Hey, Frank:

Count me among the ignorant. And not because I don't recognize the brilliance of Cole Porter, Rogers and Hart and the others you mentioned. I write intuitively, basically for my own pleasure. I am not schooled, don't read music comfortably, know next to nothing about music theory, use whatever chords I can figure out, and the melodies come from within. I would never think of myself in terms of the great songwriters you mention. And I surely don't write songs to make money. Like most of the people in here, I write out of love for the music, and my "Masters" are not Kerns and Hammerstein and Porter. They are "traditional," or "author unknown." I believe that they made up songs, rather than "wrote" them, just because they enjoyed doing it and it was a way to make a little more sense of their daily life, it's frustrations, humors, loves, dissappointments and confusions. My teachers are mostly dead and gone, and most of them were not trained musicians, skilled in music theory.

There's something to be said for doing something for the love of it. Whether it's strumming three chords on a guitar or plucking a banjo. That's why I don't make comparisons, or think of my music as anything special. That doesn't mean that I can't appreciate the songs that others write, or express my appreciation for their work.

Right now, I'm listening to a CD by Big Al Whittle. It's been a long time since I've put a CD in the machine and got really excited by the music. Big Al is another window on the world with his own perspective and sense of humor. He's made my life richer, and if this workshop comes across, I might be tempted to do one of his songs.

Jerry