Boston Area Song Swap

WHEN AND WHERE IS SONG SWAP?

Song Swap is a monthly event, held on either a Saturday or Sunday afternoon from about 1 to 4, usually during the first weekend of the month.

Song Swap has just returned from a two-year hiatus. Most or all of the time, it will be held at my apartment near Medford Square.

Click here for information on the next Song Swap.

WHAT IS SONG SWAP?

Boston Area Song Swap is intended to be a friendly event for amateur acoustic singer/musicians to have a little fun performing in a relaxed, casual setting. Feel free to play songs you've written yourself, songs you've learned, or songs you've arranged or adapted-- any song in any musical genre, basically. (Myself, I like to play an eclectic mix of "silly songs", 1980s pop, and occasional old songs from the 1930s or before. I also hope to use Song Swap to encourage myself to finish writing more songs.)

Nonperformers are very welcome, too! It's always nice to have an audience.

Our usual format is to simply go around in a "bardic circle"-- when it's your turn, just play, make a request, or pass. Sometimes, we use other formats, such as "chaos"-- just jump in-- when there are few enough people to do so.

HOW IS SONG SWAP DIFFERENT FROM OTHER MUSICAL EVENTS?

Song Swap is intended to complement other regular local musical events I attend.

Open mic nights (e.g. at Club Passim) are fine, but nerve-wracking. I haven't been playing guitar very long, so I still get nervous singing and playing "on stage". Especially solo. Especially for just one song. Especially when all other performers have their songs memorized, whereas I have a terrible memory and prefer to keep my music stand handy. My hope is that Song Swap will be less formal and more relaxing than open mic nights that I've seen, and be a good place to try out songs and practice performing, with less pressure and more time.

There are some music events I enjoy, like Psinging, because they're terrific for group singing and/or music jamming. But they are not appropriate venues for performance, which is why I'm creating Song Swap. On the other hand, if you want to lead a singalong at Song Swap, that's fine too!

MassFilc get-togethers, and occasional housefilk events, are good for performance, but they are really intended for singing filk. Although filksingers are a very tolerant bunch, I feel uncomfortable singing many songs that are not filk songs.

(Filk is a subset of folk music that is practiced in, by, and for the Science Fiction and Fantasy fan community. For more information, see here or here, or else just attend a meeting of MassFilc. :-)

So, in short, at Song Swap:

(1) it's low-pressure (unlike open mic nights around town).

(2) it's OK to swap turns in the spotlight (unlike Psinging), and

(3) it's OK to perform either original or cover songs of whatever genre (unlike MassFilc, where it's tolerated but not necessarily encouraged).

TO RECEIVE FUTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Every now and then, I'll announce Song Swap on various mailing lists where people might be interested, but if you're interested in receiving all regular announcements, please send email to songswap@drsnark.com. and ask to have your email address added to the announcements list. (Those addresses will stay private, of course, and all messages are sent bcc'd.)

If you know someone else whom you think might be interested in Song Swap, feel free to tell them, too.

FEEDBACK:

If you have any suggestions or questions about Song Swap in general, please email me at songswap@drsnark.com.

- Paul Estin

http://www.DrSnark.com/songswap/
THIS PAGE LAST UPDATED: January 25, 2006

Questions, comments, corrections? Mail to songswap@drsnark.com.