tag:melfarrimond.com,2005:/blogs/latest-news?p=3Latest News2023-03-31T10:23:32-03:00Mel Farrimondfalsetag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/71817642023-03-31T10:23:32-03:002023-10-16T11:47:46-03:00Radio play!<p>A huge thank you to Robert Campbell for spinning three of my songs on ‘Songwriters from Here and Away’ on Cove FM recently! And he's such a pro. Not only a great musician but a cool DJ, too!</p>Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/71687702023-03-10T07:39:45-04:002023-12-10T14:09:46-04:00March 2023<p>Is winter over yet?! I'm ready for some sunshine and a large dose of vitamin D! Looking forward to lighter evenings after this weekend. I've been doing some writing and co-writing over the winter and look forward to sharing some new songs with you soon! I've also been working on my music production skills and exploring the world of writing for film and TV. Another Nashville trip is happening for me in the Spring, including a workshop with Emily Saliers of The Indigo Girls. Can't wait for that! See you out there!</p>Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/70256152022-07-28T13:02:31-03:002023-12-10T14:09:18-04:00I'm back!<p>Well, it's been a while, but I'm back! Back from the Road to Stanfest Songwriting Camp, which was wonderful, as always, and back from Stanfest, which made an incredible post-pandemic comeback! I am fired up and writing a new batch of songs, as well as working with some amazing co-writers. It feels good to be emerging - slowly but surely - from the weirdness and multiple constraints of the pandemic. I think we all need a little joy, a large dose of light-heartedness, and, of course, some great music. I look forward to taking in some more live music this summer and to creating some new original songs. See you out there!</p>Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/65418942021-02-07T09:41:05-04:002023-12-10T14:08:24-04:00Still kicking!<p>Hi. I haven't posted in a while - life got busy! I'm happy to report that I am writing songs again, after a long hiatus. Been doing some co-writing, too. Looking forward to sharing some new material with you soon.</p>
<p>In the meantime, check out the blog I've been working on, where you'll find some music I love and many more goodies: <a contents="The MONDAY Blog" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.themondayblog.com">The MONDAY Blog</a>!</p>
<p>I just started a songwriting workshop with Mary Gauthier and Gretchen Peters, which is incredible! So much inspiration from two of the very best. Stay tuned!</p>
<p> </p>Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/59322212019-10-19T14:03:42-03:002019-10-19T14:03:42-03:00Under November Skies<p>Here's the video for a song I co-wrote with Joanna Butler, <a contents="Under November Skies" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.heroesneverdie.ca">Under November Skies</a>.</p>Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/51739002018-04-10T11:40:27-03:002020-09-22T05:57:39-03:00Mel's Matinee!<p>Well, that was fun! Mel's Matinee at The Carleton raised $550 for the Brain Injury Association of NS. That money will go directly to their Music Therapy program. Despite the wintry weather, we had a great turnout! Ian Sherwood, Leona Burkey, and Ann Fearon were my special guests, and they all gave incredible performances. Fantastic songwriters! Keep an eye out for the next in this series!</p>Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/50793552018-02-14T15:40:22-04:002023-12-10T14:09:38-04:00Shows and new music coming soon!<p>I'm gearing up for some recording and some shows in the spring and summer. See you out there!</p>Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/46827402017-04-24T12:26:44-03:002021-04-26T12:27:48-03:00Stay tuned!Stay tuned for upcoming shows and news!Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/43720582016-09-14T16:02:28-03:002021-04-28T08:03:05-03:00Music-filled months!Well, I've had a busy few months, filled with music and magical experiences! In April, me and my Baby Taylor guitar headed to Nashville for an incredible 3-day songwriting workshop with one of my favourite songwriters, Emily Saliers, of the Indigo Girls. This was a bucket list experience for me. So nice to re-connect with some songwriters I met at a previous workshop with Mary Gauthier, and make some new musical friends. I'm hoping some of them will come and do some shows in Nova Scotia soon. Check out Ruth Hill (ruthhillmusic.com) and David Robert King (davidrobertking.com)for starters. In June I kicked off a string of shows with a house concert along with another of my favourites, Ann Fearon. I always love performing with Ann. She's a self-described harmony slut (!) with a beautiful, warm voice and great songs. Next up I attended the Road to Stanfest Songwriting Camp in Sherbrooke Village. What a perfect setting to get inspired and to spend time with fellow songwriters. It was so great to catch up with old musical friends and get to know some new ones too. The instructors - Susan Crowe, Thom Swift, Steven McClintock, Kim Dunn and Doris Mason - were all great fun and amazing to learn from. A highlight for me was singing Kim Dunn's 'Inspiration' at the gala concert. Love that song. After the camp, I headed over to Canso to the Stan Rogers Folk Festival, where a bunch of us got to sing! What a treat that was! And I finally made it to The (legendary) Marina for some late night jam sessions. In July I went to the Acoustic Maritime Music Festival at Kempt Shore for the first time. Loved that too. Great line-up and awesome jam sessions. I played a show in beautiful St. Peters, Cape Breton and got to play at the Lunenburg Folk Festival in August! And on top of everything else, I sang my way to PEI and back three times over the summer on the ferry! So, all in all, it was a music-filled summer. As for the Fall, I'll do a few more shows and hunker down a bit and finish some songs for my next recording. Thanks for checking in! See you out there! Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/41439972016-04-19T15:50:07-03:002020-09-12T05:31:59-03:00Nashville bound!I'm off to Nashville shortly for a songwriting workshop with one of my favourite songwriters, Emily Saliers of The Indigo Girls. Can't wait!!Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/41022062016-03-23T18:50:54-03:002023-12-10T14:08:27-04:00Hope for Wildlife Documentary SeriesVery happy to say that my song, 'Don't Break Your Heart' will be featured in Episode 4 of the new season (season 7) of the Hope for Wildlife Documentary Series on the Love Nature channel. The episode is called 'Stepping Up' and my song is near the end when the baby seal... I can't say it... sniff...Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/39023832015-10-18T12:13:48-03:002021-04-09T06:52:55-03:00House concert coming up!<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159859/21da4d38a680f09549da71dae5a744471531e0a3/original/house-concert-poster.jpg?1445181194" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/37787582015-07-15T15:44:38-03:002015-07-15T15:44:38-03:00Bluebird North was a blast!Well, another fun Bluebird North took place on July 11. We had a stellar line-up of Tom Terrell, Susan Crowe and Lynn Miles. The wonderful Rachel Sermanni was in town and joined Tom for a song. And legendary Ian Tamblyn joined Susan on stage to perform 'The Angel's Share.' These shows are always a treat, but this one was especially mesmerizing. A big thank you to those of you who support this series and regularly attend. If you haven't caught a Bluebird North yet, we hope to see you at the next one. Stay tuned!Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/37303752015-06-05T11:30:11-03:002017-01-16T11:59:44-04:00Bluebird North coming soon!<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159859/037270759c795c678019ae2414febff552f80d1d/original/150711-bbnhalifax.jpg?1433514601" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/36216202015-03-24T22:30:10-03:002015-03-24T22:32:57-03:00SAC Songwriting Challenge completed!Hi! Mel Farrimond here. I made it to the finish line! Somebody bring me some water...<br><br>The hardest part of the challenge for me was the recording/production part. Though I have recorded in a studio, I have never tried home recording...other than when I was a kid and would record my voice to cassette, play it back and sing a harmony while recording the whole thing on another cassette. Those were the days! So I finally got a Mac and introduced myself to Garageband. I figured it's a start, and this challenge got me to that start line.<br><br>I most enjoyed the fact that this challenge made me be as disciplined as I could be, time-wise. My schedule is very full. I'm a university prof and it's a busy time of term. And when not teaching, I've been shoveling... but I did my best to write and record the songs in the time I had.<br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22px;"><br>I learned that my songwriting can be pretty same-y. The challenge helped me explore different genres and gave me snippets of ideas I will pursue in future songs. I also learned that a bit of pressure helps me focus. I think I actually knew that already, but this was a reminder.<br><br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22px;"><font color="#333333" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="line-height: 22px;">I would definitely do this type of challenge again. I'm all for anything that gets me in the songwriting groove.<br><br>So thank you to the wonderful SAC, to Lily, Debra and the adorable James (we go way back...). I have learned a lot in the past 6 weeks and it was a wonderful escape from the winter blahs!</span></font><br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22px;"> Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/36190382015-03-23T20:01:34-03:002015-03-23T20:07:04-03:00SAC Songwriting Challenge Week 6Merry Christmas, everybody! Ho ho ho! Well, this week I opted to write a Christmas song to see if I could shake the urge to throw my broken shovels at the nearest snow plow. Not that any of those were near my street... but that's another story. It certainly looks Christmas-y outside. Lots of snow. Biblical amounts. Was there snow in the Bible? Anyhow. The song, 'Christmas Eve,' is full of cliches and predictability... and dubious recording/production, but it's Christmas, so love me anyway, ok?! I could hear all kinds of instrumentation in my head, but I'll have to put in some serious hours on my recording skills. I was typically short on time, but I met my deadline once again. I teach time management skills, so I feel obliged to meet deadlines... Pour yourself a hot chocolate, throw in some vegetarian gelatin marshmallows, sit back, relax and dream of Christmas. Or Christmas Eve, which is always the best part, in my humble opinion. Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/36024532015-03-15T15:47:38-03:002021-05-07T07:43:40-03:00SAC Songwriting Challenge Week 5This week's challenge was to write a song to pitch for a new series described as a 19th Century “Dexter” with a female lead. Think love, lust, hate, danger. I started from scratch, came up with a few chord progressions and melodies, and finally settled on one very simple progression, with more major chords than I'd anticipated, but I think it works. My recording/production skills still suck. Nothing new there! But I wrote my song and laid it down and met the deadline again. Happy about that. I really enjoyed this challenge. My favorite one yet! What can I say? I like melancholia. I was going to call my song 'Tonight' but thought it might be confused with the one from West Side Story.... They're so similar in every way. Practically interchangeable.... So I changed it to 'Cross That Line.' Loved this challenge. I may try to write some more slightly spooky stuff... (insert evil laughter here)Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/35839462015-03-08T12:45:27-03:002015-03-08T12:45:27-03:00SAC Songwriting Challenge Week 4This week's challenge was to write an edgy country pop song for a male artist, early 20s. No mention was to be made of marriage or kids. No "partying at the lake", "trucks and tailgates" and no "bro country" vibe. I thought immediately of my favorite country song title, 'I am my own grandma.' Then I remembered my own mock country song, penned for my long time partner, 'If you leave me, I'm coming with you.' I was hoping to collaborate on this week's song, but, as usual, my week was jam packed with work, hacking ice (it's Nova Scotia) and other commitments, so I flew solo again. I resolve to co-write before the 6 weeks are up! I normally gravitate towards ballads, so I tried to at least get a bit of a beat in this one. The song is called 'Don't Underestimate Me' and is inspired by my observations of people picking on and nagging 20-somethings about how to be and how to live and what not to do. Once again, my newbie recording non-skills are evident, and I had precious little time to work on this, but I started from scratch and darn it, I met the deadline! Stop picking on me! Don't underestimate me!<div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"> </div>
<div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"> </div>Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/35686362015-03-02T14:31:13-04:002015-03-02T16:34:32-04:00SAC Songwriting Challenge Week 3Well, I did write a little ditty for a commercial, as per the assignment. It's light-hearted, fun and playful, but won't win any songwriting awards... I did work through a few different ideas (kaleidoscopes, whirlygigs, etc.), and opted for something extremely simple in the end. One game I loved as a kid was leapfrog, so that is the title of the song. I still love that game, except that as a middle-aged, out of shape weirdo, one risks getting a) stuck in an embarrassing position b) laughed at or c) arrested. As I think about that, each option could inspire some songwriting ideas... But I digress. Time was tight for me this week. But I'm pretty sure just about everyone doing this challenge is juggling lots of commitments, so we do our best! So far, the challenges have been really fun to tackle. It's definitely interesting to see what I can come up with under pressure and with very little time. In spite of the pressure and my almost complete lack of recording/production skills, I am still REALLY enjoying these songwriting challenges. It will be interesting to see what impact these creative digressions have on my 'usual' songwriting patterns. Onward!Mel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/35515612015-02-23T17:09:44-04:002021-04-19T06:17:22-03:00SAC Songwriting Challenge Week 2OMG. This week's challenge made me feel, like, super old. LOL. (That was my attempt at sounding young.) Write a pop song that would appeal to 13-18 year olds. Yikes. Everything I tried to write morphed into Taylor Swift's 'Shake It Off' or Katy Perry's 'UncondiTIONally.' And then I thought I had something. But it turned out to be 'Shake It Off' again, except slowed down. Then I went to a Bryan Adams show. Wow! I knew every darn song for the whole 3 hours! And the audience seemed to be all ages. Some sort of universal appeal there. And darn it, I can't help liking most of those songs. I had hoped to spend tons of time at the challenge this past week as it was our study break - no classes to teach. But it was one of those weeks full of surprises - from internet issues to leaky kitchens to cars stuck in ice - but enough excuses. I had fun trying to come up with a decent song. But the technical side is the biggest challenge for me. I finally bought a Mac, introduced myself to Garageband and tried to record my song. It's done, but the recording is cheesy. Please forgive me, I know not what I do. I resolve to spend more time with Garageband and remain excited for the upcoming challenges. TTYLMel Farrimondtag:melfarrimond.com,2005:Post/35321122015-02-15T09:59:34-04:002018-02-26T03:21:12-04:00SAC Songwriting Challenge Week 1Hi from Halifax. Snowy, windy, beautful Halifax. The news of a foiled massacre at a local mall hangs heavy in the air. What a weird story. Then last night, said mall was surrounded by a heavy police presence. Turns out some kids were having 'fun' with slingshots and hit a bus or something... I think I'll stay home and write songs. I have taken up the Songwriting Challenge launched by the wonderful Songwriters Association of Canada. At the end of the first of six weeks, I am already having a blast! The main reason I took up the challenge was to get myself back into the songwriting zone. I tend to have creative spurts for a few days or weeks, then often nothing for what can be a lengthy stretch of time. I am happy to say I'm back in the zone! Our first assignment is to get to work on a song that could potentially be pitched to Matt Dusk.That's a great way to get things going. A week ago, after reading about what Matt is looking for, I began exploring some melodic ideas and chord progressions on the piano, opting for the John Legend vibe. As is fairly typical, I didn't feel I was getting anywhere for several days, then, bam! A melody I really liked emerged. Then another. So I am bouncing between two options at the moment, and really loving sinking into this challenge. Typically I come up with the music first, usually the chorus, perhaps with a line or two of lyrics, then I work on the verses, and the lyrics almost always come last for me. That is the most laborious part for me, though I usually end up with at least one or two killer lines... which I sing REALLY LOUD, while muttering the rest. Just kidding. I don't often deliberately write for another artist, so this is a yummy exercise. I guess my only real concern is recording and producing my songs. I do have a lovely 'Nessie' mic (it had to be the Nessie for me), and Audacity, but beyond that I am up Schitt's Creek, to reference a new CBC show. So I may seek some help with that side of things. Anyhow, enough blogging. Back to the songwriting. Bye for now from Nessie and me.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159859/336ed2a2a5e918ae652bac78f7b1ded3e4fd02d9/small/318-c5-nessie-primary.png?1424008718" class="size_s justify_left border_" />Mel Farrimond