February Album Writing Month - FAWM.ORG

To be announced…by whoever wants to host them.

We will probably have another Superskirmish on Sunday Feb 26, 12AM GMT (as on the 12th).

Come about 5 minutes early if you can swing it, since timing is kind of important here.

It works like this:

1. At the start of the event, a title will be announced.
2. All participants write and record a song to that title. They have an hour to do so.
3. Participants share links to their songs. Fun and embarrassment ensues. But most importantly, one more song is written.

They're so hot, daddy-o, they're molten.

1. When you add the song to your Soundboard, please tag it “songskirmish”, so listeners can find it easily.
2. Tune up your recording gear prior to the start of the event, so you're all set to write and record.
3. Come about 5 minutes early if you can swing it, since timing is kind of important here.

The 2011 titles (so far) will be randomly drawn from submissions to The Songskirmish SongBank. If you think of a good title that you'd like us to use, please do submit it. If you'd like to revoke a title you submitted, contact @cowex and we'll scrub it out. As of this writing (Feb 4) we have plenty of titles to choose from, but it's not too late to submit another.

NOTE: This is NOT being used for the 2012 skirmish titles.

No; it should be written and recorded within the hour though. If you can post it within an hour, you get smiley-face points (which, incidentally, are only redeemable for smiley faces). Please try to post as soon as you finish. Not everyone has the bandwidth to do a fast upload, so this would be an unfair time constraint.

Yes, unless your song was not inspired by the title. It's ultimately up to you, but my advice would be to tag it “songskirmish” like the others, and write a clarification in your Liner Notes. For example, if you spent an extra 20 minutes recording, or couldn't start at the official time but you timed yourself for 60 minutes, or whatever, note that in your liner notes. Ultimately the goal is for you to write a song, and have fun. It's not so much a competition like it would be in the Songfight forums.

No; it should be written and recorded within the hour though. If you can post it within an hour, you get smiley-face points (which, incidentally, are only redeemable for smiley faces). Please try to post as soon as you finish. Not everyone has the bandwidth to do a fast upload, so this would be an unfair time constraint.

Use “songskirmish”, and whatever else you like. If you do it right, it'll show up in this list.

Yes. You probably won't be alone. If you have the means to record a demo, please do - you might get more comments. This isn't a competition, but if it were, we'd probably have a separate bracket for lyrics-only songs.

Um, yeah! It's your song. Do whatever you want. If you're feeling nice, leave a note about the polish treatment, and keep a link to the “old” version in your Liner Notes.

Sorry. Because there's no voting, it's probably not a true fight. The songfight.org flavor had voting, but [so far] we've omitted that here because it increases the complexity of the operation. When you start formalizing it as a contest, things like “lyrics-only” songs, recording later, trust issues (“did you REALLY spend an hour?”, “did he tell you the title beforehand?”), and upload-time constraints become more important. We're trying to keep it simple. In general, the reviews in song comments seem to fill this void pretty well. The goal is to help you write a song, not to win a voting contest.

Yes, but don't wait for it to happen! You have two major options: # Host your own skirmish at a time you like. Announce it in the forums. If you're clear about the “When” and “Where”, people will join you. Heck, you might be able to spontaneously organize one in the FAWM chatroom if you're lucky. # Time yourself for a previously-announced title, even though that skirmish is “over”. Post the song, tag it, and voila! It may not be as fun as writing alongside the rest of us, but it's still a challenge and brings you a song closer to your goal.

Songfight ~2004-2006: The name “SongSkirmish” comes from ye olde Songfight forums. Some members like The Sober Irishman held this contest as a supplement to the main fight. Similar rules applied. Sometimes there was an additional mandatory challenge, like “the song must include whistling”. You can hear/read about the 2004 and 2006 skirmishes in the Songfight sidefight archives. Afterwards, forum members listened to each song, reviewed them, and voted on which they thought was the best. (Thus the fight acted much like the normal songfight.org fights, but with a shorter timeframe.)

FAWM 2010: Plat (Cow Exchange) and Johnny Cashpoint (J$), both familiar with Songfight forum goings-on, decided to have a skirmish between the two of them as part of their FAWM work. They mentioned the event in the forums, and many other fine FAWMers joined the party. Nancy Rost provided the surprise titles. A handful of FAWMers set up live webcams on tinychat.com. The results: at least 104 songs were posted, among 3 skirmish titles. Titles were “Second Hand”, “Yes”, and “To Be Continued”.

5090 2010: We had about 28 skirmishes during the 50/90 season, and a few more in the off-season. See http://fiftyninety.fawmers.org/content/songskirmish for a list of some of the threads/titles.