official website - Collette Savard - Blog http://collettesavard.com/blog.html Collette Savard: Blog Jannis' PHPRss class - http://www.jannis.to/ Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:18:33 -0800 How I got a song placed in a documentary... http://collettesavard.com/blog.html/how_i_got_a_song_placed_in_a_documentary  A random person trying to give me advice on my music career once asked me "have you tried being in the right  place at the right time?" I know that sounds like a joke but they weren't joking. The earnest look in the person's face, standing there in front of the sinks in the public washroom, left no doubt that they were serious. They even continued to say that I should get a manager to write songs for me etc. Though I had to work very hard not to laugh you can't deny that it's good advice! How many people get their break by doing just that? So this brings me to my story. I talked about many things in my last blog entry dated October 2010. I talked about the struggles of maintaining my self worth as an artist. I vowed to start writing regular blog entries (oops!) but I also posted a song. I did this very randomly as a joke. This was a song we'd put on a home recording done as a Christmas gift for family and friends. We called the album, John and Collette's Country Classics for Christmas. This song was by far the silliest, most light-hearted track: a cover of Loretta Lynn and George Jones' "We Go Together." So it was with great amusement that I read an e-mail sent to me the other day from a director in Maryland requesting the use of the song in a documentary. They had found it on Soundcloud which is where I had uploaded it in order to put it in my blog. I didn't even know that people trolled that service for music. Apparently the song was exactly what they needed for a documentary on corporate greed! After laughing, I cursed the fact that the song wasn't mine to give but I thought I'd offer to write one for them. I'd recently written a song on spec for a cartoon being pitched in India (also a very random offer) so I knew I could write something other than just my usual self-inspired originals. I didn't think however that they would agree. Of course they did or I wouldn't be writing this blog silly! I picked up my banjo and in a matter of minutes I had what I thought would do the trick. Thankfully the director, editor and composer for the film thought the same. Now I will have an original song in a documentary called "We're Not Broke" premiering at Sundance in January. So howza bout that?! Apparently it is possible to be in the right place at the right time although the key is you can't TRY to be there. I still haven't decided whether the randomness of the universe is something to fear or embrace but here's a good example of the beauty of chaos. In the meantime, while I wait for the right place to find me at the right time, I'll continue to pluck songs out of the air and see where they lead me.


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]]> http://collettesavard.com/blog.html/how_i_got_a_song_placed_in_a_documentary Sun, 11 Dec 2011 11:18:33 -0800 official website - Collette Savard - Blog Putting yourself out there... http://collettesavard.com/blog.html/putting_yourself_out_there Artists are sensitive and neurotic. Ok I know it's a cliche but it just so happens that I am sensitive and neurotic and an artist. Although there may be some very thick skinned perfectly emotionally balanced artists out there  I'm going to speak from experience and say that the above statement is true. Where am I going with this? Uh not sure...oh yeah, putting myself out there. Recently John (producer/husband/side man etc. see exhibit A below) came up with the idea of raising funds through a community fund-raising site online. I know this sounds like a virtual bake-sale but it's not. What it is is a way to sell advanced copies of your album to your community in order to offset the costs of producing the album. What a great idea! What's the worst that could happen? I agreed with John's point of view that regardless of whether we met our official goal, any help would be welcome. If we only made $100 well that would be $100 less we would have to (magically) come up with. So I set up the kapipal site and I wrote a heart felt plea to those I love and those who love me to please help make my dreams come true. Then I waited and almost instantly there was activity. My best friend, a co-worker of John's, a loyal fan... I thought well maybe this is going to work after all. Then it started about the time I was tucked into bed the first night. (this is where the tiny little violin starts playing) The sensitive neurotic artist hidden not so deep down made an appearance and my hopeful thoughts turned to anxiety. Why hasn't aunty Jane or my friend Bill or that guy I buy coffee from every morning donated; don't they love me? The fact that they probably had no idea that I had even started this thing made no bearing on my dark thoughts. Logic does very little to appease my self-pity. Then a worse thought occurred to me. Is the amount of money I raise a reflexion on how much my music is appreciated. Is the little meter on the kapipal page actually a Talent-O-Metor? Oh dear! Ok so I know that this sounds like a huge guilt trip but please know that it's not. I get that no matter how much you want to support someone you don't always have cash to throw around. However in the interest of honesty and as a way of connecting with you all out there in the cyber world I want to give you an accurate portrayal of this process and my feelings about it. That being said there are already good things coming out of this whole thing. The first is this blog which is something I had vowed to do for sometime and had put off except for a couple of entries made years ago in my MYSPACE blog. Although it's possible I could flake out here too I don't think that will be the case this time. You see now I have share holders! Now people have put down the capital ($410 so far!) towards my career and they demand (well more like politely inquire) to know my progress. So I have vowed to keep a log of my work on this album so that people will know their cash is being put to good use. The other good thing is I have deadlines to meet now. My last two albums were made at my leisure. The first took a couple of years, the second I don't even know how long because I wasn't keeping track but probably at least a year all tolled. With this one I want to follow kapipal's deadline. I have given myself 6 months to raise the funds. The album will be made throughout that time and released a couple of months after the deadline. So that's about all I have to say at this point but I promise to check back frequently with updates on the progress of the album and my emotional state. (feel free to disregard the latter) I hope to keep you all entertained or at the very least not to bore you. You're comments/advise/soliloquies added to this blog will be most welcome.


Sensitively and Neurotically Yours,


Collette


p.s. uhm if you might what to maybe sort of give a teeny weenie little bit of money for my next album and I give you a pretty nice sort of awesome kinda cool album in return you could uhm click the link below if it's not too much trouble please and thank you kindly...


Help Collette Make Her Third Album


Exhibit A: this is a recording John and I made of a George Jones & Tammy Wynette classic. It was part of John and Collette's Country Classics for Christmas, a recording which was intended for close friends and family only. We never really wanted this to see the light of day again but in the interests of fun here it is:







We Go Together by collettesavard

]]> http://collettesavard.com/blog.html/putting_yourself_out_there Sun, 03 Oct 2010 18:17:58 -0700 official website - Collette Savard - Blog