Jeffrey Hill dot net

The Public Song Writing Project is an experiment in collaborative composition.

Participation in songwriting is an exciting activity. Whether alone or with a group of friends, it requires the kind of focus and expression that unveils interesting corridors of the creative mind. In January of 2008, after working on so many solo musical projects, I came up with the idea of creating compositions that a community of musicians and artists could work on via the web. In this experiment - everyone becomes a solo artist, working on the same project.

THE PROJECT-
Every month, I will post a new song and a zip file to download. This file will contain individual elements of a song - the drums, bass, keys, guitar, etc, in WAV files. Extract the files from the ZIP file. Each file will be exactly the same length. Over the course of the month, musicians will add their own parts, lyrics, ideas and influences onto the tracks and send them back to me. With money from a grant I'm receiving for this project, I will make several mixes of these songs, put them on an album, release it and credit the group of songwriters. Eventually, this project will gain media attention and pave the way for future public songwriting projects. Here are the rules:

1. You CANNOT change the length of the song, or the structure. In order for everyone to be working on the same song, it has to be the same length and the changes have to happen at the same time. Yes, restrictions on creativity are restrictions... but it also forces the artist to be disciplined and work within a time budget.

2. You may ADD or TAKE AWAY the parts I initially post. Feel free to use or discard what I give you in the download. This is important to remember- ALL OF YOUR SONG PARTS MUST FIT OVER EVERYONE ELSE'S SONG PARTS. Key changes, chords, tempo changes MUST ALL FIT or we cannot use the parts.


	The Public Song Writing Project is an experiment in collaborative composition. Participation in songwriting is an exciting activity. Whether alone or with a group of friends, it requires the kind of focus and expression that unveils interesting corridors of the creative mind. In January of 2008, after working on so many solo musical projects, I came up with the idea of creating compositions that a community of musicians and artists could work on via the web. In this experiment - everyone becomes a solo artist, working on the same project. THE PROJECT- Every month, I will post a new song and a zip file to download. This file will contain individual elements of a song - the drums, bass, keys, guitar, etc, in WAV files. Extract the files from the ZIP file. Each file will be exactly the same length. Over the course of the month, musicians will add their own parts, lyrics, ideas and influences onto the tracks and send them back to me. With money from a grant I'm receiving for this project, I will make several mixes of these songs, put them on an album, release it and credit the group of songwriters. Eventually, this project will gain media attention and pave the way for future public songwriting projects. Here are the rules: 1. You CANNOT change the length of the song, or the structure. In order for everyone to be working on the same song, it has to be the same length and the changes have to happen at the same time. Yes, restrictions on creativity are restrictions... but it also forces the artist to be disciplined and work within a time budget. 2. You may ADD or TAKE AWAY the parts I initially post. Feel free to use or discard what I give you in the download. This is important to remember- ALL OF YOUR SONG PARTS MUST FIT OVER EVERYONE ELSE'S SONG PARTS. Key changes, chords, tempo changes MUST ALL FIT or we cannot use the parts.
		ADSPACE
	3. You may ADD vocals, lyrics and vocal arrangements. Even though I will provide a title and theme for a song, none of the compositions I post will have vocals or lyrics. This will give singers and lyricists with no instrumental ability the chance to add vocals. The song may need vocals to be complete, so everyone, feel free to write for the song. 4. You may NOT use these arrangements in your own, separate works. Each composition is protected by BMI and Library of Congress (Eight One Songs BMI 2008). A new copyright will be created once the song is complete. It may even have a different title by then. Show respect for the artists and writers with honesty and consideration. Click here for the project's songwriter/organization agreement 5. You must e-mail or mail back the parts you create individually, if possible. Meaning, if you create a new drum track, you must submit it back as it's own separate file. It must be exactly the same length as all wav files, EVEN WITH THE PAUSES AND DEAD SPACE. If this is not possible, send it as you can and we'll try to work through it. TO SUBMIT YOUR WORK- 1. Compress each file into a zip (under 10MB) e-mail it to: jeffreyhillwebsite@gmail.com OR mail a CDROM with the files to: Public Songwriting Contest 27 Columbia Ave. Pitman, N.J. 08071 NOTE- You will be contacted and permission to use your material will be obtained before we use anything. If the songwriter fails to contact Public Song Writing Project, their material will not be used. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AND NOW, FOR THE SONGS- MAY 2008 - SONG 1 FILE DUE DATE- WEDNESDAY, MAY 28 SONG LENGTH: 2 minutes 42 seconds written and performed by Jeffrey Hill with additional drumming by Carmine Bonanni Each of the following links contains the same download, only pick one please - If your last name begins with A through I, go with server 1, J through S, go with server 2, T through Z, server 3. DOWNLOAD "SURROUNDED BY TREES AND WATER" (server 1) DOWNLOAD "SURROUNDED BY TREES AND WATER" (server 2) DOWNLOAD "SURROUNDED BY TREES AND WATER" (server 3) DOWNLOAD A REFERENCE MP3 WITH ALL PARTS PRESENT Includes - Drums, Drums w/Filter, Bass Synth, Analog Synths PLEASE READ AGREEMENT BEFORE DOWNLOADING Let's start simple. This first song is inspired by one of my favorite albums, "Remain in Light" by The Talking Heads. The rhythm, tempo, and even the title reflects its machine-like, organic sound. I had no specific subject matter in mind, except that I was thinking about the differences in state of mind when working in a city and coming home to a town surrounded by trees and water. It builds off of two chords and repeats the theme throughout. I'd love to see what lyrics and parts people come up with. Please disregard my influences and go down your own path! This could easily end up country or calypso.
	HOME \| BLOG ON BLOGS \| BETTER MAN \| 200+ WORDS \| CYBER SETH \| SCRAPBOOK \| HAHA LINKS FREELANCE WRITING \| NEXT AMERICAN CITY \| PUBLIC SONGWRITING PROJECT \| NISSALEE.COM VOLUME 1: EQUILINE \| SMALL TOWN FIRES \| ABOUT ME \| CONTACT © 2008 All Rights Reserved - Jeffrey Hill