As natural as a songwriter wanting to share a song is the urge to talk about the process with other songwriters. Sharing the “fish stories” of songwriting–like how we “found” a great hook, fleshed it out or reeled in a killer line - is just the beginning. By discussing specific elements that contribute to or diminish the effectiveness of a song, we songwriters can learn to adapt solid writing techniques to our own styles.

There are many songwriters groups across the nation already available to join. Listings appear in the appendices of books on songwriting, (including Jason Blume’s 6 Steps to Songwriting Success), and on numerous web pages that can be found by performing a search for “songwriter associations”.

If there are no groups in your immediate area, you can start your own group with only a handful of enthusiasts. Perhaps you will join forces with someone from your church choir or a musician in a local band or community orchestra. You might seek out future lyricists by putting the word out to a poetry society. And then there’s the possibility of putting a small notice in a music or entertainment tabloid or on a music store’s bulletin board. Once you establish a regular, say monthly, meeting place and time, you will be surprised how songwriters, and those who would like to learn more about songwriting, will find their way to you.

In my own experience, a songwriters’ organization evolved and eventually branched out from another music group, the Texas Music Association. In addition to attending general TMA meeting, the songwriters began to meet regularly one other evening each month.

The Songwriters Group met in an assortment of places. For different spans of time it met in the Firehouse Recording Studio, the back room of Kirby’s Steak House, a Dallas West End bar and, on occasion, in my living room. But wherever we met, we shared songs, critiques, songwriting books, names of publishers and, sometimes, our experiences of trips to Nashville or L.A.

As our numbers grew, we came to call ourselves Dallas Songwriters Association and incorporated as an independent 501 C3 non-profit organization with the help of an arts-minded attorney and CPA. We elected officers, published a monthly newsletter, collected yearly dues and invited guest speakers from our own, rich music community to speak at monthly meetings. Through the years, our guests included then-local performers Leann Rimes and Dixie Chicks, opry Master of Ceremonies, Johnny High, Grammy award winning songwriter, Bill Mack (“Blue”) and “I Write the Songs” radio show host, Mary Dawson.

Some years, when the DSA Boardmembers were especially ambitious, we organized and hosted large songwriting seminars with panels comprised of music industry professionals from Dallas, L.A., Nashville, New York and New Orleans. Today we continue to have periodic workshops with guests such as songwriter Gary Nicholson, singer/songwriter, Harriet Schock, songwriter/author, Jason Blume and Berklee lyric writing instructor/author, Pat Pattison.

The possibilities afforded by songwriters banding together in an organization are limitless. For starters, we broaden our circle of contacts to include an ever changing membership - one where we might find prospective collaborators, mentors, musicians, not to mention great friends in music. In addition, there is always the chance that contact with a visiting music professional might, besides imparting valuable knowledge, provide a key introduction to a publisher or word of a workshop in a nearby city specializing in the very facet of music you want to explore in detail.

Getting down to the bare bones: joining or forming a songwriters organization can be a valuable learning opportunity, as well as a way to further enjoy the process of becoming the best songwriter you can possibly be. So…….why not?