Feature Articles
The following is excerpted
from the Bergmans' guest spot at the ASCAP Extended
Songwriters' Workshop, held in November, 1996.
Have you ever written something
for a film that you felt very strongly about, and then
the director said that it wasn't working for him?
MB: Oh yes, many times. If someone
doesn't like something, you can't make them like it.
You're working for the director, and that's the vision
that rules the world of the picture. And rather than
ask, "What don't you like?", you're better off just
starting over. It's happened many times -- more times
than I'd like to remember!
Do you ever come up with something
that you think is great, and then worry that you've
actually subconsciously taken it from somewhere else?
| "If
it sounds tired or sounds like something that
we've heard before, that's when we say to each
other, 'No, we can do better.'" |
MB: I think it's the same thing that
composers do -- I can't tell you how often a composer
has said to us, "Does this sound like anything else?",
because they're afraid that they've awoken with a melody,
but it's something that they're unconsciously remembering
that they heard somewhere else. So just as a composer
wants to be sure that they're not repeating something
-- not consciously stealing it, but taking from something
that's been written before. I really don't know. I just
know that if it sounds tired or sounds like something
that we've heard before, that's when we say to each other,
"No, we can do better."
Do you find that if you're writing
for a certain singer, you tailor your images to the
way that they're going to sing?
AB: If you're writing a song in a
dramatic context, you have several masters that you
have to try to satisfy -- all of them! When you have
a singer with a real instrument, you have to be sure
that you're always putting open sounds on high notes,
and that you're never giving the singer "mouthfuls",
so they will have the chance to open up and sing. That's
from a stylistic standpoint. From a content standpoint,
I don't think it comes into play when you're writing
for a dramatic piece, because you're writing for the
character, and the artist is that character. But when
you're writing for an artist, you know that there are
certain ideas or sentiments that are either becoming
or unbecoming, or appropriate for that person, whether
it's a question of age or ethnicity or who knows what.
If you're writing for Sinatra, it's like writing for
a character in a movie -- he's not some anonymous singer
who changes with every song: you know exactly what you're
writing with him. And songwriters have given certain
singers character -- those songs which are signature
songs by which the public identifies them, like roles
that actors play.
When you're writing on deadline,
how do you know yourself when you're finished?
MB: When they take it away from you!
Really! Given time, we'll use every minute we have --
give us a month, we'll take a month; give us a week,
we'll take a week, and we'll never think that it's finished
until then. When did Picasso know he'd done that last
stroke on the canvas?
How do you test your material outside
of your own collaboration?
MB: Our daughter is our best critic.
She's very honest, and very smart.
How did you become so involved in
ASCAP?
AB: We were ASCAP writers from the
get-go. It was unthinkable not to be in the company
of these great writers: it was the society of Johnny
Mercer, Irving Berlin, Ira and George Gershwin, Richard
Rodgers, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, and so many others.
MB: I never dreamed I'd be elected
to the Board. It was strange for awhile: I was the first
woman to serve, and I was also the youngest person there.
I was on the Board through Morton Gould's presidency,
and since I've always been very involved in politics,
I had a role to play as an ASCAP Board Member in Washington.
As the legislative picture became more and more complicated,
as it became more and more clear that our fates were
being decided in the halls of Congress, and issues of
copyright became more complicated and dangerous, I found
myself getting more and more involved with the legislative
aspect of songwriters' interests.
When Morton, who was then 81, decided to step down,
I was approached and asked if I would assume the presidency.
I felt that if I was ever going to do it, perhaps this
was the right time, in terms of what it was that I could
bring. Now is a very dangerous time, with the explosion
of technology, and the long-accepted rules governing
the concepts of intellectual property and the sanctity
of copyright being shot down, even as we speak, by people
who feel that it all should be free. We're really fighting
for our lives, and I'm not being overly dramatic.
Has there been any discussion of
taking a large number of writers down to Washington
and really making our presence felt?
MB: Yes, we are, and we will continue
to do that. There's a great value to taking four or
five writers and actually having one-on-one meetings
with the leadership. The opposition is formidable.
| "We
have to let [the legislators] know that there
are very, very few millionaire songwriters, and
the five-six-eight thousand dollars that you might
get a year in performances is sometimes the difference
between rent or no rent, or sending your kid to
college or not." |
AB: Write your Congressman, and answer
the call when ASCAP needs your voice.
MB: Yes, but more important is your
presence, to tell your story, and to let them know that
there are very, very few millionaire songwriters, and
the five-six-eight thousand dollars that you might get
a year in performances is sometimes the difference between
rent or no rent, or sending your kid to college, or
whatever.
What kind of noise can we make to
effect changes in Washington?
MB: That's a good question. If you
really are serious about that, I think that nothing
has been as effective as bringing songwriters into the
halls of Congress, and into state legislatures. I think
that it's far more important for them to meet writers
who have not yet happened, because when they think of
songwriters, they think of huge performer/writers like
Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Madonna, and
they don't realize that most songwriters are struggling,
and the lions' share of the money comes from performances.
I think that if we have the names and addresses of those
of you who would be willing to join us in Washington
and walk the halls of Congress, I can't tell you how
important that is.
[See ASCAP Legislative Matters for furtherinformation on current issues.]
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