Rick Beresford

Songcoaching Services
songcoach@bellsouth.net
615-333-0504 Fax & Phone
5464 Village Way
Nashville, TN, 37211

____________________________
Individual Critique And Instructive Co-Writing

Songcoaching services provides detailed critique and instructive co-writing for individual songwriters with a 30 year veteran hit songwriter, Rick Beresford. Instructive co-writing means Rick will give you actual lyric and music if it comes up in the critique session. He takes no credit, you keep the publishing, so you can play with his suggestions, keep, change or throw them away if you choose. Rick's ideas help each songwriter grow faster by example.

____________________________
How It Works

You can meet with Rick two ways:

1. Live at Rick's home office at 5464 Village Way, Nashville, TN, 37211 or

2. By phone (615-333-0504) or through Skype, a FREE on-line phone service that also carries video. So the session will be seen as well as heard. Go to Skype.com, look for "get connected", download the free program and sign up, get a caller ID and call Rick at: mysongcoach. The phone will ring on Rick's computer. It's that easy.

S C H E D U L I N G
 Call or email the time of day you are usually available and Rick will email you back a date and time.

Email: songcoach@bellsouth.net

Telephone number: 615-333-0504



P R E P A R A T I O N 
 Email or fax lyrics to me, preferably at least several hours before the session. You will play the song live or taped over the phone and Rick will record it. Guitar-piano or accapella work tapes are fine. Client can sing live over the phone.

F E E S 
 $50 per 50 minute session. For special needs clients, 20 minute sessions are available for $25. All work is satisfaction guaranteed or your money back. Checks are fine. Pay as you go or in advance.

C L I E N T C A N C E L L A T I O N P O L I C Y 
If you cancel and reschedule within one week, there is no charge. If you cancel two or more days in advance there is no charge. Cancellations one day in advance have a $25 fee. Cancellations on the day of the session have a $50 fee.

____________________________

Individual Instructive Co-writing & Critique

Rick provides personalized in-depth critique and instructive co-writing on your songs, line by line. Note by note. He points out your strengths as well as making suggestions to bring your song to the next level. Rick likes to get his clients thinking for themselves by suggesting possible ways to improve your song. If lyric or musical ideas show up, Rick gives them the songwriter to play with on their own time. We discuss the creative process, the song's emotional message musically and lyrically, the core storyline and the details needed to bring out the best in your song.


I also offer actual lyric and music ideas to help you toward your growth as a songwriter through instructive co-writing. This is invaluable in helping songwriters grow at a more rapid pace. Because I'm a signed staff writer co-writing with artists in the pop, rock and Country market, the client gets one pro working songwriter's take on how their song could be further developed into a finished CD or demo-ready song. This teaches the client to think like a pro in a short span of time, rather than "paying your dews" over years. You invest in me. I invest in your dews payment. And… You get to keep, re-arrange or throw out my suggestions. I take no songwriting credit so I have no emotional investment in the song, allowing you to take your song where you want it to go… with my help.


I help creatively blocked songwriters get un-stuck through a series of creative pep talks and exercises that really work magic.

My mission is to teach you how to write at a professional level on your own by giving you professional possibilities creatively and structurally. You learn how to heighten the emotional clarity and intensity of your story and music to a level that allows your songs to live a vibrant successful life in your personal songwriting world.

____________________________
S e m i n a r s


Individual clients or groups can choose to take any number of SPECIFICALLY tailored lessons with songwriting exercises as well as critique sessions. Rick will perform at the end of any seminar upon request. Seminars are one to three hours or one to three days with an optional concert at the end of the day or event.


C O U R S E T O P I C S

SONGWRITING ELEMENTS AND FINDING YOUR STYLE: 
Learn the basic parameters of lyric and music. This knowledge will not only create more songwriting possibilities but will allow us all to discover our individual style, be it emotional, symbolic or detail driven. We'll explore the ten songwriting elements: concept, genre, form, development, rhyme, rhythm, symbols, physical, emotional, and conclusive writing, texture, melody and chords.

FINDING GREAT SONG IDEAS AND LOSING WRITER'S BLOCK: 
Techniques for searching out interesting ideas and testing these ideas to see if they will be compelling and complete enough to form a central theme for a song by 
writing "treatments" and headlining. Learning techniques to combat and beat writer's block.


ADVANCED LYRIC STRUCTURE & DEVELOPMENT: 
This lecture teaches the tricks of chorus vs. non-chorus song structure, character development, hook placement and plot variations used in the trenches of professional commercial songwriting. The importance of contrast and repetition are explored in all facets of songwriting. Shifts in meaning and where to shift are discussed. Power Placement Contrast & Repitition: 
After inspiration, contrast and repetition could be our most valuable tool in creating powerful songs. Contrast creates interest while repetition creates bonding and memorable songs. Learn all the ways to create contrast and repetition in lyric as well as music. Learning about beginnings and endings, opening lines and lead-in lines, the art of power placement. Knowing about WHERE AND WHEN to shift concepts or person.



ADVANCED RHYME AND 
RHYTHM TECHNIQUE: 
Learn the rhyme tricks of the pros. Polish your songs with interesting rhyme variations. Learn the hip new rhythm variations as well as the basics to expand your groove opportunities. Scansion and Meter Breaking are taught.



SYMBOLIC WRITING AND POETIC LEVELS: 
Learning the language of lyric from spoken conversation to poetic styles will keep songs sounding honest while increasing lyric intensity. Symbolic writing will be analyzed and defined. Metaphor exercises.

MUSIC MANIPULATION: 
Understand the powerful natural dynamics and emotion in your melodies and chords. Learn to explore your lyric for the most effective music possibilities. Tension and release, symmetric and asymmetric lines are defined. Prosody, notes against chord variations, key changing and chord substitutions are explored. Reading music is not necessary.


CREATIVITY EXPANSION
: Become closer to our inner songwriting power. Know we all are successful songwriters. Get deeper into your creative well through a series of exercises designed to open up your wild creative inner self. Go where the hit ideas live. ART exercise. Cluster Exercise.

P.I. (PROFESSIONAL INTUITION) or PROSODY TRAINING: Learn to maximize melody-lyric for emotional effect. Look into the world of song idea and structural possibilities and learn how to prioritize, choose the most effective path to song success. Gain insight into how pro songwriters instinctively take chances, try new things, then rationalize their choices in the songwriting process.

SECRETS TO POWERFUL EMOTIONAL WRITING: CLICHÉ BUSTING! Rick Beresford. Emotional writing can be so predictable and clichéd. Examine the great emotional songwriters and discover their secrets for diverse, engaging and original emotional music and lyric. Learn how to make minimalist lyric an effective tool in the songwriting process. Get techniques to replace or deal with clichés.

FINISHING TOUCHES OF THE PROS. THE RINGER: Rick Beresford. Powerful secrets used by the pros for bringing a song from pretty good to awesome! Learn to recognize ringers of hit songs so you can finish your songs with compelling flare and / or deeper gut wrenching emotion.

SECRETS TO SUCCESSFUL MESSAGE SONGS: PREACHING SUCCESSFULLY: Rick Beresford. Preachy Songs can be a hard sell. But we WANT to write them! We examine some successful message song techniques used by the pros. Get your preach on and out to the listener most effectively.

SECRETS TO POWERFUL STORY SONGS: Rick Beresford. Secrets of interesting and unique detail from the best story-narrative-situation songs. Learn how to “Show don’t tell”. Discovering originality in detail and symbols. Using the physical world to create compelling emotion. interest and depth.

SECRETS TO SUCCESSFUL SYMBOLIC WRITING: Rick Beresford. Exploring the colorful world of idioms, metaphors and similes through the greatest symbolic hit songs. Using symbols as themes-hooks or powerful support to a literal hook. Learn the difference between Figurative and Physical Symbolic themes. Easy exercises build symbols for the symbolically challenged.

ANATOMY OF HIT SONGS, LINE BY LINE, NOTE BY NOTE: Rick Beresford. Analyzing current hit songs to learn how different pro writers manipulate Form, Development, Rhyme, Rhythm, and Lyric Elements into more compelling, emotionally charged lyric and music. Talking about "Ringers", that special little extra something that keeps songs rising on the charts for months.

____________________________
R i c k ' s B i o

Rick Beresford teaches Commercial Songwriting at BELMONT UNIVERSITY in Nashville, TN. He is the director of the KERRVILLE FOLK FESTIVAL SONG SCHOOL held in Kerrville, Texas each year and permanent faculty member of the NASHVILLE SONGWRITERS ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL'S song camps and workshops. Rick has given workshops in the USA, Canada, England, and Australia. He has been coaching songwriters, lecturing and teaching since 1985.

D I S C O G R A P H Y H I G H L I G H T S

Rick has had songs recorded by such artists as George Jones, Don Williams, Mickey Gilley, Sweethearts Of The Rodeo, the Everly Brothers, John Conlee, BJ Thomas, Brenda Lee with

A W A R D S

Rick has received two BMI AWARDS and a MUSIC CITY NEWS AWARD. He produced the ARIA Award winning Country Album of the Year, 1998, for Shanley Del for BMG, Australia.

W R I T I N G C R E D I T S

Rick has been a staff writer for ZMG Music Group 3 years, co-writing with artists such as Country artist Rissi Palmer, Slugfest Records Elizabeth Eckert, pop artist Chris Mann, Indi artist Tom Kimmel and Country legend Janis Oliver of the Sweethearts Of The Rodeo. I've co-written with some super talented hit writers such as Deanna Walker (Rissi Palmer's Mr. Oo-La La, She'll Believe You by Kenny Rogers), Sarah Majors, Kye Flemming (30plus #1 Country songs from Barbara Mandrel to Sylvia), Mary Ann Kennedy, Jenifer Kimball, Roger Cook, Red Lane and Wayne Carson. So Rick brings all this songwriting experience that he's learned with him to share with clients.

____________________________

S U C C E S S S T O R I E S



Below are the names of some of Rick's clients that have had success in publishing! 

If you know of anyone that has worked with Rick that has had success, please email Rick (songcoach@bellsouth.net) and he will gladly add their names!

Mary Gauthier: 
folk-rock artist-writer with 4 nationally acclaimed CDs. Picked by Time Magazine as best new artist.


David Wilcox:
awesome recording artist with the most capo award!

Barry Dean: 
staff writer, 2 major cuts in 2003!


Neil Cody: 
artist and songwriter, alternative rock


Lisa Aschmann:
multi faceted songwriter, Country, Pop, R&B, blues, bluegrass cuts, movies, TV


Connie Howard: 
NSAI song contest #1 winner 2001



Neil Herman: publishing deal

Lisa Silver: publishing deal

Jim Berryhill and Michael Watson: Georgia song contest winner 2001

Deanna Boe: 
Crutchfield Music “It Takes A Little Honey” to Jo Dee Massina, movie song


Quinn Loggins: Dave Loggins son, songwriter-artist

Jim Femino: 
now co-writes with Toby Keith and Mont Gentry 


Mary Coppin: 
won John Lennon #1 top prize 99


Benjammin: 
won 2001 OSCAA song contest


Joe Lithgo: 
published with Matt Lindsey Music (Allen Reynolds)



Donna Galbraith: 
Artist of the Month of online songwriting community, Songramp.

__________________________

S O N G W R I T I N G D A T E . B L O G S P O T . C O M

This is a free service Rick created for co-writing. Say you live in a small town and need a co-writer where there is none. Rick feels you pain. Co-writing long distance is the way to go with free Skype (with video) or all these cheap phone rates. Go to skype.com and follow the directions to "get hooked up". You can call anyone with Skype for free and see them. Just set up a time to call and your off and running! Or... Get a speaker phone for $25 bucks, make an appointment, call and GO, GO, GO! Rick co-writes with Australia on Skype!

Rick has set up a website for songwriters in need of a co-writer to network. To find a co-writer to write with over free Skype with video or phone go to: songwritingdate.blogspot.com

Put your information in the category that best suits you. Browse all the numbers already there. Pick a co-writer that you think will suit your needs and contact them. IT'S LIKE HAVING THE WRITER IN THE ROOM. No more whining that there's no co-writers for miles. The world is at your computer tip.