Paul Reisler Melody Writing Workshop -

 March 9,  2 - 5 p.m. in Alexandria:

Cost:  $35 for Focus and SAW Members;  $40 for others

Creating Music for your Songs

            There are three main components of writing music for
songs-melody, groove, and harmony. No previous experience is necessary for the melody workshop. Songwriters of all levels have found these workshops extremely helpful due to the clear and comprehensive approach.

Creating Memorable Melodies

            Are you a prisoner of your chord changes?  When was the last
time you left a concert humming the chord changes?  The emotional power of the music lies in the melody, yet training in melody writing is a sadly
neglected part of the contemporary songwriter scene.

            This workshop is about melody and it's magical interaction with
a lyric. There will be lots of techniques for building melodies from short
motifs.  We'll explore what makes a melody memorable, how to make the music support the emotion of the lyric, how to control the forward movement of your song, discovering the music in the lyric, finding melodic inspiration
and much more.  This is an active, participatory workshop that will give you
lots of tools for developing your melodic ideas into memorable songs. (3
hours)

This will be held at the same location as the evening concert.  For information, click HERE.

Cost is $35. for Focus and SAW members; $40. for all others.  Send an email to workshops@focusmusic.org  

About Paul:

Paul Reisler is a composer and songwriter as well as the co-founder and
artistic director of Trapezoid. He is also the founder and director of the
Kid Pan Alley children's songwriting project.  Since 1975, he has toured
throughout North America and Asia, performing in over 3000 concerts,
workshops and festivals. He's recorded eight albums with Trapezoid as well
as over 3 dozen with other artists including John McCutcheon, Holly Near and
Si Kahn.

His recent albums include an album of original songs with his new band, Paul
Reisler & A Thousand Questions featuring Howard Levy called At Night the
Roses Tango.  He's just released Kid Pan Alley Nashville on Compass Records
in partnership with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra that features Amy Grant,
Delbert McClinton, Raul Malo, Kix Brooks, Suzy Bogguss, Tommy Sims and
others singing the songs Paul and some other songwriters wrote with the
children of Nashville. That album won a number of awards including a Parents'
Choice Gold Award and it received a Grammy nomination.

He's currently writing a full length piece for orchestra and narrator based
on Aesop's Fables with libtetto by Tom Paxton. He writes both songs and
instrumentals and composes for theatre, TV and film.  He also tours as a
solo artist and with Ki Theatre.

Paul has taught on the Song School faculties of the Rocky Mountain Song
School, Swannanoa Gathering,  Kerrville Festival, Augusta Workshop, NSAI,
Nashcamp, Common Ground, Songcamp in the Mountains, NewSong Academy,
Hollyhock, Utah Song School and many others.  Rod Kennedy, the director of
the Kerrville Folk Festival said his music is "the most innovative,
creative, stimulative, refreshingly original music I've heard."
 

 

December 11, 2007

October 15, 2007

 

September 25, 2007

Change of Plans for a Third Focus Venue

We announced recently that Focus was starting a third venue in Great Falls, but due to circumstances beyond our control, that won't happen. But we're still working on seeking a third venue in the western part of Virigina, so stay tuned! As soon as we have something locked in, we'll let you know. Soren Bakken, a new Focus board member, is pursuing a new location and will be venue manager.

Membership Special

The 2nd Annual Membership Drive is under way, during September and October. If you're a first-time joiner, you will get one free ticket during this membership drive, to be used at any Focus show in December. If you've been meaning to join and haven't yet, now is the time!

You can print out and mail in a membership form:

http://www.focusmusic.org/ResponseForm.html

Phil Ochs Song Night

A special evening of music is planned for Sunday, Nov. 18, at the Alexandria venue - a Phil Ochs Song Night. This terrific lineup includes Pat Wictor, Kim and Reggie Harris, Magpie, John Flynn and Greg Greenway. Admission is $20 at the door for everyone - members or non-members (no special passes). Don't miss this exciting evening of wonderful music!

June 13, 2007

Concerts Continue in Rockville All Summer

Focus has wrapped up its successful spring season in Alexandria, and concerts will resume in September. Shows will continue all summer in Rockville on the second and fourth Wednesdays at O'Brien's BBQ. Come join us at O'Brien's for more terrific music this summer.

We're looking into establishing a third venue in the western area of Virginia, and are just now beginning to research some possibilities. For more details, please go to The President's Corner.


March 15, 2007

About Your Focus Concert E-mail Alerts . . .

Have you been receiving the Focus concert e-mail alerts? We've been getting several bouncebacks recently, and most of those have comcast or hotmail addresses. If you're not getting the alerts and wondered why, please check your spam filters. If you have a restricted list, please add webmaster@focusmusic.org  to your list and let us know to add you back in.

If you've never been on the Focus e-mail list, would you like to get our concert alerts? Drop us a note at the webmaster address and we'll add your address. We send a brief alert before each show and also occasional e-mails about Focus activities, but we promise not to swamp you with too many! Please include "Focus concert alert" in your subject line.
 

Have you checked out Focus' MySpace page yet? Go to http://www.myspace.com/focuspresents

Remember … Mary Cliff's program, "Traditions," is now airing on WAMU 88.5. The show is broadcast on Saturday nights from 11 p.m.-1 a.m. For more details, log onto http://www.wamu.org/about/press/traditions.php