Activ8
In the Loop
Songwriting is alive and well
WE NEED TO SOUND A FANFARE FOR THE GREAT NEW ZEALAND SONG BOOK, AND IT COULDN'T HAVE A BETTER CHAMPION THAN INDUSTRY ICON MIKE CHUNN.
The craft of songwriting is very close to Mike Chunn's heart. Not to mention his ear. Mike has played bass with legendary New Zealand band Split Enz, and is a former boss of the Australasian Performing Right Association (the industry society that makes sure composers get the money due to them from their songs being played in public).
These days Mike is chief executive of Play It Strange (www.playitstrange.co.nz), an initiative funded in the main by Hamilton's Perry Foundation, and which was set up to provide outside-the-classroom music programmes to high schools.
"If there was a model for Play It Strange, it would be sport," says Mike. "Our focus is high schools. If you want to play a sport you have a coach and get out and play the game. It's not about the theory but the performance. Play It Strange applies the practical approach used in sport to songwriting. And the music teachers that appreciate the Play It Strange programmes are like coaches - they encourage and stimulate their students' creativity."
Mike also sees the opportunity for students to earn NCEA credits from involvement in the songwriting competition and the Band of Strangers concerts. And recent discussions with NZQA make this look likely to eventuate.
"If you write songs for the competition or if you play in the Band of Strangers with Jon Toogood or Don McGlashan or Tyson Kennedy from Steriogram, Black Seeds or Elemeno P, your teacher will be able to give you credits for it."
Take part now!
The Play It Strange songwriting competition is the project's core programme, and it's based on shedding a bright light on all those songs that otherwise might never go beyond the dark bedrooms and dingy band practice rooms in which they're written.
All you have to do to take part is to download the entry forms from the website, record your song and submit it. "The quality of the recording can be as terrible as terrible gets," says Mike. "The four judges are briefed to ignore the performance, the production, the recording and the hiss on the cassette and to judge the lyrics and the music content equally."
Mike is as passionate about the Great New Zealand Song as it's possible to get and says New Zealand should be up there with all the other great musical cultures. "We're not being imposters and it's not a flippant thing we're doing. It's something we believe has to happen, as much as the Rock Quest is crucial as a performance-based competition. Contemporary popular music must be alive and well."
To stand a chance of winning one of 10 copies of the Play It Strange National Secondary Schools Songwriting Competition 2008 CD, try entering actv8's competition on page 5.
Check it out
Some Play It Strange initiatives on YouTube
