How To Get Lucky – Go to the Australian Songwriters’ Conference!

I’m very lucky – 2010 was a great year, song contest-wise.

I attended the Australian Songwriter’s Conference (ASC) in Ettalong on the NSW Central Coast and was thrilled to win three categories of the ASC Song Contest. Ruby Ruby (Crimson Sheets) won the World category, Dark Night of the Soul won the Christian Category and I Feel Sorry For the Stars Tonight won the Blues/Roots/Folk category. Another two of my songs were also highly commended – Take Me As I Am in the instrumental section – and The Kiss (The Dreams of Gustav Klimt) for the Blues/Roots/Folk category. Last year (2009), I won the Lyrics Only section of the contest as a first-time attendee – it just goes to show how incredible something like the ASC can be in terms of creating inspiration and honing your potential as a songwriter. I just have to say, thank God for the amazing Lisa Butler, convener and lady extraordinaire of the ASC. I often think of this radiant woman and know that without her, there would be a lot less joy and creativity in the songwriting world. Long live Saint Lisa, the patron of all things musical!

While I had already been making the finals of Lyrics Only categories in contests like the ISC, Unisong and Great American Song Contest, it was at the ASC that I made the leap from being just an “ideas woman” to a musician. It’s such an intimate and creatively intense atmosphere – and you really get to know people on a one-to-one level. What really changed things for me was co-writing a great song with Gary Pinto at the 2009 ASC called Amen Amen (So Be It My Love). It was one of those “be brave and grab your opportunity” moments – and I did! I already had the lyrics with me (which just goes to show that good things really do happen when preparation meets opportunity) and Gary took my little bit of melody and turned it into magic. That 20 minutes of creativity really changed things for me – it led me to producers who could hear the potential in my music which led in turn to more co-writing and more magic and then suddenly to a bank of work in a very short period of time that began to win awards for being whole songs, rather than just lyrical ideas. It’s ironic really. I even had a bit of a legal wrangle that had to be resolved at one point (during which I was convinced the world had ended) which led me to the delightful Jules Munro of Simpsons Solicitors, a speaker and mentor on legal issues at the 2009 ASC. Instead of this moment being a disaster, Jules graciously opened a door for me to meet the completely divine Barbara Griffin, a producer I continue to work with at every opportunity. Barbara produced Ruby Ruby and really awakened the sleeping singer/songwriter in me. The point is, nothing really bad can come out of the ASC – everything is just a twist and turn on the fairytale path that is music and creativity.

I received so many lovely compliments about my songs at the 2010 ASC – and from people I both love and respect. It was overwhelming really. Two years ago, I was just working out what a chord was and here I am now, somehow writing, composing and singing songs that three years ago were completely undreamt of!! The most beautiful thing in all this for me has been the opportunity to meet and collaborate with such amazing musicians as Barbara Griffin, Ritchie Neville and Sven Tydeman of Kitty Groove Productions, Gary Pinto, John and Rick Brewster (The Angels) and to be both inspired and surprised by the wise words and praise of such extraordinary writers and mentors as Jason Blume, Alan Roy Scott, Rob Case and the ever-dynamic Toni Koch. To me, music is people – and people really are the ASC.

To budding songwriters, professionals who want to network or companies and producers scouting for talent, I would say this: if you want to get lucky, go the to the ASC in 2011. I am proof that it works!

Susan Muranty July 2010