yes, we’ve done it before, but it was voted top choice, made topical by the Rheostatics reunion shows at the AGO last weekend. They recorded a whole album of songs inspired by the group of seven.

Close-runner-up assignment: Write a song based on or inspired by a dream — preferably one of your own. Apparently ingesting vitamin B is supposed to aid in dream recall.

Meeting General Information

Toronto Songwriters Association meetings are held on the second Friday evening of each month at 7:30 Eastern time at a member’s home. During the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, our meetings are virtual using Zoom.  When we resume in-person meetings, the location alternates between east, midtown and west Toronto.

The format of the meeting is:

  • The host sings first.
  • The order after that is voluntary.
  • Bring your guitar. A keyboard is available at the meeting, but you are free to bring your own if you prefer.
  • Bring printed lyrics for 10 people.
  • First you sing, then you pass the lyrics around. Some participants prefer to have the lyrics in hand while you present the song. That’s okay too.
  • Participants may or may not ask questions or make comments about your song. They may ask you to sing the song (or parts of it) again. You can present more than one song if time permits.
  • It’s okay to bring an unfinished song, a work in progress.
  • It’s okay to bring back a song that you have revised.
  • There is an optional songwriting assignment, described on the website, on the Assignments page.
  • Attendance varies between 6 and 15 people.
  • Bring your own refreshments. The host may or may not provide something.
  • At the end we determine the location of the next meeting, decide on the next assignment, and discuss other business.

TSA at The Only — Nov. 24, 2012

The Only Café, November 24, 2012

The Only Café, November 24, 2012

The TSA had a great gig on November 24 at The Only Café. Thanks to John Beairsto for organizing it. Eric contributed a terrific PA system (Bose L2). You could hear and see the positive effect it had on the performances and the audience enjoyment.

Bob kicked the night off followed by Robin, Mike, John, Stephen, Anastace, Eric and Sandy.

More photos of The Only Café~>

Attend a TSA Monthly Meeting

Complete and submit this form if you would like to attend one of our monthly meetings. There is no cost. We will contact you privately by email with details.

Time for a TSA Website Redesign

TSAWebsiteThe TSA website was created in 2006, two years after the official founding of the Toronto Songwriters Association. It has served us well. A steady stream of people visited the site and contacted us. A number of them came to meetings and became members.

But now it’s time for a redesign. We have some specific goals in mind. We want it to be a multi-author site, so that TSA members can easily contribute; we want it to be more interactive and easy to integrate with social media. We want to keep the best from the past, but open it up to the new. In order to do that, we have to bring the platform up to date so that we can add new features as they.

So we have decided to build the new site on a WordPress platform. We like the WordPress concept of separating content from design. We like the idea of mixing static pages with blogs. It’s a more flexible engine than we had before. And it’s open source.

You’ll see that we are at this point retaining something of the look of the old site. We are trying to keep some continuity with the old site so that visitors won’t think they’ve taken a wrong turn and ended up in Albuquerque by mistake (no offence meant to Albuquerque — it’s just a TSA inside joke). But we hope that you like the new look and that you appreciate the new opportunities it gives us to interact with songwriters.