COORDINATOR CENTRAL

January: Setting Goals & Yourself up for Success in 202Thrive!!!

Overview: Learn how to set specific, achievable, meaningful songwriting goals for the year. 

Chapter Engagement Activity: Encourage Chapter Members to go around and share their goal(s) for the year. No dream is too big or too small, and every goal should be met with respect. Once goals have been shared, ask attendees to reflect on a word that captures everything they hope to achieve. This word can then serve as a dedicated focal point and reminder throughout the year of the goals they have set.  

Personal Prompt: Using the SMART Goal Guide, write down your goals for 2025 and the detailed steps needed to achieve them. Don’t feel the need to rush, take some time and be intentional with them. Once you’ve completed it, share it with someone you feel could provide helpful feedback and insight. 

NSAI Resources: Book a mentor session and discuss the goals you have in mind with an NSAI mentor of your choice! Each session lasts 45 minutes and you may send in up to three songs to review with a mentor for each session. Mentors are currently available to meet via Zoom or phone call and to find out more, click HERE.

***

January: Setting Goals & Yourself up for Success in 202Thrive!!!

As Coordinators and songwriters, you’ve heard me say the following things on repeat for almost the last three years:

• Thoughts become things. 
• Noone can help you if they don’t hear you. 
• Dreams don’t work unless you do. 

I am a big dreamer, and with that comes an emotional roller coaster of highs and lows, triumphs and heartbreaks, gut punches and celebration. 

As creatives, this roller coaster naturally shapes an ecosystem that builds our resilience and enhances our craft or can lead us to detours and derailments.

As we hit the twists and turns that make us feel a certain way, we can use those thoughts and experiences as fuel to pour into the music we make and keep going, or we can let them deter or stifle what we set out to accomplish. It's up to you how you choose to navigate it.

Thoughts become things. 

The way we choose to think has a significant impact on our actions and shapes our reality. As many self-help speakers, influencers, and books have stated throughout history, the energy we focus on is what we attract.

This concept is especially important when it comes to pursuing our dreams. If we genuinely believe in our dreams and want to achieve them, we must think positively about them and create a path that aligns with our desired end goal.

Noone can help you if they don’t hear you.

       If you have goals and ambitions and don't write them down, share them with people you care about, or speak them out loud, how can opportunities be created, let alone align to help you achieve them?! 

       I've said it many times to you all – "I can't help you if I don't hear you." I can't connect you with co-writers or introduce you to people I think you would collaborate well with if I haven't heard the music you write or what you want to achieve. If you keep it to yourself, its journey starts and ends there. 

The same goes for every goal. Could you make it happen if you kept it to yourself? Yeah, but sharing it with your trusted peers gives you instant support, and then, it's all of yours to carry. It's also something they'll keep in mind and could spark a connection or idea that gets you that much closer to your vision.

Dreams don’t work unless you do. 

Do I love a good, lazy, trash tv binge day, to relax from time to time?! Yes. Am I doing it while sincerely hoping that Taylor Sheridan is going to knock on my door and be like “HEY! WE NEED MORE SONGS FOR MY NEXT SERIES.” No. 

If you want things to happen you have to put them in motion, make actual steps towards what it takes to see them through. Take action. Do the work. Be strategic and prioritize your creative endeavors as valid visions and make them happen.

If you have expectations, make sure that you're holding up you're end of the deal and not relying on anyone else to do it for you. Noone should be working harder for you than you to make your dreams a reality.

Pro-active > Reactive. 

Dedicate a word for the year!

       We're songwriters. Words are our thing. With your goals in mind, pick a word to be your home plate this year, that will remind you and center you back to the bigger picture. Write it somewhere where you can see it every day, check in with yourself, and ask, "What can I do/what have I done today to get me closer to the goals I set for myself." 

Some of the places you can place your word as a daily reminder: 

• Bathroom mirror
  • Phone Lock Screen
  • Make a bracelet with the word
  • Guitar case
  • Fridge
  • Post it on a computer Keypad
• Whatever place you choose, let it remind you to care for your creative self. 
• Be kind to it and to you. ;) 

Y’all know I love a good flow chart and worksheet because it takes broad and big concepts and helps to break them down to a molecular and attainable level. You’ll see the SMART Goal worksheet attached. I feel like this is very helpful in creating a running start towards mapping out a plan for your dreams and from this, we will be able to further expand and dive in on the additional tools needed to further empower you along the way. 

I believe in you and your dreams and I look forward to a very exciting 2025… I mean, 202Thrive.

Let’s do this.         

-Amanda

February: Songwriting Foundations: Key Elements of a Great Song

Overview:  Explore the core elements of melody, lyrics, structure, and rhythm.

Chapter Engagement Activity: “Dissect a Hit Song” analyzing its structure and elements.

Worksheet Guide: Listed below

Personal Prompt: Take a song that you’ve written and dissect it, just as you did with the hit song you dissected. Once you put it back together, is it the same as when you started, or did you decide to rearrange or make changes given new insight? 

NSAI Resources: Explore our Videos & Education tab on the website, where you’ll find an extensive Content Library filled with educational (and entertaining) videos! These resources cover hundreds of topics related to songwriting and the music industry. From Creating Home Studio Demos with Clay Leap to Becoming a Pro Songwriter ft. Bart Herbison & Jenn Schott and so much more in between!  

***

February: Songwriting Foundations: Key Elements of a Great Song

Songs are typically written using three foundational elements: melody, lyrics, and structure. Understanding these components and how they work together can help you create and elevate your songs to be more intentional and memorable to the listener. 

When it comes to the Songwriters that write the songs, they can generally be categorized into a few distinct groups based on their beliefs about what makes a good song. 

These groups include:

• The Technicians: Writers who take a highly structured and technical approach to the creative process, believing that strong rules and guidelines are essential for effective songwriting.
• The Free Spirits: Writers who embrace a free-flowing, stream-of-consciousness style, allowing creativity to guide them organically without strict adherence to rules.
• The Traditionalists: Writers who value structure and tend to follow conventional rhyming schemes and "fill-in-the-blank" formulas to shape their songs.
• The Hybrids: Writers who blend elements from all approaches, using both technical and whimsical methods, adhering to traditional rules while breaking them when inspiration strikes.

This diversity in approach highlights the unique ways songwriters bring their visions to life. 

No matter which songwriter style you happen to identify with, when it comes to the key elements and components of a “hit song,” there are a myriad of thoughts, variations, and strategies to be explored, analyzed and applied creatively.  

Do all hit songs abide by the same technique? No. Do many of them have certain things in common? Yes. What are those things? What makes a hit song a hit song? 

Let’s dissect a few wildly different songs and see what answers we find! 

Using the provided “Songwriting Foundations: Dissecting Key Elements of a Song Guide” below, pick three hit songs from different genres, discuss and dissect them with the group. 

Songwriting Foundations: Dissecting Key Elements of a Song Guide

Melody - The melody is the musical backbone of your song, capturing the listener's attention and emotion. 

• Thoughts to explore:
  • Does the melody compliment the emotion of the song?
  • Is the chorus melody different enough from the verse melody?
  • What part of the melody do you find to be the catchiest?

Lyrics - Lyrics convey the story or message of your song, connecting with listeners on an emotional level.

• Thoughts to explore:
  • What intent do the lyrics have? – To cause emotion, to tell a story?
  • Are there words you could take out to create space?
  • Are there words you could switch up or add to create hookier alliteration?

Structure - The structure organizes your song and guides the listener through its journey. Common structures include:

• Alternate rhyme: It is also known as ABAB rhyme scheme, it rhymes as “ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH.”
• Ballade: It contains three stanzas with the rhyme scheme of “ABABBCBC” followed by “BCBC.”
• Monorhyme: It is a poem in which every line uses the same rhyme scheme.
• Couplet: It contains two-line stanzas with the “AA” rhyme scheme, which often appears as “AA BB CC and DD…”
• Triplet: It often repeats like a couplet, uses rhyme scheme of “AAA.”
• Enclosed rhyme: It uses rhyme scheme of “ABBA”

• Thoughts to explore:
• What rhyming structure does the song follow?
• Are you using soft rhymes or hard rhymes?
• Does the verse cadence differ from the chorus?
• If there’s a bridge, does it add value to the song?

Example: 

Country Genre: "The House That Built Me" performed by Miranda Lambert (written by Tom Douglas & Allen Shamblin)

• Melody: Simple yet emotional, highlighting the storytelling aspect from a deeply personal perspective.
• Lyrics: Specific with vivid imagery, while also being relatable to the listener.
• Structure: Traditional country storytelling structure with clear verses and a heartfelt chorus with a free form bridge. 
• The verses tend to follow the ABCB rhyming pattern. 

“I know they say you can't go home again (A)
I just had to come back one last time (B)
Ma'am, I know you don't know me from Adam (C)
But these handprints on the front steps are mine” (B)

March: Finding Your Voice as a Writer

Overview: Explore the importance of authenticity in songwriting and how personal experiences shape unique voices.

Chapter Engagement Activity: Think of a time when a song perfectly described your emotions or life experience. Why did it resonate so strongly? What about it made you think “it’s like this song was written about me” or “they wrote a song about me better than I’ve written about me.”

Using the “Finding Your Voice: Song Reflection Guide” provided in this Coordinator Guide, ask Chapter members to share the songs that come to mind for them. Discuss what about them resonates do deeply and what components are conveyed to make it feel personal. 

Personal Prompt: Think of a specific feeling or experience that has impacted you. Now, write a lyric or melody inspired by that story, ensuring it reflects your authentic voice and tells your story in a way that honors the feelings you have. You can write it just for yourself or share it at the next Chapter meeting. This is a time and a song, dedicated to giving you- you. 

March: Finding Your Voice as a Writer
Finding your voice as a songwriter is about leaning into authenticity, embracing your story, your emotions, and your unique way of expressing them. The songs that often resonate most deeply with audiences are those that feel real and honest. As my best friend Amy always says “We love when people give us, us.”

When listeners hear their own emotions and experiences reflected in a song, it creates a deep connection. So, how do you write songs that truly reflect who you are?

Songwriters often fall into different approaches when it comes to authenticity in songwriting:

• The Confessionals: These songwriters write straight from personal experience, wearing their emotions on their sleeves and leaning into vulnerability. Their lyrics often feel raw and deeply personal.
• The Observers: These writers craft stories based on people they know or things they’ve witnessed, bringing truth into their songs through an outside lens.
• The Metaphor-ers: They dive into poetic or symbolic language, using imagery and abstraction to communicate real emotions without being overtly literal.
• The Storytellers: These songwriters shape narratives - sometimes fictional, sometimes personal - into songs that take the listener on a journey with them.
• The Hybrids: Many songwriters use a blend of these techniques, mixing personal truth with creative storytelling.

No matter which category you fall into, authenticity is about embracing your truth and sharing it in a way that feels honest to you.

Let’s explore how we can lean into authenticity by analyzing songs that “give us, us.”

Using the "Finding Your Voice: Song Reflection Guide" below, choose a song that describes your emotions or life experiences perfectly. Discuss what makes it so personal and impactful.

Finding Your Voice: Song Reflection Guide

Lyrics – The Emotion of it
- What specific lyrics resonate with you the most? Why?
- Do the lyrics tell a personal story or convey a universal feeling?
- Are there any lines that feel like something you would say in real life?

Melody – The Heart of the Song
- How does the melody contribute to the emotion of the song?
- Does the chorus melody feel different from the verses?
- If you changed the melody, would the song still feel as powerful?

Authenticity – Why It Feels Real
- Do you believe the artist when they sing this song?
- How does their vocal delivery enhance the feeling of authenticity?
- Could this song have been written by someone else and still felt as genuine?

Authenticity in songwriting is about embracing your story and sharing it in a way that feels true to you. These vulnerable songs can serve as journal entries, polaroids put to words, capturing moments in time and bringing you back to the emotions you first felt when writing them. 

Your listeners want to hear themselves in your music, when you write from the heart, it creates connection, giving them words for their own experiences and reminding them that they’re not the only one who’s felt that way. 

You are uniquely gifted and the best song you can write, is the song that gives you-you. By sharing a song that gives you, you, you then give us, us… and that’s how we find our people. That’s how we discover the songs that we end up singing for the rest of our lives… whether from the driver’s seat at the top of our lungs in the car, or on a stage listening to thousands of people singing it back to us. 🤍

Please see the attached pdf. for all things Chapter Challenge 2025 - Coordinator Rules Overview_0.pdf. 

ALL SONGS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY 11:59pm (CST), May 31st, 2025.
IMPORTANT SONG SUBMISSION LINKS:

• COORDINATOR SONG SUBMISSIONS:  
  Coordinator(s) can submit one (1) song each ONLY if their Chapter participated in the 2025 Chapter Challenge using the link provided: https://www.nashvillesongwriters.com/form/chapter-challenge-coordinator-su
• WINNING CHAPTER MEMBER SUBMISSIONS:  
  Coordinator(s) will collect this information from the member winner and member runner up from their Chapter and submit it via the link provided: https://www.nashvillesongwriters.com/form/chapter-challenge-chapter-winner