Mark Hartley

Thoughts On The Judging of the Songwriting Competition supported by Youthtown The Play It Strange songwriting competition running in partnership with Youthtown has run its course of entries arriving and here we are – Marlon Williams and myself, enthralled in the process of listening to them. And with that quota we are now putting our heads and ears together and deciding which songs will be headed to professional recording studios and from there – posted online on all platforms. From Spotify to Bandcamp and the others. It’s a veritable feast of original tracks. So what impressions are realized in the judging process? Songs as we know are the merging of words and music such that the finished combination is a song to be heard. It’s a very simple process. Is it? Words and music. It’s not rocket science. But what becomes real in the listening to the 160 odd songs is their bringing the simple, invisible artform in a way that we listeners are responsive and delight in the magical excellence that many of these songs proffer. This Songwriting Competition supported by Youthtown brings forward songs written by students in the band – year 9 to year 11. In essence, 13- to 15-year-olds. And, in summary, what are they like? Well, they vary obviously but often they, on the completion of a number of passes – number of listens – show themselves to be extraordinary. If there a single element that steps forward and shines in the songs, it is the imagination inherent in the music, in the words and the combination of both – we call that reaction – prosody. How well does the music fit with the lyrics. It’s something we focus on and its something that is hard to do well. The songs that will go ahead for professional recording sessions are blessed with powerful, imaginative excellence and reveal themselves as what is in reality an image of what is revealed when the huge window is opened and the hearts and minds of young songwriters are there to be heard. There are songs of young love celebrated with joy. There are familial stories that are of pain, of love, of confusion, of adventure, of regret and more. And it is those songs entered that find us longing to hear them again and again that display the true creative talent of the writer. After all it is easy to write a song. Words and music – we can all do that. But to write a song that becomes a ‘need’ for us to hear again and again. That is the hard part. That is where true songwriting energy comes to the fore. And those are the songs that fix them selves ot out emotional selves. I find this quote from Ben Hecht sums this up. ‘Songs are more than just tunes. They are small houses that our hearts live.’ Many songs in our competition achieve this. We salute every student that enters. And we congratulate those who have been selected as finalists. Long may they run…….

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The kind folks at The Way We Roll podcast, Phil Friend & Simon Minty, were kind enough to invite me onto their show recently (link in the post below). Here we are talking about Attitude is Everything, barriers to music & live events for disabled people, & my old nemesis #BreastCancer #TriggerWarning This includes a frank discussion about the emotional & physical aspects of cancer treatment. Take it easy everyone ❤️ #AccessToMusic #AccessToLiveEvents #AccessToHealthcare #BreastCancer #LivingWithACancerDiagnosis

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Another recommended school booking today from a parent who has seen us at a show, taken a leaflet and told their children's school how we make history fun for kids and thus the school has booked us to run a Palaeontology and Archaeology workshop. I've also started looking at how I can create illustrations for two children's books I'd like to write based on Dr Digby Rocks and another on General Gordon so AI has become an interesting tool to help realise my ideas for paper. #Palaeontology #archaeology #archaeologist #hystericalhistory #primaryschoolworkshops #workshopsforprimaryschools #historyworkshops

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