The Singer-Songwriter Handbook

The singer-songwriter, someone who writes and performs their own music, is an ever-present and increasingly complex figure in popular music worlds. The Singer-Songwriter Handbook provides a useful resource for student songwriters, active musicians, fans and scholars alike.

This handbook is divided into four main sections: Songwriting (acoustic and digital), Performance, Music Industry and Case Studies. Section I focuses on the 'how to' elements of popular song composition, embracing a range of perspectives and methods, in addition to chapters on the teaching of songwriting to students. Section II deals with the nature of performance: stagecraft, open mic nights, and a number of case studies that engage with performing in a range of contexts. Section III is devoted to aspects of the music industry and the business of music including sales, contract negotiations, copyright, social media and marketing. Section IV provides specific examples of singer-songwriter personae and global open mic scenes.

The Singer-Songwriter Handbook is a much-needed single resource for budding singer-songwriters as well as songwriting pedagogues.

Justin A. Williams is Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Bristol, UK. He is the author of Rhymin and Stealin: Musical Borrowing in Hip-hop (2013) and editor of the Cambridge Companion to Hip-hop (2015) and co-editor of the Cambridge Companion to the Singer-Songwriter (2016).
Katherine Williams is Lecturer in Music and Performance Pathway Leader at Plymouth University, UK. She is the author of Rufus Wainwright (2016), and co-editor of the Cambridge Companion to the Singer-Songwriter (2016).

Editors' Introduction

Part Ia: Songwriting
Ch. 1 Nadav Appel “The Singer-Songwriter Disposition”
Ch. 2 Mark Simos “The Performing Songwriter's Dilemma: Principles and Practices”
Ch. 3 Zack Moir “Learning to Create and Creating to Learn: Considering the Value of Popular Music in Higher Education”
Ch. 4 Simon Barber “Professional Songwriting Techniques: A range of views summarized from the Sodajerker Interviews”
Ch. 5 Lee Bob Watson “A River, A Bible & A Broken Heart”

Part Ib: Songwriting in the Digital Era
Ch. 6 Mark Marrington “Composing with the Digital Audio Workstation.”
Ch. 7 Rob Toulson and Richard James Burgess “Singer-songwriter meets music production and studio technology”
Ch. 8 Lisa Busby “Post-digital approaches to songwriting”

Part II: Performance
Ch. 9 Dane Chalfin “From 'me' to 'we': Stagecraft, performance and audience communication.”
Ch. 10 Sija Tsai and Andrew Hillhouse “The Mariposa Folk Festival and the Canadian Singer- songwriter Tradition”
Ch.11 Seth Lakeman testimonial “Stories from my life and tips for getting ahead” (interview with Katherine Williams)

Part III: The Music Industry
Ch. 12 Sam Nicholls “Audience Engagement and Alternative Revenue Streams”
Ch. 13 Jo Collinson Scott and David Scott, “The Portfolio Career in Practice: Key Aspects of Building a Sustainable Songwriting and Performance Career in the Download Era”
Ch. 14 Emma Hooper “Waitress for the Bees”
“How to (almost) Never Play a Bad Gig Again: A Simple Way to Approach Performing Professionally”

Part IV: Case Studies
Ch. 15 Alexandra Apolloni
Vocal Authorship: Marianne Faithfull and “Sister Morphine”
Ch. 16 Claire Coleman
“Indie folk's bowerbirds: Nostalgia and contemporary singer-songwriters”
Ch. 17 Juliane Jones “Play the Bluebird to the Bitter End: Open Mics in Nashville, NYC and Shanghai”

Bibliography
Index

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