Jud Caswell's songwriters circle, Brunswick, Maine
If you are a songwriter, your songs are like your kids – you love them, you protect them, you get a little touchy when someone criticizes them.
But if you want them to grow and evolve and reach their potential, you need to get some objectivity into the picture.
Enter Jud Caswell’s songwriter’s circle in Brunswick. How do I love this idea – let me count the ways:
1. Jud is a great songwriter; getting a song critique from him makes this a no-brainer right from the git-go;
2. This circle attracts some other great songwriters – does the name Martin Swinger ring a bell? More song critiques from people I respect;
3. How about just having the opportunity to play some of my songs for writers of this caliber?
4. My songs get better;
5. I get to hear some killer songs very close to their point of creation – a real privilege!
I could go on… but I won’t.
Is it difficult to have your songs dissected and analyzed right in front of you? Well, sometimes… but mostly, the comments are fair, constructive, and because they come from other songwriters, extremely relevant to the craft. It can actually be a lot of fun.
I’ve had this experience before – you write something that you are pretty proud of, and take it to a song critique circle. You play the damn thing in front of all these gifted songwriters, and even before you finish the song, you begin to see what can be improved. It’s almost like telepathy – the mere presence of these folks, who understand what you are trying to do, gives you an objectivity that you didn’t have when you put pen to paper.
The commentary afterwards only serves to confirm and augment what you sense.
What you get at the end is a much better song and some additional insight into the process. It’s an invaluable way to learn this craft, especially with someone like Jud Caswell and his friends.
If you’re interested, post a comment and I’ll hook you up!
Tags: Brunswick Maine, Jud Caswell, Martin Sexton, Song Circles, Song Craft
Hey Bob,
Thanks for sharing the experience. One question that always occurs to me about song circles is when is the right stage in a song’s development to bring it to a session like this? Is it when you first start it and want some advice on where it might go, or you’ve got it mostly finished but there’s something that you’re stuck on, or something you feel like you’re done with but want to see how it stacks up? Maybe it’s all of the above. What stages were the pieces at this workshop in?
Hey Doug,
All of the above — those are all good questions to take to a song circle. Of the songs played at this circle, 1 was brand new for this circle (mine), 1 had been written for a circle the week before (Bob’s) — at least two had been played and worked over for more than a couple years, gone through multiple revisions, etc. I was looking for whether or not my song said what I was trying to say. Other people were checking out whether latest revisions were a step forward. One person brought a great question: she had a particular introduction that always preceded her song, and wanted to know if the song worked as well without it. So she played her song without it and got that feedback.
I see a song circle as a place to get support and perspective. I think both of those can be hard to find, as a writer, and any time you feel like you could use one or the other (or both) is a great time to bring your song to a group of people you trust. You’re always welcome to come up to Brunswick if you’d like to join our circle!
-Jud
P.S. — thanks to Bob for writing this blog! It was great seeing you…