Other pages:

• FAWM Etiquette
• The Daily FAWMcast 2010 (Episode Guide)
• The Daily FAWMcast 2011 (Episode Guide)
• The Daily FAWMcast 2012 (Episode Guide)

Over the years, the FAWM community have developed a few songwriting games to encourage collaboration or overcome writer's block, such as:

• 50/90 - A summertime songwriting challenge that overlaps significantly with FAWM in participation. The goal is to write 50 songs in 90 days, from July 4 to October 1 each year. This event began independently of FAWM (see the old 5090 Yahoo! Group) and is older, but was hosted by FAWM.ORG in 2008 and 2009.
• Crucio - A songwriting game similar to “tag”. Charlie Cheney explains: The original intention behind Crucio was to give you more reason to listen to other people's songs. The idea was to find a song you liked and “sample” a piece of it in a new song you created. This would cast the “Crucio” spell on the person you sampled, who would then be inspired to sample someone *else's* song, and the social networking web would span out from there. Originally you were *not* to crucio a person who had crucio'd you or who had been crucio'd by someone else.
• Exquisite Corpse - A songwriting equivalent of the classic collaborative drawing game. Nancy Rost explains: This is usually played by 3-5 people. The players decide beforehand who is to be Person 1, Person 2, etc. Usually the final person in the chain will be the one to put all the complete segments together. Person 1 writes and records a short piece of a song, usually 40-50 seconds in length and including vocals/lyrics. Person 1 then makes an mp3 of the last 10 seconds or so, and emails that file, along with written lyrics to that 10-second snippet, to Person 2. Person 1 also sends the full 40-50-second segment to the final person in the chain. Person 2 listens to Person 1's 10-second snippet and writes and a continuation of the song. When recording, Person 2 puts Person 1's snippet in a sequencing program and sings along with the vocal part – this helps everything stick together. Then do as above, recording a 40-50-second segment, sending the last 10 seconds to Person 3 and the full 40-50-second segment to Person 3. (In some cases Person 3 will be the final person in the chain. Person 2 should then send both files to Person 3, in separate emails, and with a “do not open until finished” warning on the full-segment email.) Person 3 repeats the same process as Person 2, etc. until done. The final person in the chain puts the segments in sequence, using the overlapping singing at the beginnings and ends of the segments to synch things up, and perhaps doing a little work so that the levels of the three segments aren't out of whack. In one variant of the game, usually when there are three players, Person 1 both begins and ends the game. When possible, once the final person has put the song together, all the players listen together. The middle person then gives the song its name, and then it's ready to be posted.

• Explore the Core - Recording several highly different versions of the same lyrics and chords. Three versions of 2008's “Auto-Pseudo-Mondo” song appear as bonus tracks on 14 Songs In 28 Days (Vol. 4). A full CD of Auto-Pseudo-Mondo recordings can be purchased here.
• Feast - writing and recording a large number of songs (possibly even an entire album) in one sitting. The results are often titled [something]feast, after the Pigfeast album which started the trend in 2008.
• Telephono - A songwriting equivalent of the classic game. TC Elliot explains: You listen to a song three times and then you have to record your version of the said song. Compare the first to the last and you'll be mightily impressed with the difference… much like the school bus game where one person whispers a word once to the next and so on till it gets back to the first person. Usually VERY different from start to finish.
• Strangle Disco - Dance music usually involving classical music samples and wordplay (e.g., anagrams) in the lyrics. A montage of Strangle Disco songs from FAWM 2007 appears as a bonus track on 14 Songs In 28 Days (Vol. 3).
• FAWMku - On the forums on 4 january 2011 Scott Lake posted, “While I don't believe it is official FAWMlore, a few years back I started a FAWMku thread and let's just say that 'many' FAWMers wasted mucho time scripting the bog standard 5-7-5 syllable Haikus in the threads over the years. Shall I start off FAWM2011 with it or not? You decide? Or who will take the mantle to kick in the first one for the year?”

Helga is a duck who likes to travel, and visit FAWMers around the world. She began her journey with Karan in Germany. She is looking forward to further travels, which can be arranged through donate@fawm.org.

Her travels to date have been:

• Würzburg, Germany, with Karan (photos)
• Binghamton, NY, with Swampjaw McLaughlin (photo)

Here's a brief reference of fawmisms for fawmlings (and fawmer veterans with failing memories). This is merely a list of the most common. A more exhaustive list (culled from a FAWM 2007 forum thread) is here.

• afawmmodations (n.) allowances friends and families must make to a participating fawmer so he/she can continue to write and record songs without distraction.
• alan turing (n.) song for which you think your vision might be greater than your songwriting ability [etymology: Burr's failed attempt at a song for the 2004 “tribute challenge” about notable mathematician Alan Turing].
• fawmpulsive (adj.) the state of being consumed by FAWM, e.g., checking the forums or your song comments every five minutes, writing music (or about music) instead of caring for the duties of everyday life.
• FAWK (n. or v.): balls-out rock by a fawmer
• FAWM (n.) February Album Writing Month, e.g., this site / songwriting challenge.
• fawm (v.) 1. to participate in the annual FAWM challenge. 2. to decide a song is “good enough” and move on to writing the next one [ex. “Man, I really just fawmed that one.”].
• FAWM escape velocity (n.) the point at which the total play time of FAWM songs exceeds 40,320 minutes (i.e., the total amount of time in February). In other words, more FAWM music is written in February than can actually be listened to in February. (see escape velocity)
• fawm widow / -er (n.) significant other of a fawmer, thoroughly neglected for the month of February save for (possibly) the 14th.
• fawmbassador (n.) fawmer who actively promotes FAWM during the off season.
• fawmbo (n.) gung ho fawmer, determined and/or desparate to post 14 songs by the end of FAWM.
• fawmburger (n.) any meal (or handful of food) hastily prepared and eaten while fawming.
• fawmer (n.) you, me or any FAWM participant.
• fawmidable (adj.) state of the task at hand, daunting. e.g., needing to post 14 songs in 12 hours.
• fawmished (v.) it's what you are after a long songwriting session, until you eat a fawmburger of course!
• fawmism (n.) colloquial vernacular used in the FAWM community.
• fawmling (n.) newcomer to the FAWM challenge.
• fawmonos (v.) it's January 31 let's go.
• fawmpilation (n.) annual compilation CD of 14 FAWM songs.
• FOP (n.) FAWM Over Party, e.g., informal regional gatherings of fawmers generally held in March or April.
• founding fawmer (n.) Burr Settles, Eric Distad, Willis Fireball, or Matt Hopper [participants in the original FAWM 2004].
• infawmnia (n.) inability to sleep due to songwriting anxiety and/or addiction to FAWM.ORG.
• songfathering (v.) impregnating another FAWMer on a song you just posted, by adding them unannounced as a collaborator. When they notice, they need to contribute/finish the song.
• strangle disco (n.) music genre “invented” during FAWM 2007, often featuring Beethoven samples, disco or hip-hop beats, and wordplay.
• unzung hero (n.) what a fawmer becomes when fawmer: 1) receives first comment of the FAWM season, 2) has at least one comment on each song e.g., no zongs, 3) causes a fellow fawmer to reach a zong less state.
• zong (n.) zero-comment song. Not to be confused with the term introduced by Dr. Seuss in “Oh The Thinks You Can Think”.
• zong-busting, zonging (v.) to comment only on zongs.