Songcraft Songwriting Circle meetup: Audio Clips

[From previous post; see also Jeremy's blog post of the event]

At the 1st Songcraft meet-up, I'd recorded most of the discussions and proceedings. Then spent two days editing them for brevity. I've posted them in their original sequence. Enjoy!

BTW, they've recently set up a googlegroup mailing list (feel free to sign up, to receive alerts for their next meetup).



1) Round of introductions 2:58 mins - Listen/ download at archive.org.

• Introductions by Chin Hon, George, Justin, Marcel, Ivan, Sanny, Betty, Hui Leng, and Jeremy.
• 1"06 min: Jeremy elaborates on how the session would be run. He says he wasn't sure how things will turn out. Ends by saying, "I don't think we will take very long tonight". Well Jeremy, everyone stayed from 7.30pm to 10pm. Then half the group chatted over ice-cream and drinks until 11.45pm. I'd call that a good session.

2) Music from the Rambling Librarian - Jeremy got me to start the ball rolling by sharing these pieces:

• Lady of Shalott 2:51 mins - Listen/ download from odeo.com (see this post also)
• We Stand Unbroken (2007) 3:39 mins - Listen/ download from odeo.com
• White Nights 3:41 mins - Listen/ download from odeo.com (told them about how the Mash-up was done with Vanessa)
• I also verbally described my "home studio", which I've posted pictures and text separately here.
  

3) Betty plays like Enya (at least to me!)
Darn it! This was the one part that didn't get recorded. My MP3 recorder ran out of disk space. A pity, 'cos I really liked Betty's piece. Very "new age". Some of us said it sounded like Enya. Betty seemed aghast at that remark, for some reason, heh. Must attend the next session to get a recording of her piece!


4) Marcel presented three songs. He sounded good even with a sore throat.

1. "Jazzy Love Song" 2:28 mins - listen/ download at archive.org
2. His second slightly bluesy "feel good" song 3:20 mins - listen/ download at archive.org
3. The Story Ends 4:47 mins- listen/ download at archive.org
• Marcel's piece has really powerful lyrics. He said it's about how terrorism affects people's lives.
• 2"45 min: Upon request, Marcel reads aloud the lyrics from the song. Good stuff. No wonder he writes for a living :)

4) Sanny reads a poem 0:49 min - listen/ download at archive.org

• I think she said the poem was by Felix Cheong, which she hopes to make into a song one day.

5) Hui Leng's piano pieces - Listen/ download at archive.org:

• Song #1 (2:08 mins)
• Song #2 (1:35 mins)

Hui Leng's trained in classical piano. I joked that she must watch a lot of Korean Drama serials, 'cos they sound very much like the soundtracks. It's nice in any case.


6) Chin Hon's "Carmen" (ver A) 4:24 mins - Listen/ download from archive.org:

• Chin Hon was the surprise of the evening. He decided to brave the eight of us and perform his piece.
  
• 00'00 min - 00"54 min: Chin Hon shares what inspired him to write his song. He said he had to "try to find a way to email this song to her". Now he can :)
• 00"55 min - 2"38 min: Starts playing his song followed by a discussion. There's a false start, but hey, all part of the discussion. Jeremy suggested this song needed a solo.
• 3"30 min - Jeremy played an excerpt from the original musical, "Think of Me" (?) (I've not heard the song before, so that helped me 'see' how Chin Hon developed his song).

Chin Hon's Carmen (ver B) 2:34 mins - Listen/ download from archive.org.

• Second attempt at Chin Hon's song. I played the guitar, to let Chin Hon concentrate on the vocal part. Additional guitar by Marcel; with Jeremy on Piano. Concert-quality stuff, imho :)

Not bad for three hour's work. Their ages were around 25 to 27. I'm easily 5 to 8 years older than these youngsters. They had a crack about my age, heh.

BTW, only three were trained on the classical piano. The rest were largely self-taught. Not everyone played or sang. They didn't have to.


Singaporeans may not have anything "uniquely Singaporean" to offer musically, but music is music. If it moves you, then it works.