The Role Of A Songwriting Judge

Here is the second part of the songwriting workshop I conducted last Tuesday for SCALA (Songwriters, Composers & Lyricists Association) called “How To Win A Songwriting Competition – The Role Of A Songwriting Judge”.

One of the things I love about SCALA’s FOOM (Festival Of Original Music) Song Competition is the fact that, as a judge I get to make comments and give constructive feedback on every song I judge.

Furthermore, these comments are given back to the entrant so the amount of accountability in what feedback I give is immense.

Some competitions don’t do this and if they do, you have to pay for it.

Here are the notes I was using for the “Role Of A Songwriting Judge” section of the latest SCALA Songwriting Workshop.

It’s my hope that this gives you a bit more of an insight of the other side of song contests.

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The Role Of A Songwriting Judge
By Corey Stewart
www.songwritingzen.com

From my experience, the role of any songwriting judge is to be:

1. Objective at all times
The overall brief that I receive before judging FOOM is “judge the song, not the performance”. I must say that this is a very challenging brief to uphold. But it’s a brief I take very, very seriously.

As a FOOM judge I can’t allow my personal feelings towards a certain type of music or songwriter (if I happen to know them personally) get in the way of the job at hand.

If, for some reason there’s a conflict of interest I’m expected to disclose it. My job is to pick the best song(s) regardless of performance, genre and/or personnel.

2. Encouraging and freely giving of information
On the FOOM page of the SCALA website it reads:

“Whilst we encourage judges to provide feedback they are under no obligation to do so (but most judges do provide some feedback). Feedback sheets are returned (along with lyrics) to each entrant. Entrants are reminded that any such feedback represents only the view of the individual judges and usually is offered as a general guide only.”

Personally, giving comments on the feedback sheets is the very thing that I take the most seriously of all. It’s the thing that keeps me coming back to judging FOOM every year.

I love being able to have the opportunity to freely give encouraging and constructive feedback about the song I’m judging.

Through the feedback sheets, the FOOM entrant will know who I am and that I’ve presided over their song so I better make sure I give them information that they can use to improve what they’ve already written.

It’s a big responsibility but it’s one I embrace wholeheartedly.

3. Constructive in feedback
There is a huge difference between constructive feedback and negative feedback disguised as constructive.

Its one thing to be able to give feedback freely to songwriters but if the feedback is negative and destructive then it’s really not worth giving at all.

When I give feedback I always try to find at least one positive thing about the song and use that as an anchor for the rest of the feedback. There are ways of saying a song is not as good as it could be without destroying the very soul of the songwriter who wrote it.

As long as the feedback is balanced and the recipient knows that the feedback comes from a place of love, respect and encouragement for the songwriter and his/her craft then it’s okay to give it.

FOOM is about encouraging the writing of new material not the destruction of it.

At the end of the day, it’s not Australian or American Idol.

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At the end of the day a winning song in a song contest had jumped through many hoops to get to its final destination.

It has been evaluated, re-evaluated, listened to many times and in some cases been the topic of animated discussions between judges.

It’s hard for any human being to be 100% objective about anything. We are judgemental creatures of habit that crave security over change and stability over chaos.

Songwriting judges are no different.

Bear in mind that if you enter a song in a song contest don’t use it as a measure of your self esteem, use it as a learning experience. If you get any feedback, cherish and embrace it as a means to improve your craft.

I will do my best through Songwriitng Zen to keep you informed about any songwriting competitions that come my way. If you have any positive or negative songwriting contest experiences, let me know.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting contest, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart

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