Hi all, welcome to the kitchen! We're really friendly here and we try to stay away from terminology like 'rules'. So here's some 'guidelines' to help you get around (or even start a succesful career!) on our forum.
First of all we'd like you to introduce yourself in the 'Me' section of the forum, so we all get an idea of who you are, where you live, and we'd love to read about your musical background, as well as the 'goals' you're wishing to achieve as a songwriter/music creator.
One of the main services of our songwriting forum is providing a community that listens (out of genuine interest) to what people post to 'Songs for review'. So after introducing yourself, feel free to post one of your songs and see what the community says about your work. Be sure to post a link to the song, and (if it's not an instrumental) the lyrics. It also helps to add the chords, especially if you're searching for feedback on the harmonies in the song. We'd like to encourage you to give the listener some context (how did the idea come to your mind...etc.). Also try to be specific what aspect(s) of the song you want feedback on.
You know how great it is when people really listen to your work so make sure to "pay that forward". You can do that by reviewing a few songs from others as well (we promise you that will not feel like a punishment!). Should that sound like an 'obligation' then please consider that if we all only post our own work, the 'Songs for Review' board would be just a huge list of showcased songs and for the rest it would be completely silent there. So we all have to give a bit more than we take. Guideline in this case: review 2 songs for every song you've posted, but the more you review the better! It also helps to contribute in other sections like 'The kitchen café', 'Songwriting Ingredients', 'Live Performances' etc.
We're actively recruiting new members now and then, and it'd' be great if we all gave them a warm welcome (just like we did when you introduced yourself for sure ;-) ). So if you welcome a new member now and then, that'd be really appreciated.
Since everyone wants to be heard please consider the rate at which you post new songs, we consider one song a week as being 'fair'.
In our vision lots of 'Interaction' is of key importance for our forum. One tool you can use to follow up remarks made by others is 'mentioning' them by using the @ sign in your reply, followed by the member name you want to mention (you can start typing and a search list will appear allowing you to select the member you want to mention). Members are notified when they have been mentioned, and they will (normally) check back what you've added to the discussion. This helps discussions (hence interaction) flowing.
Next to lots of 'interaction' we really love seeing everybody being 'involved' with each other in this beautiful and heartfelt community. We're all sensitive songwriters and love to make connections with each other. We'd like to invite you to enter (or ask for) collaborations here; join competitions; and discuss with us in all kind of topics in the other boards (like 'Life') - it all helps getting to know each other better. You never know, in the digital future we might open a radio station or start distributing productions together, to share the work of our songwriters!
Every songwriter has his/her own network (on SoundCloud, Social media etc.). We'd be grateful if you'd help us inviting your (loyal) followers to join the kitchen. You can send them the link to this forum and all they'd have to do is click the 'register' button. Promise you'll help us grow!
Let's help each other get better at what we do by sharing our 'experience' and 'knowledge' as individual songwriters. We've seen members grow and become better songwriters, just because of all the kind help that's being offered to the ones who are here to learn, improve, whilst helping others themselves as well.
We're trying to do everything to build a community of kitcheners/kitchenettes who love to be here to share their passion for creating music. And we loooove to do that with a sense of humour now and then. We want everybody to be really happy to be here, so please have fun and help us adding as much fun as you can!!
If all is well we're here to share passion and help each other improve. So please don't offer commercial services in our group. We help each other for free here, and when you contribute with that 'giving' and 'encouraging' intention in mind , the community will pay that forward! That positive energy will find its way to you as well!
Gentle bump.. 2019 is the year of the kitchen values.. Just a little bit of help in the post above, to make sure the kitchen flame will burn forever. And your help to ignite is appreciated!
Cheers to a fantastic and musical 2019 everybody!