NSAI Toronto!

I'm so excited! We were scanning around the NSAI web site yesterday (Nashville Songwriters Association International) and we discovered they have a Toronto chapter. Who knew?

This is a great organization, and we fully intended to become members once we moved to Nashville, but with a Toronto chapter, we can get involved right away.

I sent and email and found out there was a meeting tonight. Sooo excited! Gerald wasn't able to go, so I just went solo. The first part of the meeting was an intro for myself and another new member. We also found out about the group's upcoming festival: Tin Pan Alley North. The performers are booked already, but I've volunteered to help out with front of house.

The next part of the meeting was lesson time. Tonight's lesson was "extended rhyme". I'd never really heard of this concept, so it was a great thing for me to learn. We read through the lesson and did a few practical exercises too. I'm working on a new Mother's Day song right now, so maybe I'll try to put it in there.

The final part of the evening was dedicated to song critiques. Because I only found out about the meeting at the last minute, I couldn't get home to get a CD of any recent songs. So I brought in "You Noticed Me". This is a very personal song I wrote after the death of family friend and awesome man of God, Archbishop Edward (Ted) Scott. The song is two years old, and I know I've grown since then. However, I've had so few songs critiqued that any feedback opportunities are good. We played the CD, and then the floor was opened for everyone to give feedback. The overall comments were very good, with some lines and details receiving high praise. The critical feedback was really useful. It was mostly about how to make the song more commercial. I know this is not a song that anyone else would sing, but I do want to write commercially viable songs, so it was great info for me to have.

We've started the process of applying for our work visas. There are a tonne of practical things to do before we can hit Nashville, but creative, artistic, and spiritual things still need to be a priority. I think being involved with this group will be a very good thing for both of us.

"All glory comes from daring to begin!"