Blog
GREAT START TO THE YEAR AND CLASSES ARE UP AND RUNNING AGAIN ...
Submitted by Clive on Sun, 05/02/2012 - 13:34Yes, we're back and happy to say that our little 'mom and pop' music initiative is right now, overloaded with music work - writing, recording, producing and performing ... projects all stemming from teaching and coaching activities over the past few years.
There's nothing like teaching by example and 2012 will reveal a number of excellent examples of our singer/songwriters successfully employing our musical methods and tactics to good effect.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Submitted by Clive on Sun, 18/09/2011 - 15:58Our next 8 Week Songwriting Course, the final one for 2011, starts on Monday 3 September. Half of the seats have already been filled and we are looking forward to meeting the new batch of student songwriters. We are always excited to meet new candidates and see who are likely to emerge as stars from the group.
Magical Evening at Alma Cafe
Submitted by Clive on Sat, 20/08/2011 - 12:35We had a full house at Alma Cafe last night for our first public singer-songwriter showcase and what a night to remember! Grant Ross making his professional music debut, kicked the evening off with twenty minutes of easy listening acoustic folk, blues, country and pop. His set included a mix of original compositions and songs by some of his favourite songwriters. The listener comment that, 'he sounds so natural' accurately summed up Grant's performance.
CTSS Songwriter Reaches Songwriting Competition Final
Submitted by Clive on Sun, 07/08/2011 - 21:45Twenty one year old CTSS graduate, Katherine Coetzee has made the finals of the Barleycorn Songwriting Competition with her song 'So Young'. Katherine and nine other contenders will be performing at the music club gathering to be held at Villages Rugby Club, Claremont tomorrow 8 August 2011. The show starts 7.30pm and contestants will each be performing two songs, their qualifying composition plus a warm up song. Gutsy Katherine will be accompanying herself on guitar. Her warm up song is a brand new composition which she completed only this evening in workshop here at the CTSS.
BARLEYCORN SONGWRITERS' COMPETITION
Submitted by Clive on Wed, 27/07/2011 - 10:58Great songs come from the heart and are written for all sorts of reasons, the least of which are competitive ones. Most of the great songwriters never fared well in a competitive environment. In their early years The Beatles were runners up to a magician in a talent competition. Adam Lambert and Jennifer Hudson, two of American Idols' most successful products were both losers in the competition. That said, the annual Barleycorn Song Competition takes place over the next couple of weeks and if you don't take it all too seriously, it may well be fun to enter a song.
ENTHUSIASM
Submitted by Clive on Wed, 20/07/2011 - 23:09Enthusiasm ... passion for my band Rocking Horse got me into big trouble today. A naive comment from someone about our brand of country, pressed the wrong buttons and I found myself reacting on pure emotion. Being the sort of guy that tends to beat himself up mercilessly over mistakes, I've been doing what i can to unpack the issues underlying the episode with the hope that I can genuinely learn something from what happened today. What I'm not ashamed of is that I believe 100% in what Barry, Tony and I do as a trio of old guitar hacks.
Welcome to the CTSS blog
Submitted by Clive on Sun, 17/07/2011 - 15:12Welcome to the first posting on this CTSS website space which we dedicate to passing on positive information and energy about songs and the business of songwriting. We take it that if you’ve logged on, it’s because you are either a songwriter or an aspiring songwriter. Isn’t it strange that we songwriters, people compelled to put their ideas and emotions out there for the world to hear, tend to work in isolation?