A monthly gathering of songwriters, offering encouragement, criticism, and a sophisticated "first audience" for songs in progress. Next: On hiatus until Fall 2012 Meeting the first Tuesday of every month / Sign-Ups: 6:30 p.m. / First song: 7:00 p.m. Ten slots are available / first come, first served Location: Sparky Town (324 Burnet Ave., Syracuse / website)

The Words and Music Songwriter Woodshed is a place for local songwriters of all levels to test brand-new and not-quite-completed songs on an audience made up of their peers -- that is, other songwriters. This is not a performance, but a workshop. The goal is to use the reactions of others to help you judge and improve your own songwriting efforts.

The Words and Music Songwriter Woodshed is presented in conjunction with Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers' Words and Music Songwriter Showcase -- a concert series held at Jazz Central in Syracuse. For more info, go to www.wordsandmusic.info.

How the Woodshed works. At each meeting, in slots of 15 or 20 minutes' length (depending how many people are waiting their turn), each songwriter will be given a chance to play and sing an in-progress song. The rest of the group will be given a few moments to review the song's lyrics. And for the remainder of the time slot, discussion will take place, as appropriate. There is no set format for discussion, although the session has a moderator to help keep conversation on track and to keep everything on time. (Non-songwriters also sometimes attend and weigh in, although the comments of fellow songwriters are given first priority.)

What you need to bring. Bring your instrument, or take your chances on borrowing one from another participant. (There is an upright piano on the premises, and someone always has a six-string guitar.) You are strongly encouraged to bring at least 10 (and better still 15) copies of your lyrics; fold lyric sheets in half, unreadable, as they will be distributed before your song but opened and read only after your song is played.

Bring a song you consider still a work in progress. Do not present a song that you are not willing to further revise; to do so is a waste of everyone's time. You should arrive eager to change your song -- perhaps radically! Incomplete songs are permissible, but songs should be fleshed out well enough that everyone can sense and judge their overall effect.

How to comment. There are no rules for the conversation, except that candor should always be tempered by empathy. Songwriting is a personal and sometimes mysterious process. Be honest, but constructive. Beyond that, everything is fair game -- individual word choices, chord choices, melodies, tempos, the sense of entire verses or plot-lines or even the entire song! The goal is to help the songwriter understand whether the song transmits to a listener what he or she intended.

Where's it happening? Sparky Town is a funky little bistro located at 324 Burnet Avenue, at the corner of Catherine Street (which is Almond Street on the other side of 690). Sandwiches and dinners from Sparky Town's full menu are available; beverages now include wine and beer, in addition to Sparky Town's usual coffee offerings. For more info about Sparky Town, refer to their website. There's lots of parking nearby -- especially on Catherine, just north of Burnet.

Who's the moderator? Dana "Short Order" Cooke, long-time local singer-songwriter and veteran moderator of songwriter circles, will help prompt and guide the conversation. He will watch the clock and the night's roster of songwriters, as well, to make sure it all gets done on time. If you have questions about the proceedings, contact him at 559-7014 or at danacooke@windstream.net.

Who gets to do a song? Song-slots will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis; numbers will be handed out, like at the deli. When you arrive at Sparky Town, find Dana and request your number. Doors open at 6:30 and numbers will be assigned until all 10 are gone.

Some miscellaneous guidelines . . .

• When presenting your song, it's best not to make introductions. It eats into your time and alters the way your listeners hear the song. On rare occasions (in the Woodshed, as in performance) a song benefits from a little set-up; that's okay. But all the typical advance hedging and apologizing for the flaws in the upcoming song only slow down the Woodshed and corrupt everyone's untainted, virgin experience with the song.
• Please bring songs you intend to revise. And, if you bring a song back for a second go-round, do so only after making some or all of the revisions from the earlier sessions; and yet, be ready to make even more revisions if they prove necessary.
• When commenting on others' songs, be efficient. Think out your comments and keep them pithy. Remember, each songwriter gets only 15-20 minutes; don't squander another's time.
• Recording devices are advisable. It's an easy way to remember all the comments offered by your peers.
• No noodling. Please do not play or sing along on other people's songs unless you are very very specifically requested to.

As many a songwriter -- amateur and professional alike -- will tell you, a woodshed is one of the most valuable ways you have to help move your new song from a good first draft to a piece of art that audience members are likely to appreciate as much as you did when writing it. Plus, this is a great chance to meet and connect with other songwriters in the area. Please come to the Words and Music Songwriting Woodshed and let's have a great time sharing and discussing the magical craft of songwriting.

Questions and comments about this website:
e-mail Dana Cooke at danacooke@windstream.net