FCMA workshops have been held annually or semi-annually since the organization was created. The following is a list of sessions, presenters, panelists, and topics from the most recent workshops along with highlights from a few of the sessions. If you have photos from an FCMA workshop or highlights to share, please send them to us at workshops@fcmaonline.org.


Spring Music Workshop 2007 ~ March 19, 2007
Fall Music Workshop 2006 ~ December 9, 2006
Spring Music Workshop 2006 ~ March 25, 2006
Fall Music Workshop 2005 ~ Decmeber 3, 2005
Spring Music Workshop 2005 ~ March 28, 2005
Spring Music Workshop 2004 ~ March 18, 2004



SPRING 2007 WORKSHOP ~ MARCH 19, 2007

• BYU Young Ambassadors ~ Morningside Presentation of three unpublished choral songs and settings
• Keynote: "To Thine Own Self Be True" ~ Clive Romney (producer-songwriter/founding director of Enoch Train/owner, Pitchfork Studio)
• "A Window into Choral Publishing" ~ Jerry Jackman (Jackman Music Corporation group of imprints) and Don Riplinger (composer/conductor)
• Special Appearance ~ Rebecca Lopez (winner of the BMI/John Lennon Foundation Latin Song Contest award/Sounds of Zion recording artist)
• Entertainment Law Panel ~ Robert Reynolds and David Wardle (Loeb & Loeb, Los Angeles)
• Mini Concert ~ Sam Payne & Friends
• Open Mic
• Refiner's Fire ~ with panelists Staci Peters (songwriter/producer), Tyler Castleton (Shadow Mountain Music Group), Earl Madsen (Sound of Zion/Inspirational Music Showcase)

Keynote Highlights: Clive opened with the idea that in order to make the contribution we are here to make, we must be clear about who we are. He stated that misconceptions about who we are often impede our effectiveness. He cited the example of his friend and mentor, Ron Simpson, who showed him the fruits of doing our work through the filter of our Christian values and shared five critical lessons learned from Ron's example and approach:

• Truly care about the work you do - every arrangement, every session, every song;
• Be willing to invest your own time and resources beyond what was originally planned if it means a better result;
• Look for ways to maximize the abilities of others so that if they fail it will be in spite of their efforts, not because you didn't believe in their ability;
• Don't stop short of making an arrangement (song, project) all it can be; and
• When you make a commitment to hire someone, you take responsibility for their welfare. He also offered this great advice: "when measuring yourself, don't use too short of a yardstick - use the full measure of Christ." In that spirit, Clive taught that the best Christian gift we can give our clients is competence.

He also shared six keys to discovering who we are (and, by extension, what our contribution should be):

• Pray ~ ask to know who you are specifically and listen for the answer;
• Study the scriptures, listening for counsel that resonates;
• Continue pondering as you go about your life ~ revelation comes at unexpected moments;
• Review your patriarchal blessing;
• Accept callings to serve in the Church ~ the Lord stretches us and shows us who we are as we do His work;
• "Fear not" (2 Timothy 1:6-8) ~ don't be afraid to try difficult things.

Clive suggested that we can only raise the bar in our industry by raising the bar of our own spiritual excellence. "There is a work that only you can do, but you must find out who you are to do it."

Highlights from the legal panel (Robert Reynolds & Dave Wardle of Loeb & Loeb, Los Angles) - some wisdom from the experts on some interesting topics:

• Celebrity: "Celebrity has a way of exaggerating an artist's flaws because he is surrounded by praise, not honesty. He sees the one who is honest about his flaws as 'wrong'."
• Pride v. Confidence: "You have to have confidence, but you have to keep it on the right side of the line that crosses into pride. It's okay to say 'I'm good at this' but not okay to say, 'I'm better than...' For some it's hard to see that they're doing well without seeing others doing it not as well."
• Dangers of an artist's life: "The closer you get to the edge, the harder it is to pull away - being in a rock band is about as close to the edge as any career can take you. You have to put safeguards in place. You have to build fences."
• Temptation & peer pressure: "Peer pressure isn't about temptation. Nobody is out there trying to force you to do things you shouldn't. Peer pressure is when someone you respect sees your choice and assumes you think you're better than them or judging them. Peer pressure is about not wanting to offend."
• On downloading: "People should be allowed to share music with their friends - legally. We hope that you're actually buying more than you did before because your friends have shared music with you. If you are, good. It's not ethical to take money from musicians."
• On copyright law: "Copyright law theory wasn't about compensation for artists - it was to create an incentive for people to create. The reason to compensate artists it to give them incentive to create more, because we believe it benefits society."

FALL 2006 WORKSHOP ~ DECEMBER 9, 2006

• Keynote: "Where Do We Go From Here?" ~ Barry Gibbons (producer/studio owner, Platinum Sound)
• Aspects of Concert Presentation & Mini Concert ~ Todd McCabe and April Moriarty Lowry (Sounds of Zion recording artists)
• Artist Development Presentation ~ Russ Dixon (A&R, Shadow Mountain Music) with Benton Paul
• "Writing Scenes" ~ Quint Randle and Jeff Hinton (songwriters/recording artists) ~
• Refiner's Fire hosted by Jeannine Lasky, NSAI
• Optional Concert Event ~ "An Alpine Christmas" presented by Todd McCabe & April Moriarty Lowry, featuring Kirby Heybourne, Sam Payne, Alex Boye, Rebecca Lopez and Tanya Barkdull

SPRING 2006 WORKSHOP ~ MARCH 25, 2006

• "Blending the Music and the Message" ~ Greg Hansen, Keynote (artist/composer/arranger/producer)
• "NSAI: A Songwriter's Best Friend" ~ Jeannine Lasky (songwriter/NSAI Coordinator, Utah Chapter)
• "Anatomy of a Record Label: Making Music Is Just the Beginning" ~ Earl Madsen (A&R, Sounds of Zion/Inspirational Music Showcase)
• Presentation & Mini Concert ~ Julie de Azevedo (Highway Records recording artist)
• Refiner's Fire ~ hosted by Jeannine Lasky (NSAI) with panelists Russ Dixon (A&R, Shadow Mountain Music), Earl Madsen (Sounds of Zion/Inspirational Music Showcase), and Julie de Azevedo (artist/songwriter)

FALL 2005 WORKSHOP ~ December 3, 2005

• Keynote Panel: "Perspectives on the Industry" ~ Tyler Castleton & Staci Peters (songwriters/producers)
• The Path I Took Into the Music Industry ~ Vaughn Johnson (composer/arranger)
• The Experience of Film Score Collaboration ~ Merrill Jenson & Arlen Card (composers for the new Joseph Smith film showing in the JSMB Legacy Theater)
• Presentation & Mini Concert ~ Cherie Call (singer-songwriter/radio host), sharing highlights from her KUTR interview with singer-songwriter Beth Neilson Chapman
• Refiner's Fire ~ panelists Ron Simpson (songwriter/publisher), Barry Gibbons (engineer/producer songwriter), Staci Peters (songwriter/producer)
• Open Mic

SPRING 2005 WORKSHOP ~ MARCH 28, 2005

• Keynote: "Finding Our Voice" ~ Steven Kappy Perry (artist/songwriter/producer)
• Mormon Literature & Creative Arts: A Comprehensive Database of Works ~ Janet Bradford (Mormon Music Administrator)
• "Building Your Own Fan Base: A Grass Roots Approach" / Mini Concert ~ Jenny Phillips (artist/songwriter/producer)
• The Pie: Lowdown on the Excel/Deseret Book Merger" ~ Jeff Simpson (owner/president of the former Excel Entertainment Group)

Keynote Highlights: Steve offered the perspective that our industry needs two kinds of artists - those who create music to strengthen the saints and those who create music that will share what we have with others. Even though there has been a body of LDS popular music since the 70s, Steve suggested that we are still largely in the "emulation phase" and as things progress we'll continue to have more innovators stepping out to create new sounds, new directions. In closing, Steve repeated advice given by Elder M. Russell Ballard: "we must speak the language of technology," and these words from Orson Scott Card: "Have some friend's that aren't writers!"

Mormon Literature & Creative Arts Highlights: BYU is developing a database of literary writings and associated artistic works by and about Mormons. It is intended to serve students, scholars, library patrons and the general public by providing current and historical information about Mormon authors, playwrights, critics, filmmakers, and other creative personnel involved in the literary, cinematic, or theatrical arts. Within these artistic fields the database provides bibliographic data for published works by or about Mormons in literary genres such as fiction, the short story, poetry, and drama going back to the nineteenth-century, as well as in film, and such genres such as sermons, hymns, literary biographies, and literary writings found in Mormon periodicals.

http://web.lib.byu.edu/mormonlit.

Jeff Simpson Highlights: Jeff spoke to the idea that in our small LDS market we worry too much about competition with each other and that while friendly competition is good, it can become an obsession that is contrary to what we should be about. He referred to an article he once wrote called "The Pie," which is the idea that everyone's market share is a slice of the industry pie. Some feel that when one label or company increases their share, it cuts into someone else's slice. Jeff believes instead that we should collectively focus on making the pie bigger.

He also suggested that the biggest challenge to LDS music is not competition within our ranks, but the overall apathy and ignorance of the membership of the Church. Most Church members either don't know there is an industry of LDS artists or don't care to listen to what we have to offer (for any number of reasons). When asked if Excel had taken a hit because of downloads, Jeff quipped, "Oh, that someone would care enough to steal my music!"
SPRING 2004 WORKSHOP - March 18, 2004

• Keynote Address ~ K. Newell Dayley (Composer and music educator; recipient of FCMA's Legacy Award; currently serving as a vice president of BYU)
• "Marketing Our Talent" ~ Quint Randle (founder of Gig Magazine, author of Making Money Making Music)
• "LDS Radio, The Future is Now"~ John Hesch (KZION Radio)
• Songwriters Panel: "Finding Creative Time in an Already Full Life" ~ Jeannine Lasky, moderator, with Cori Connors and Julie de Azevedo Hanks
• "The Music=The Mission=The Business" ~ Greg Hansen, Earl Madsen. Veteran music makers team up with Sounds of Zion in a promising inspirational enterprise.
• "The Songwriters' Perspective" ~ Erik Hickenlooper & Jim Funk (co-writers of the Kenny Rogers hit, "Buy Me a Rose," also recorded by Luther Vandross and latino artist Manuel Mijares)
• Refiner's Fire ~ with panelists Jeff Simpson (Excel Entertainment) and Ron Simpson (Tantara Records and BYU School of Music) moderated by Ben Fales (Tantara Records)
• Mini Concert by Vocal Point (BYU's award winning acappella group, directed by Bob Ahlander)
• Open Mic