L.A.S.C. April Meetings - Writing Chord Charts

The meeting on April 4 featured a presentation by Tom Flood on the writing of chord charts, using the Nashville number system. Flood, who ran an open stage in Nashville for a while late last summer, remarked that the Nashville system is used primarily in Nashville and not elsewhere. Nonetheless, the method is useful for communicating the basic structure of a song to musicians in order for them to be able to play the tune without having heard it.

Following an extremely brief overview of the basics of the system, Tom walked through a couple of familiar tunes, demonstrating how they might be charted. The members were assigned the task of trying to chart one of their own tunes for the next meeting on April 16.

At the April 16 meeting, which fell on the day that the IRS wanted all tax returns submitted, Flood evaluated a couple of charts written by members. Both charts were basically correct and Flood noted that a band would have been able to play the tunes without too much difficulty.

The value of writing a chart was pointed out in terms of getting songs performed by a to-be-formed L.A.S.C. "house" band. Flood indicated that he was interested and willing to help assemble such a group, if there were songs available. Anyone interested in helping with this project should get in touch with Tom. Please check your roster for the number.

FUTURE MEETINGS

By Diana Black

May 7 — Collaboration session.

May 21 — Critique session. Bring at least 10 lyric sheets, please.

June 4 — "You be the publisher." Bill Matz is planning a reverse in roles for the aspiring songwriters! (We get to sit on the "other" side of the table for a change.)

June 18 — Critique session.

July 2 — Critique session.

July 16 -*** OPEN FORUM ***

The board is hoping this meeting will give all members the opportunity to voice their opinions and expectations of the co-op. We are working on sending questionnaires prior to the meeting so that members can be giving some thought to what changes they would like to see and what we are doing that they would like to see more o! This will be an important meeting for all of us.