Hello friend!
Thanks for your interest in my songwriting workshop! Here’s how this will work:
5-10 beginner songwriters will come to my workshop spot in Pasadena at 1pm for a 6 hour session on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and you’ll be given a midi keyboard straightaway – I’ll order one for each of you, unless you already have one you want to use (in which case you’ll get a discount).
This will be the general flow of the workshop:
1. Songwriting Theory (1-2 hours) – I’ll give a broad framework for how I understand songwriting and why I believe (almost) everyone can and should do it. I think these principles will help unlock the mystery of songwriting for many of you. Q+A throughout
2. Music Theory (1-2 hours) – You’ll get a firehose of the basics of music theory in a way that will allow you to understand how songs are crafted, what makes for a powerful song musically, and allow you to craft these yourself. Q+A throughout
We’ll take a break for about 30 mins, go for a walk, allow some of it to simmer, and allow some lyrics to find their way to the surface out of which we’ll each start a song.
3. Workshopping (1-2 hours) – I’ll let you mess around with the concepts and chords and some song ideas for a bit, and then start walking around one-by-one to each of you. I’ll help you craft your ideas into songs, give you personal tips to get moving in a good direction, etc. To finish this time I’ll ask if anyone wants to share their song, and then give some final reflections based on what each of you worked though.
Then we’ll call it a day and go eat some grub together, chat about how it went and how this can be applied in the future, etc. Dinner’s on me! (i.e. it’s included in admittance – and I’ll get your food preferences ahead of time)
That’s the plan, now to logistics!
Make sure to eat lunch before, and we’ll eat dinner together after. Please bring your own laptop, ideally a mac – and if you don’t have one, borrow one from a friend. This will be necessary to make the keyboard work. Also bring any pair of headphones/earbuds.
There are only 10 spots max – so let me know if you’re in to make sure you get a spot! We’ll run with it as soon as we confirm 5 of you, but then we’ll cap out at 10 people for this time.
The cost per person is only $150 – and with that you’ll get dinner and a midi keyboard included – yes, to keep!
Let me know as soon as you’re able which dates work for you (please name all the dates that work for you), and we’ll schedule the one that works best for most people who are interested!
Hope to see you soon!
Peace –
Justin