NickVenturella.com 10-29-23 - Community helps you grow

I was recently invited to join a songwriter’s circle in my town called Songwriters Round Town. Our first one was last night.What's a songwriter's circle?

It's a curated format of selected songwriters (usually between 3 and 4 of them) and each songwriter plays a song and tells their story behind their writing of their song, and then the next songwriter shares their song. It is not an open mic – these are selected songwriters for the occasion.

Part of the idea is that after we start going around the circle, the songwriters start to ask each other questions about their songs, or their writing process for that tune. Often, a song one songwriter has played may inspire a similar themed song that the next songwriter decides to play during their turn, and there is open discussion about it between songs.

An audience is invited to watch and be involved in the process to listen and learn the “behind the music” stories, and even ask questions to participate in the process. It’s less of a performance and more of a songwriting-in-process-art-experience for which the audience gets to be a fly on the wall.

All the instrumentation is acoustic -- no amplification, and all the songwriters are required to present their original material -- no cover songs.  It’s an intimate, raw art sort of vibe. It’s loose and encouraged for songwriters to showcase freshly written material that may not be fully baked yet, or revive older songs from their back catalog that fit the theme of the conversation between songs. Vulnerability is a strength here.

Why am I sharing this with you?

There is something magical about finding a group of other people who get excited about similar, constructive interests. You have an instant connection with strangers you come across who also share that same interest – i.e. Rush fans, Comic-Con lovers, D&D players, artists, musicians, writers, any work-related counterpart from other organizations you meet when at a conference.

This is how a community is built. We all need community, even if you’re the most self-sufficient solo operating person ever – yes, you too will benefit from a community. Iron sharpens iron as the story goes, so putting yourself into situations, even when sometimes you feel apprehensive to do so, is where you will find personal growth. That growth is exponentially accelerated within a community...of even one other person. 

Are you growing in your interests, skills, talents as much or as fast as you’d like?  If not, how can you find opportunities to be in community with others related to those things to allow the organic magic that is growth to occur?  Something to address this week.

--------------------------------------------------Updates----------Songwriters Round Town​(a songwriters in the round series)Sat. Nov. 11, 2023 at Imaginary Tea Waunakee, WI7-9pm----------I've recently updated The GrowLoop Journal. It's The GrowLoop Journal 2.0, I suppose.In honor of World Mental Health Day this past week (Oct. 10), I wanted to share a use case for The GrowLoop Journal that can easily be employed for, well, better employee engagement in your organization.The GrowLoop Journal is a personal documentation system to help combat disengagement, distraction, and depression to feel better and be more productive in your life and career. It's based on proven science about the mental and physical health benefits of journaling.----------Dan Lezama and I (we make up the music duo group, Gemini's Rival) have been busy re-recording new versions of our back catalog of songs from the mid/late '90's & early 2000's.Here are three songs (of several songs to be released) that are now out on all major streaming platforms.Listen to the latest released song "Seven Seventy-Five ($7.75)," now!----------

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Stay positive. Stay healthy. Be kind.Sincerely,Nick VenturellaStrategic/Creative ProfessionalNickVenturella.com