By Teino Evans, Staff Reporter

IT WILL soon be time again for the songwriting soldiers to gear up for the annual Songwriter's Boot Camp, an annual three-day residential workshop held in Jamaica.

This year's camp, the fifth staging, will be held from October 1 - 3 at the Starlight Chalet, Silver Hill Gap, in the Blue Mountains. Songwriters from across the island will have the opportunity to learn songwriting techniques, as well as the different aspects of writing and producing a song.

DEVELOPING GOOD SONGWRITERS

According to Marjorie Scott-Anderson, CEO of Scott-Anderson & Associates Limited, organisers of the event), these camps are important as they play an integral part in the development of good songwriters and the music industry itself.

"Over the years the workshop has created an awareness in songwriting, as it is pivotal to the entertainment sector. Without songwriters there would be no music," Scott-Anderson said.

MUSIC AND LYRICS

This year, Mrs. Scott-Anderson says, the focus will be on the relationship between music and lyrics, as "we are putting the music back in songwriting".

The number of participants has increased each year.

"Last year we had 30 persons; the year before we had 25 and in the first year we had 18," Mrs. Scott-Anderson explained. In addition, Scott-Anderson says the participants at the camp usually put out some really good songs at the end.

INDUSTRY SUPPORT NEEDED

"Usually we come out with a minimum of six good songs from participants, as was the case last year, but what is lacking is the support from the industry itself," she said.

This year, however, the songwriters' boot camp will receive a tremendous boost, as they recently secured support from music publishing company North Star Media in Los Angeles, California.

QUALITY COMPOSITIONS

The agreement will allow selected high quality compositions from this year's boot camp to be submitted to the publishing company. This, Mrs. Scott-Anderson says, is a big plus for many songwriters, as "having written a song, the desirable next step is getting it to a singer if you are not one yourself. That's where the publisher becomes critical. Providing this opportunity to our participants this year is, therefore, a welcome step in the right direction".

PRESENTERS

Among those who will be presenting at the boot camp this year will be Maurice Gordon (on writing rhythms etc.), Steven Ventura (hardware components and other tools used in songwriting), Mikey Bennett (on the structure of music, rhymes, rhythms etc.) and Wayne Wright of (JAMPRO), who will be looking at publishing.

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