This page contains things written by your friend and mine, HappyRon. To read things written ABOUT HappyRon check out my REVIEWS/ARTICLES PAGE

HappyRon’s Music Marketing Maxims
HappyRon’s Four Keys To Songwriting Success
How To Be Happy Onstage
How To Dance Like A HappyMan
HappyRon on Taxi.com
HappyRon Reviews The Book “Songwriting Secrets Of The Beatles
HappyRon reviews Music Related Books
ARTICLE: How To Make An Album
Article: If You are So “Deep” why ain’t You Happy?
HappyRon’s Old Globe Theater Review Page
12 things I’ve learned in my 43 Years
The Beatles LOVE: The Best Vegas Show
HappyRon Reviews Harry Potter

HAPPYRON ON TAXI.COM

BOTTOM LINE: If you go to Taxi’s annual Road Rally Weekend, and you probably should, then Taxi is definitely worth the price of admission for that alone. If not it may be worth it to you if you have quality music and want to learn to Taxi in the right way.
TAXI.COM is an organization designed to help people who are looking for music to connect with people who make music. They publish listings from people looking for usually very specific types of music. Musicians submit their music, then Taxi screens them, and if they think they are good enough AND match what is being asked for they “forward” them to the person looking for the music. Otherwise they “return” them to the musician, sometimes with a critique of why the music wasn’t “good enough” or didn’t match the listing.
It costs $300 a year to join Taxi, $200 for following years. It also costs $5 per submission. On the negative side, this creates a situation where a lot of people (like everything else in the music industry) are disappointed. You pay money to an organization; they reject your music (fairly or unfairly) and don’t send it on to the people who want it. I’ve heard that more then 90% of the time this is what happens. If they return your music they often with give a critique of why they did so. If they do forward it it still might not end up being accepted by the person they forward it to. I imagine more then 90% of the music that is forwarded doesn’t get accepted either, as whomever gets it probably has a lot to chose from. Even if you music is accepted by the person it is forwarded to that is no guarantee that the music will be used, a lot of the listings are for music publishers and music libraries, who if they accept your music, will then attempt to get it placed somewhere. No guarantees.
On the positive side you can ask yourself “what is it I can do to be one of those few people who are forwarded and one of the even fewer whose music is used.” The first answer to have great music, recorded very well. If it ain’t great it won’t get forwarded, period. Taxi states clearly that part of the service they offer is to people looking for music is to screen everything so that only the best is offered to them.
The 2nd key to getting your music forwarded is to make sure your music matches what is being looked for. Remarkably more then half of the music people submit songs (which may be great) to listings doesn’t match what is being looked for. People submit original songs to listings for “cover songs.” If there is a person looking for “Garth Brooks” type music I obviously wouldn’t submit my song “D##kless Wonder” cause Garth wouldn’t touch it (pardon the pun). This cuts to the core of what so many people’s issue is with the music industry: they looking for a generalized “success” but don’t know how to separate themselves from their music and ask “where does my music fit, who specifically would want this music”. I believe that any music that is great has a place out their somewhere for it, and taxi is ONE WAY to potentially reach that place.
There are organizations out there that are total rip-offs, they take people’s money and do nothing for them (Google them and you’ll see complaints.) Taxi isn’t one of these, there are people who have success with it (though many more don’t). An advantage to Taxi’s approach is that it publishes listings for people actually looking for music, whereas some services simply provide connection to someone who may or not be specifically looking for music at that time. Also the pre-screening that Taxi does works in your favor (if you are picked obviously!) because when these people get music they get a lot fewer pieces of music to listen to so your odds are simply better.
Looking back, mostly I learned something from the “returns”, either my early demos simply weren’t good enough, or my later stuff was good enough but didn’t match closely enough. The one critique I got was for my quirky song “Pitter Patter” which said it was “cool” but was more of a “kids song” rather then and “Adult Contemporary ” song which is what the listing was for. This made since to me. On the negative side, I did get THREE songs returned for a listing for “quirky high energy punk song” which I felt my song were perfect for obviously. No critique was given on those.

So why am I Happy Taxi Member, well one reason really: THE TAXI ROAD RALLY. This is a once a year meeting that comes free as part of your yearly membership dues and to me makes the membership worth it. Similar conferences are held every year and are usually MORE expensive and not as good as this one. It includes classes on every aspect of music and the business: songwriting, production, business, etc. It also includes a chance to have private meetings with people in the business and to get your music potentially played for a panel of people in the business.
Most of the people at the Rally (more then 2000 in 2008) are simply other people who attend like you and me, not big shots. But meeting other people in your same situation can be inspiring.

FIRST TAXI FORWARD!

Last second update: I just got my first “forward” on Taxi, this means the organization deemed it good enough to be sent on to the “big shots” looking for music. I was very surprised, it was a sports listing looking for an INSTRUMENTAL so I submitted “Don’t Stop Playin.” I felt the song really loses something without the words and the backing vocals, but the screener felt it “was a unique rock submission… I’m going to say yes. I’m not sure exactly which sport this would be good for, but this colorful music is well executed and your chorus is a hoot… I just like this… that’s going to be ’nuff said” On recording quality said “sounds good” and gave it an 8 out out of 10 in every category.
What’s the lesson from this?? Well my music is better without the vocals! Actually that has some truth to it in that a lot of the time people are looking for music to play in the background of TV shows and Movies and vocals would distract from the scene.
The listing I submitted to was:

S081020TV
SPORTS INSTRUMENTALS that range from NFL, NBA, Fox Sports, ESPN, etc. theme songs to Extreme Sports/X-Games tracks are needed by a Production Music Library. For this one, you can submit material in a wide range of approaches but the energy level must be high and the adrenaline behind the music must be current-sounding, compelling & marketable. This company needs a wide variety of material that could be appropriate for a Major Network Sports special, as well as material that could rise to the energy of the edgy/adrenaline-pumping X-Games. Everything from high-energy/cutting edge Orchestral/Rock blends to Pop/Punk to Hard Rock to Electronica could work. For this listing, the overall tone and the level of the performance/production are the key factors. The energy must be high! This is a Broadcast Quality listing (great home recordings should be fine). Please submit one to three instrumentals online or per CD. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI and must be received by October 20, 2008. TAXI #S081020TV

THE HAPPYMAN/OPRAH CONNECTION

Happy Ron just got back from attending the four day Taxi Road Rally, a 2000 person music industry get together in LA. I wrote this to my 1000 new friends I met there:

Thanks to all of you who made my taxi trip this year so special. This was my 2nd Road Rally and my first since completing my first album TERRIBLY HAPPY. Everything seemed different now that I have an actual “product” to talk about and get feedback on. For those that haven’t made professional level recordings of their songs, do anything you can to so, everything changes when you do.
HIGHTLIGHTS: I go to several open mikes a week here in San Diego, and at times I get burnt out on them obviously. But the open mikes at taxi were great, playing in front of so many (300?) and having many of them sing along on a song. TERRIBLY HAPPY, most had never heard was amazing. On the last chorus I stepped away from the keyboard and led the crowd in a music-free chorus of “TERRIBLY HAPPIES!”
The most remarkable thing was that a few days later I walked up to the Music Supervisor for Oprah and handed him my CD. As I was attempting to give him my “I’m Frank Sinatra Meets South Park” spiel, he started singing “Terribly Happy”!! As everyone knows Happy Man always has something to say, but it took me several seconds to figure out how the most powerful person in daytime television music knew me and one of my songs – ends up he was at the open mike two days earlier! Apparently the Happy Man makes an impression.
Made me feel like anything is possible. And of course anything is POSSIBLE!
Re-connecting to people who have helped me with my career/album and anticipating what they will think about their new copies of my first CD was also very special.
I have spent the last several weeks sending emails to music supervisors and libraries with very small (but important!) success). I was amazed at the opportunities I had to briefly meet so many music supervisors and give them my CD. They all seemed so open and enthusiastic and actually looking for music. They all of course got perhaps a hundred or so CDs, but hopefully the Happy Man and his music got the right connection with the right people.
The whole experienced re-enforced one of my basic beliefs about the music business: it’s about having great music, having a “story”, AND about who you know – so you better go out and meet everyone. All these little contacts may just be a 1/100 chance of having something come out of them, but if you do it 100 times you have 100 chances out of a hundred. The trick is to not hold your breath on any of them but then one day one of them might take your breath away.
A great-unexpected thrill was meeting the bass player from THE KNACK at a last second drive-by mentor session. Having one of my heroes listen to and enjoy my music just in and of itself what a great feeling.
Since, as everyone knows, gratitude is one of the six shortcuts to happiness, THANK YOU EVERYONE.
THE HAPPY MAN!

THE SONGWRITING SECRETS OF THE BEATLES BY DOMINIC PEDLER
Four VERY Happy Faces (Out Of Four Possible)

This is the best book ever written on The Beatles – I’ve read dozens of them over thirty years and this is the best by far. It’s an almost 800 page book that could be described as “Music Theory and The Beatles” as it doesn’t go into lyric writing. Each chapter describes an aspect of music and then shows how The Beatles used it in their songs (as opposed to the song by song approach more commonly used, including in Alan W. Pollack’s wonderful Notes On series, available for free on the internet.).
The first chapter is on the V chord. You would think that their wouldn’t be much new to say about the V to I chord resolutions that are the backbone of most songs, you’d be wrong, he goes on for 20 pages about them. What is most exciting is how I can read this book and instantly get what he is teaching (without even having to listen to the CDs again) because of the vast databank of Beatles songs burned into my memory – to finally merge that databank with real music knowledge is just amazing.
I have a feeling I’ll be studying this book for as long as I’m into music and would recommend it anyone regardless of musical skill level. There are no songwriting “methods” or “techniques” in this book, the book is simply an attempt to describe what is going on in the Beatles songs. Many may reject this kind of approach as too “intellectual” and the point should be made that the Beatles themselves didn’t know much of the musical terminology used in this book. They did actually “know” (in their own way) everything in this book because this book does nothing but talk about what is in their songs. They learned by studying and playing great songs in situations where they had to play for hours at time to the point where they had the musicality burned into their muscle memory. Plus they had each other to learn from. For those of us without those advantages this book could be a vital tool for vastly improving our songwriting. It has been for me.
So what are the songwriting secrets of The Beatles? He gives the often-stated answer of “matching the words to the music”. But he also shows how The Beatles songs were often given their sense of movement by shifting from one key to another – not simply in terms of key changes when moving between different sections (IE verse, chorus, or bridge) of song, but sometimes by having key changes within a section. Sometimes those shifts would be only a measure or two long. Sometimes it would be ambiguous which key you were in, and that would support the ambiguous nature of the lyrics.
The more the author points out things like this the more you realize – The Beatles REALLY knew what they were doing. For those of us who want to know what they were doing as well, this book is indispensable.
The biggest problem with the book is availability, it’s out of print and hard to find even online. The author tells me he is (as of late 2008) trying to get it reprinted. I found some used copies at www.amazon.co.uk

NOTE: The author of this book wrote a Musical Analysis of my song Emotional Issues which you can read here:

HAPPY’S BOOK REVIEW: SINGING WITH YOUR WHOLE SELF – THE FELDENKRAIS METHOD AND VOICE
Rating: Four Happy Relaxed Faces (Out of four possible)

This book is already one of my top five favorite books of all time, quite remarkable given I’ve only had it a few weeks. This book is a book about how to relax and sing with less tension in the voice. There are no “singing lessons” in the book and it won’t teach you how to sing. Instead there are lessons based on the “Feldenkrais Method” of physical therapy, which is technique of gaining more awareness of your body through slow, stress-free movements. The Feldenkrais Method is most often used by people who have physical problems or people, like musicians, who want to gain a deeper connection to their body. As someone who falls into both of these categories this book has had a profound impact on me.
As an example of the insights in this book, it asks the age old question “from where does the singer sing,” the typical answer being “the throat”, or the “breath”, or “the diaphragm.” This book suggests that we sing from the “pelvic girdle” or by extension our legs and our feet. The idea being that our basic sense of physical support comes from there and if it is out of alignment (as it would be with certain Happy Men with hip problems) then vocal strain and fatigue will result.
This book will be most useful for people who want to take a good honest look at their voice and how to change the way they use their body to help improve it.

HAPPY’S BOOK REVIEW: RUTHLESS BY JERRY HELLER
4 Happy Faces (Out of Four Possible)
The Happy Man thinks this book should be made into a movie. It is the true story of the manager of the rap group NWA, both before and after his time with that band. Even though I never followed that group, I found this story to be perhaps the most compelling story (save perhaps the often told Beatles story) that I have read in music. It reads like a gang war, which, in a sense it was, with bruised egos, threats, beatings, shakedowns, broken alliances, ultimately death, heartbreak, and an unlikely happy romantic ending. Every page seems like another scene in a movie with the people acting in a larger then life way, perhaps the way all great people do in the end. It’s a story that has been told differently (in some cases with Mr. Heller as the villain) by other players, but Mr. Heller makes his case in a very effective way.
I also enjoy the author’s perspective (given at a recent music conference I attended) of the problems of the music industry today, which he put at the feet not of illegal downloading, but of the Beatle’s album Sergeant Pepper and also MTV, which he believes created a culture of spending large amounts of money creating albums and videos which makes cultivation of new acts so expensive that the industry can’t sustain it. His solution (very comforting to those of us who make our own albums) is to make music cheaply with small up front costs. He also gave us his philosophy of the music business: NAA (NO ASSHOLES ALLOWED). This echoes what I’m hearing all over the place nowadays from music industry people – we can’t afford to be dicks on the road to success, there are just too many people trying to do this and not enough room anymore.
My favorite story was about how Van Morrison refused to play New York, due to a bad experience there. Mr. Heller simply told him he was playing another city and incredibly Van Morrison was so much in “the fog of touring” that he didn’t notice where he was (even as they approached the distinctive skyline of New York) until the lights went up after his third song at Carnegie Hall and the crowd applauded. Somehow this story sticks with me as the ultimate story on how a great manager might serve his client and the public.
The author knows how to tell a story, and that’s ultimately what the music business is about. Telling stories.

HAPPYRON’S BOOK REVIEW: MAKE ME A STAR BY ANASTASIA BROWN
Four Happy Faces (Out Of Four Possible)

It always amazes me how so many people interested in a career in show business never seem to take the time to learn about the “business” side of things. As a matter of fact, many great singers and songwriters never seem to master the “show” side of things either – they have the songs and the voice but don’t know what it really means to put on a show. I’ve read many books and attended many workshops on these things and this book may be the best general introduction I have read.
Anastasia is a judge on the show Nashville Star, a country music show similar to American Idol. She makes some important points about these contest shows that people who dismiss them overlook: 1) They have been around long before American Idol, almost since the beginnings of television in fact. 2) they have been important part of breaking many big stars, many of whom did not win the contest and 3) that they provide a great insight into how to develop yourself (and listen to feedback) as well as into the often harsh realities of the music business.
If you win one of these shows they tend to take care of the business side of things for you, this is how most people envision success. But since most people won’t win these shows she gives a good basic description of the how the business side works. Understanding these things is essential in the age of the independent artist.
As a Happy Man, attitude is obviously very important to me and she stresses again and again the importance of a positive attitude combined with a good work ethic and a realistic viewpoint on the music scene. She ends the book with a positive outlook on the music business: it’s wide open now and that creates great opportunities for those of us who want to do it ourselves, but not do it alone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcJTrHFVyzw

HAPPYRON’S BOOK REVIEW: ELECTRIFY MY SOUL: SONGWRITING AND THE SPIRITUAL SOURCE BY DAN KIMPEL
Four Happy Faces (Out Of Four Possible)
The related issues of the “source” of your songwriting and “spirituality” are often written about in ways that obviously reflect one persons individual beliefs and experience. There is nothing wrong with that of course, but if you don’t share those particular beliefs or experience you can often feel like you are being lectured to or preached at. This book avoids that trap by interviewing people with a wide variety of experiences and letting them speak for themselves, from old time religion, to American Indian, to New Age proponents. The overall experience of reading this book becomes one of building understanding and shared experience which to me is the highest goal of songwriting, spirituality, and for that matter, book writing.
Somehow in reading this book I am reminded of two of my favorite quotes:
“Happiness shared is happiness multiplied, pain shared is pain divided” author unknown to me.
And Neil Young from a recent 2008 Charlie Rose:
“I know there’s a lot of stories, there’s the Bible, The Koran, theres all these things. Everybodies got one, everybody has a faith. And there’s stories that have gone through the ages and I respect all of them, but I don’t know I don’t know where I fit in I just have faith…. I don’t have a robe, I don’t have a book. If I have a book it’s somehow missing, but I have a faith and I respect faith.. We need to know, we need to feel it, we need something. ”

ARTICLE: IF YOU’RE SO “DEEP” WHY AIN’T YOU HAPPY?

So often it seems that our picture of what being a deep person is (or an intelligent person or a caring person or a spiritual person or an artistic person) are connected with visions of unhappiness. We somehow think that we “have” to be unhappy (or at least mainly unhappy) to be all those things. I have come to believe that just the opposite is generally true.

“If I’m not unhappy in the face of suffering that means I don’t care”. How many of us turn away and do nothing in the face of suffering because we can’t handle our own bad feelings in reaction to it. The very same bad feelings that we believe me must feel because we care. Mother Teresa cared about the suffering of the world very deeply, but she did something about it, she was able to be “happy” in the face of it dying children whereas so many of us would turn away.

“I have to be unhappy because I’m smart.” The truth is there are intelligent happy people and intelligent unhappy people (with most of us somewhere in the middle). Why not use our brains to generate thoughts that make us happier, more empowered in the world. Isn’t that the “smartest” way to go?

“I’m an artist, artists are unhappy.” Some are some aren’t. Artists have mastered the art of being “happy” in face of a blank page or in front of a crowd of people (whereas non-artists are oftentimes terrified of these things, public embarrassment being the 2nd worst fear of most people). Many artists who perform the unhappiest material are oftentimes teaching others that other people have felt the same way, and sharing unhappiness and the universality of it is one of the most effective ways of becoming happy. This becomes more negative though if it leads to a one sided focus on the unhappy side of life. Also, Artists often project a part of ourselves that we want to be but are afraid to (the rebel, the sensitive person, the troublemaker, the fun-lover, the whatever) oftentimes because that’s the side they have developed and want to express it. However the fuller we develop ourselves as people the more potential avenues we have to be artists.

“I have to be unhappy because I’m spiritual/religious”. Religion can have similar positive impact as an artist in teaching that it’s okay to be “happy” about “unhappiness” (IE suffering) because people feel connected to each others suffering through their beliefs and religious leaders. This can be positive because we all hate to be alone and unhappy ABOUT whatever unhappiness we are going through (unhappiness about being unhappy brings depression). Churches and spiritual gatherings provide a place to share our unhappiness (and thus lesson it) and indeed even to share our happiness. At the extreme end of things are beliefs in a life after death, which help relieve the worst fear of most people, the fear of death. This can be positive in this world in that way, but can be negative when people believe that happiness is found in the next life at the expense of this life.

Happiness shared is happiness multiplied, pain shared is pain divided.

So try some happiness here and now. Or not.

Try this out: http://www.option.org

ARTICLE: HOW TO MAKE A CD BY HAPPYRON

My plan for making a CD:

1) find every opportunity to play with every possible combination of instruments/singers to see what works with each song. (Time for me to do so: ten years).

2) Find a producer that likes yer stuff.

3) Find the ABSOLUTE best guitarist, bassist, and drummer that you know and ask them if they want to be on your album (not necessarily to play with you all the time live, a much bigger commitment) and if they have two days to rehearse and two days to record the basic tracks. Really good players can learn songs quickly.
IF they can’t commit to a full album ask them to do half (I have basically one drummer for album all of it and then two sets of guitarists and bassists).

4) Rehearse with them and record them all at once (for a live sound) with you providing scratch vocals.

4) Two or three days for recording good vocals

5) Have all the other instruments come in and overdub.

6) Let your producer do the hard job of mixing everything while you start writing new songs.

7) Ask the people you trust what they think of the nearly completed project.

PARTY!

10) Realize that releasing an album is only the beginning of your work, promote promote promote!

HAPPYRON’S MUSIC MARKETING MAXIMS

By Happy Ron Hill
www.happyron.com

Cause I’ve always wanted to use the word “maxim”.

MUSIC MARKETING IS THE ART OF BEING YOURSELF IN FRONT OF AS MUCH OF THE WORLD AS POSSIBLE
People tell The HappyMan that I am very good at “marketing” and “selling” my music, but something about that has always vexed me. Most of what is called “marketing” is simply being yourself.

FOR EVERY GREAT SONG AND GREAT RECORDING THERE IS A PLACE FOR IT AND SOMEONE LOOKING FOR IT
Every GREAT song has it’s place somewhere in the world. The world is full of “good” songs, but great songs are less common.

IF YOU WANT LARGER SUCCESS YOU PROBABLY HAVE TO GET SOMEONE TO MARKET YOUR MUSIC OR DO IT YOURSELF
Professionals of course have more experience and connections probably then you do, but on the other hand nobody will wake up every morning thinking about your music and how to get it out there then you.

FINISH IT, THEN MARKET IT
People ask “can I get my music on the radio or on TV shows or movies”. I always ask “do you have a studio quality CD” and they say “uh no I have demos”.
People say “I want to play bigger shows,” I always ask “do you have a polished ‘act” “Uh, no I can barely play”
What many people need to do is find producers, musicians, singing teachers, or whomever to help them create something that is marketable, but instead they try to market themselves first when in effect they have nothing to market yet. And it can be counter-productive because if you give someone a CD that isn’t ready, or if you get them to see you act before it is ready, they will rightly look at you as wasting their time.

FINDING YOUR NICHE DOESN’T NARROW YOUR AUDIENCE, BUT EXPANDS IT.
I always balked at first when people told me I had found my “niche” cause I didn’t want to be pigeonholed or narrow my audience. But I’ve found Niche doesn’t narrow your audience, but expands it! Having a song put into the niche of being a “kids song” may seem like narrowing the audience, but lots of adults love kids songs!

DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH FOR ANYONE
The trick is to have so many “possibilities” out there that you aren’t waiting by the phone for anyone to “make you”

YOU ONLY HAVE 15 SECONDS
Get your “15 second pitch” down in case you can tell a potential fan or partner what you do. Also make your music so memoriable that if someone is listening for 15 second they’ll listen to more. Usually most people won’t go past 15 seconds.

REJECTION USUALLY ISN’T AN INSULT OR MEANINGFUL
If you know that you have quality music then the most common form of rejection will be “it’s not what we are looking for.” Which really isn’t rejection at all, it’s just someone saying that what you do doesn’t fit what they want. Sometimes people hear that as “your music isn’t any good”, but it very well may not be, and if you know that your music is good then there opinion really doesn’t matter very much .

BE COURTEOUS – EVERY PERSON MATTERS
The message I hear more then anything else from big shots is that nobody on the way up is “big enough” to be a jerk, that professionals in the business simply don’t want to work with jerks. Also audiences remember if you treat them poorly. It may be part of your image (or real personality) to be a jerk, and that may work as part of your show, but nobody likes to be disrespected in person and they’ll remember it. And they’ll tell someone

IT’S “WHO YOU KNOW” IN THIS BUSINESS, SO MAKE SOME FRIENDS!
Bitter people often say it’s “it’s who you know” in the business, they’re to a certain extent they are right! Part of marketing your music is simply making friends with people in the business, even if you never do anything with them they may know someone who knows someone who needs your music.

BOTTOM UP, TOP DOWN
Work on the promoting your music to the people around you, and talk to as many of the people “at the top” as you can. Hopefully

IS IT YOUR SHOW/PROJECT OR THEIRS?
If it is yours do whatever is that you want to do to make the project who you are.
If it is someone else try to fit what you do into it, if you can’t or won’t don’t involve yourself.

www.musicmarketing.com
www.musicbusinessradio.com
www.prcompass.com
www.instantroyaltyfreemusic.com
http://www.iodalliance.com/index.php
http://www.arielpublicity.com/
www.taxi.com

When we let go of our battles and open our hearts to things as they are, then we come to rest in the present moment. This is the beginning and the end of spiritual practice. Only in this moment can we discover that which is timeless. Only here can we find the love that we seek. Love in the past is simply memory, and, love in the future is fantasy. Only in the reality of the present can we love, can we awaken, can we find peace and understanding and connection with ourselves and the world.

from: A Path with Heart
by: Jack Kornfield

HOW TO DANCE LIKE A HAPPYMAN
The Work Of Gabriel Roth
http://www.gabrielleroth.com/
By Happy Ron Hill

People say to The Happy Man, “hey Happy Man, where did you learn to dance like that?” or “Happy Man why are you such a ‘natural’ dancer? ” or “Happy Man why do you always refer to yourself in the third person?” I won’t answer the third question but the first two are the subject of this article.
In 1995 I went to a series of workshops based upon the work of Gabriel Roth who taught dance in a different way then other workshops. These workshops were among the most powerful experiences in my life. They literally change me from someone who had many physical and emotional issues that preventing me from dancing to someone who loves to dance at every opportunity.
Most dance instruction is based upon learning some sort of structured dance, IE line dancing or salsa or the like. And yet most of the time people who dance simply do so in a free form kind of way. Most people seem to think that you can either do this or can’t.
The biggest problem most people have with dancing is their fears, fears of looking silly -yet part of learning to dance is to enjoy looking silly). Another fear is not doing it “right” – yet with free flowing dance there is no “right” or wrong way of doing it as long as you respect the people around you. As a matter of fact the truth the joy of real dance is letting go of the need to not look silly or the need to do things “right.” The other big fear is of course the high schoolish “will anyone dance with me,” the truth is so that if you are comfortable dancing and you treat people with respect you will often find yourself very much in demand as a dancer. In most social situations there is quite often a relatively small percentage of people that are comfortable dancing and also respectful and if you fit both you may be surprised at how many people want to dance with you.
Gabriel’s workshops are about learning to relax yourself so that you can dance dance and as well as about giving you some feeling as what do when you dance. I use the word “feeling as to what to do” because most dancing is about the feeling not about learned pre-packaged moves.
Two specific concepts that are very powerful about the workshops are the idea of dancing with specific parts of your body and the idea of the “5 rhythms.” These ideas can be used without having to go to a workshop and can be used to answer the question “what do I do on the dance floor.”

DANCING WITH SPECIFIC PARTS OF YOUR BODY – People often feel confused about to do with themselves while dancing. Gabriel suggests focusing on a specific part of your body and “dancing with your…” elbows, neck, shoulders, knees, feet, butt, etc. . You can then randomly switch which part you focus on. This has the effect of reminding us uptight people to be in our bodies, to break patterns of tightness that make us uptight when dancing.

THE 5 RHYTHMS – She suggest that there are 5 basic rhythms of movement, these are not dance moves or patterns to learn to do in a specific way, as a matter of fact everyone will have their own way of doing these, the speed and patterns of which can and should change from moment to moment. The idea is to get your imagination going as to different ways of moving. Being in a room with 100 people all doing similar, but unique to them, movements can be a very powerful experience. The 5 rhythms are (r

Flowing – smooth movements

Staccato – jerky movements,.

Chaos – no form whatsoever.

Lyrical – think the movements a conductor or puppeteer would make with his hands.

Stillness – simply not moving

And of course you can combine the 5 rhythms with the idea of dancing with a specific parts of your body, so you can do “staccato” movements with your elbows or whatever.
Seya on the dance floor!

HAPPY’S FOUR KEY’S TO SONGWRITING SUCCESS

PROSODY – Prosody is the marriage of music and lyrics, making them work together. Keeping in mind the lyrics/emotional tone and matching the melody, harmony, and rhythm. In my travels in the open mike scene it still amazes me that I’ll hear people sing really happy lyrics with a depressing musical backdrop, or vise versa, or any way in which you’ll hear music that really doesn’t match what the lyrics are about.

CONTRAST – Music is about movement and songs should always have a feeling of “going somewhere.” Always let the listener know when you are going from Verse to Chorus to Bridge, or whatever. Contrast can play out in the melody, the harmony, or the rhythm. Sometimes I’ll hear songs that just have one tone throughout the song and even in a three-minute pop song it rarely keeps the audiences attention.

REPETITION – In contrast to contrast is repetition. One of the biggest mistakes songwriters make is “too much unique melody”, having a song that has so much variety that there is nothing for the audience to latch onto. Most people understand the idea of having repeated SECTIONS (verse, choruses) of songs, but most great songs have something that repeats even within a section.

EDGE – What is it about this particular song that makes it different from all the other songs out there, “the edge.” So many songs out there are “good songs” but what makes this song special? Edge can come from any aspect of a song, lyrics, melody, harmony, rhythm, vocals, arrangement, performance, or anything else. Think about songs you love and what is it about them that makes them stick with you and different from all others?

The first two keys were influenced by Jai Josef, writer of Writing Music For Hit Songs, and the third by Wayne Chase, author of http://www.howmusicreallyworks.com. I overhead the forth one somewhere, I think from another lecturer on songwriting.

THE AMATEUR AND THE PROFESSIONAL

From my lyric writing bible, The Craft of Lyric Writing, 1985, Sheila Davis, Writer’s Digest Books.

What separates the amateur from the professional is not so much degree of talent as it is a difference in attitude. A professional looks upon a newborn song as a first draft, a work in progress to be put aside to jell and later examined dispassionately for flaws – ultimately to be polished to a fine luster.
The amateur views the initial outpouring as if it were cemented in place. The very idea of rewriting is emotionally rejected. The amateur clings to the myth that writing is a matter of inspiration. As a result, frequently nothing comes: there’s no technique to draw upon. So far many, “amateur” becomes a lifetime status.
The promising pre-professional, on the other hand, seeks appraisal rather than praise. He or she can discern that rejection of the writing is not a rejection of the writer. Assignments are viewed as a challenge, and re-rewriting is accepted as inevitable.
A song is process of evolution, and revising is simply a part of the process. Understanding that fact is a requisite for success.

NOTE FROM THE HAPPYMAN – My former songwriting teacher Jai Josef, who told me a story about he knows a famous woman songwriter who has written dozens of hit songs. He once talked to her and asked her if he could see her latest song. She looked at him with horror and said, “I couldn’t possibly! It’s only on the twentieth draft!”
I always put my stuff out there warts and all, but try to share the dedication of eventually making something that is perfect.

12 THINGS I HAVE LEARNED IN MY 43 YEARS (That’s one thing ever 3 years!)
By Happy Ron
1. Happiness is a Choice
2. If you live in San Diego and you’re bored, it’s your fault.
3. Make sure they’re pretty on the inside, not just pretty on the outside.
4. When someone points a finger at you, there’s always three fingers pointing back.
5. There is no payment great enough to be worth selling yourself out.
6. You don’t stop playing because you grow old, you grow old cause you stop… playing
7. “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none” – William Shakespeare
8. Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.” – Oscar Wilde
9. Despite what snobs will tell you, TV, Music, the Internet, Movies, and Plays are among the greatest inventions in the history of the universe – if you don’t use them too much.
10. “I love you” means different things to different people, find out what it means when it’s said.
11. Always examine carefully the people whose attention and approval you seek.
12. “He/she is going to change” is one of the most foolish things you can believe.