In My Life

Photo (untitled) by simple mike

The Songcraft Songwriting Circle has grown quite a bit since it was first started in April last year.

Grown, not necessarily in the “numbers” sense, but definitely in the sense of “passion”, “chemistry” and “spirit”. This is definitely something which I had not expected, but neither can I say that it was something which I had not wished for.

In fact, Songcraft has become everything I had wished for it to be. It is the very thing I had hoped for when I first decided upon the name “Songcraft” and started the humble little blog at songcraft.wordpress.com.

I really think we’ve got something good goin’ on.

Just like any other group, we had our own little milestones: the actual starting of the very first session @ The Substation (they say starting is always half the battle won right?), the initial growth spurt of the circle, the move to the YMS Arts Centre, the year end mini-concert in Dec ‘07, the 1st year anniversary at Fort Canning Park in April ‘08, etc.

Along the way we’ve had many new friends join us…friends who share the same common passion for songwriting and music. It’s always easy to build a rapport with people who share the same passion for music. We speak a common language.

As of today, I would say we’ve more or less reached a pretty stable state. I repeatedly state in all honesty that I’m perfectly pleased with the way things are going right now, even though our monthly sessions have been averaging around 12-15 people every month. We’ve got a really good chemistry going on, and that’s something I really appreciate.

I think that’s the essence of the circle.

You see, herein lies the dilemma: On the one hand, it would be ideal if Songcraft grows and reaches out to many more songwriting enthusiasts out there in Singapore. (That was one of the goals of the circle.) But on the other hand, how would one manage a session of say, 40-50 attendees? It would be near impossible. There would be space and time constraints.

At the moment, with 12-15 attendees we have just enough time to let everyone share their songs. The timing is absolutely PERFECT at the moment, to be honest. (Our cutoff time is always 10pm, and we always manage to finish just at that time.)

The essence of “circles” (which is what Songcraft is - a songwriting circle) is that it is usually a rather small, tight knit bunch of like-minded folk who come together to share stuff with one another. The sense of “intimacy” is important. And that’s what I believe we have at the moment.

So let’s say if Songcraft were to double in size…then I’m not really sure what to do.

It’s one of those delicate situations whereby you would like to see the group expand, but neither are you sure if you can manage the group once it gets too big.

And that’s what I call the Songcraft Dilemma.