Scholarship tunes in to young songwriters

THE WINNER: Michael Foland plays around with his music in his Lafayette home. Foland won the 2001 Shirley Martin Scholarship from the Songwriters Association of Mid-North Indiana for his song, "Still Life." (Photo by Frank Oliver, Journal and Courier)

In a music scene where some clubs ask bands, "What cover songs do you know?" before booking, it's easy for songwriters to get discouraged in Greater Lafayette.

To help young musicians with their craft, the Songwriters Association of Mid-North Indiana developed the Shirley Martin Scholarship. The scholarship is named for Martin, a flagship member of the association until her 1998 death from a brain aneurysm.

This year, the scholarship's first year, Michael Foland, Lafayette, a freshman at Valparaiso University, came away with the $500 prize and a custom-made acoustic guitar. Central Catholic High School junior Annie Hatke and Clayton Miller, 19, placed second and third. Hatke and Miller received free studio time at Middle Earth Recording Studio in Lafayette and gifts from Barnes & Noble Booksellers.

The three teen-agers' songs and other entries were put under the microscope by a handful of judges comprised of local veteran musicians and radio DJs.

"All of them were wonderful. All of them were great songs," said Scott Freeman, a local musician who served as a judge. "As the evening went on, we could tell that the kids who wrote these songs poured so much of themselves into it. You could tell a little about the singer's personality from the song. They were that genuine, and that's why it was doggone difficult to judge this."

Foland, Hatke and Miller will play their winning tunes live at 7:30 p.m. Monday at First Christian Church of Lafayette, 329 N. Sixth St.

Recorded on a computer, Foland's somber and folky track, "Still Life," rose to the top due to his poetic lyric-writing style.

"He did such a good job of painting a mental image with his lyrics, and he tied that all together with the music, which made it stand out," Freeman said.

Foland said his English and creative writing background might have aided in his five-minute cut, but the songs from 1970s singer-songwriter Nick Drake and the current moody tunes of Elliott Smith had more to do with it.

"My music is probably influenced by who I've listened to and especially who I've been to lately," Foland said.

Currently in a Lafayette-based band named Kemble, Foland prefers to write lyrics that do not have a linear narrative. "Still Life" is no exception.

"It's a relatively poetic song, and it's a little ambiguous. I don't know what it means. If I knew what it meant, I wouldn't write about it," Foland said. "It says what it needs to say without saying it in a sentence."

Hatke's effort, "I Guess This Is Good-bye" or "The Greg and Zula Song," was spawned from her friends' tumultuous relationship. While the couple is currently split-up, Hatke's song lives on in her '60s-ish folk ditty that drew influences from the works of Bob Dylan, James Taylor and Nanci Griffith.

Miller took a step away from the rockin' blues he, his brothers and father usually play in the Clayton Miller Blues Band with his song, "Be My Friend." While the song has made it into his band's set, the version he submitted to the competition featured acoustic guitars and bass played by his

dad, Larry. "Friend" is still bluesey but is slower, softer compared to the version the band plays at their concerts.

"It's about the first relationship-type thing and how it was and how I feel now that it's over," Miller said.

All three musicians agreed that while the prizes were nice, the competition was most valuable as a learning experience. The judges gave them positive and valuable advice and criticism. Scott Greeson, local musician and coordinator of the scholarship, said songwriters need to always keep learning whether they're 16 or 60.

"You never stop learning as a songwriter," Greeson said. "The day you say there's nothing left to learn is the day you stop growing."

Foland added, "The people who are on the committee paid a lot of attention to make sure it was a beneficial thing for everyone. I got good feedback and criticism, and they told me to keep writing."

The next Shirley Martin Scholarship will be awarded in a year or two, and Greeson said Martin would have been very impressed with the songs that the young Hoosiers crafted.

"Shirley was a wonderful person who loved to write songs and share them with people," Greeson said. "She would have just loved this."

If you go

• WHO: The 2001 Shirley Martin Scholarship recipients Michael Foland, Annie Hatke and Clayton Miller

• WHERE: First Christian Church of Lafayette, 329 N. Sixth St.

• WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Monday