Photo by Marie-Michele Bouchard, except Ben Kunder & Carmen Elle by Brad Ardley. Left to right: Myles Castello at the SOCAN Foundation Showcase; TÖME at the Black Music Songwriters Circle; Mychael Danna at "In Conversation with..."; Jim Cuddy at the Songwriting Masterclass; Ben Kunder and Carmen Elle at the CASMAs.

Song and Score Week 2024 honours Canadian songwriters, screen composers, music publishers

Story by Howard Druckman | October 1, 2024

PHOTO GALLERY BELOW

The 2024 editions of the SOCAN Awards at History on Sept. 24, and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF) Induction Gala at Massey Hall on Sept. 28, were the bookends of an outstanding second year of Song and Score Week, a five-day event in Toronto, co-presented by SOCAN, that honours the best songwriters, composers, and music publishers in Canada, and invests in the future of music-making through dedicated educational programming.

Song and Score Week, presented at El Mocambo in downtown Toronto, included a morning session on Sept. 25 that found SOCAN Los Angeles Ambassador Robert Kraft in conversation with Oscar-, Golden Globe-, and Emmy-winning screen composer Mychael Danna, presented by SOCAN and the Screen Composers Guild of Canada (SCGC). Danna discussed working extensively with film director Ang Lee (The Ice Storm, Life of Pi); how music that he laboured over for years could be rejected by producers or studio heads at the end of the process; how musicians playing on a soundtrack need to be less expressive, to avoid overwhelming the onscreen imagery; and how great screen composers need to be patient and diplomatic.

Danna won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 edition (only the third annual) of the SCGC’s Canadian Screen Music Awards (CASMAs), also on Sept. 25, which celebrates excellence in scoring original music for the screen, honouring composers for their outstanding work. Jeff Toyne won two awards, both for his work on the hit Kristen Wiig series Palm Royale; as did Amanda Cawley, who earned  trophies for her work on both an animated series/special and a videogame/interactive medium. Access a complete list of winners here.

The week’s first-ever Black Music Songwriters’ Circle, presented by SOCAN, ADVANCE, and The Remix Project, on Sept. 26, offered an unforgettable evening that testified to the breadth and depth of the wide-ranging genres that encompass Black music. The participating singer-songwriters were Thelonius, Keysha Freshh, Desiire, and Töme in the first set; and Jon Kabongo, Osé, 2023 Polaris Prize Winner Debby Friday, and Rhyan Douglas in the second. From Keysha Freshh’s block-rocking beats to Desiire’s passionate vocals, Debby Friday’s industrial punk-funk hybrid to Rhyan Douglas’s soulful folk, the circle contained it all – and provided a glimpse into the creative process, as participants told the stories behind their songs.

On Sept. 27, SOCAN and CSHF held a Songwriting Masterclass, presented by RBC Foundation in collaboration with Ontario Creates. Miranda Mulholland, a great musician and singer-songwriter in her own right, moderated a discussion with non-performing professional songwriter Lowell (a co-writer of Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em”) and Blue Rodeo songwriting duo Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor (inducted later that week into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame). It was a rare opportunity to learn directly from the creative minds behind some of the greatest Canadian and international songs of their generations.

Other great events included:

  • Tips and Tools for Navigating Mental Health in the Music Industry, presented by The Unison Fund.
  • The Music Tech Summit, showcasing music technology companies from around the world, presented by Music Publishers Canada (MPC).
  • The week’s first-ever SOCAN Foundation Showcase, featuring Foundation-supported artists.
  • Equity is Everything, presented by SOCAN, ADVANCE, and Women In Music Canada (WIMC).
  • Your Voice Matters: Navigating Songwriting, the Recording Studio, and Business, presented by Canadian Music Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA) & Women in Music Canada (WIMC).
  • A Live Co-writing Experience with Mike Schlosser and Sarah Bolton and NXT Gen Mixer, by MPC and Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC).
  • NXTGen Workshop and Networking for the next generation of music publishers, presented by MPC..
  • Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) x School Night, putting the spotlight on artists from TMU, presented by SOCAN Foundation.

Song and Score Week is organized collectively by the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, Music Publishers Canada, the Screen Composers Guild of Canada, SOCAN, SOCAN Foundation, and the Songwriters Association of Canada, in collaboration with other industry partners. Song and Score Week is proud to acknowledge the support of RBC Foundation, Ontario Creates, and the Lewitt Family Foundation.