SONGWRITING SERIES:
BUILDING YOUR WRITING PRACTICE
SIGN UP HERE: summer 2023 Workshop
JEAN IS ALSO AVAILABLE FOR ONE-ON-ONE SONGWRITING LESSONS. INQUIRE HERE
“Jean listened to my songs with the depth, thoughtfulness, and open-heartedness that I always hope to be heard with. She brings care and respect to the task of cultivating the songwriting voices of her students and I am a more confident and trusting writer because of her.” - Aaron
A 9-session songwriting class series, designed to help participants develop and maintain a regular songwriting practice. Focus is on the cultivation of a playful, daily generation of new ideas, but we will also work on finishing and honing full songs. Our small class size can accommodate writers' individual goals.
Dates and Deets:
- 9 session commitment: Thursdays, June 8 - Aug 10 (no class June 15) 4-6pm Eastern
- Meetings on Zoom with additional communication via a shared Google drive folder
- Sliding scale: $450 (at cost), $600 (a little more), $350 (a little less); arrangements can be made to pay in installments
- Limited to 8 songwriters
- Click here to sign up
- Questions? Read on. Or write laundrylinemusic (at) gmail (dot) com.
“One of the biggest gifts of your series is an emergent, resounding faith in my capacity to write––faith and even wonder at the non-linear process, rather than viewing the process as an obstacle to the finished thing.” - Melanie Ida Chopko
WHY
We get better at most things by doing them a lot. I was once told by a songwriting mentor that we don't start writing good songs until we've written 300 at least! I’m not sure if that's true, but her point was clear.
We begin to trust that the creative fodder for our writing is there when we write regularly. If we commit to making something every day, not all of it will be good. In fact, a lot of it might be pretty bad! But doing it each day primes the pump; it means that no matter what tangible product we end up with today, we are sharpening our creative tools. And we know we’ll have the opportunity to explore again tomorrow.
Establishing a new practice habit can be daunting. The purpose of this group is to help participants get in the groove together and support each other’s work.
HOW
DAILY CREATIVE WORK
Foundational to this class is an expectation for participants to engage in daily creative work in some form. Participants are expected to spend at least 30 minutes each day in generative time, starting something brand new in whatever form they choose (ie journaling, musical improvisation, etc.) This will be fun time! I will share suggestions and guidance for how to approach this solo generative time based on my Creative Practice Map and other resources. Participants will get the most out of this series if they make this daily effort.
WEEKLY SHARING
Participants are expected to upload one item from their week's work to our Google drive class folder each Tuesday. This can be a simple voice memo of a short fragment, a video, or a text document that a participant wants to share for any reason; it might be something the writer is proud of, baffled by, struggling with, etc. The goal is fresh, not fancy! Each week we'll have time to discuss only 4 songs in class but writers are encouraged to upload something every week and listen to each other’s work.
WHO THIS IS FOR
- Those with songwriting experience who want to be writing more regularly
- Songwriters looking to build a daily creative practice in a community
- Songwriters who are looking for new ways into their writing, with new challenges and fresh ideas
CLASS FLOW
Class time will include a gathering activity, in-class writing prompt/sharing, investigation of various songwriting techniques using examples from other writers, and workshopping songs. The bulk of each week's class will be master-class style, looking at participant work. Each writer will have four opportunities to workshop their writing during class.
SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY
I am committed to holding space for a supportive, engaged community of writers helping each other to build a regular writing practice, share new songs, and enjoy the journey of creative work alone and together. We will make and observe agreements about how we relate to one another and will work together to uphold those norms so that we can all feel free to take risks and grow together.
A TECH NOTE: We will mostly avoid sharing live work through Zoom video chat since the audio feature is lacking. Of course, we will need to do this sometimes, and it will be fine! But mostly, for hearing work in progress, we will rely on pre-recorded audio in Google drive that we can play back in class; sound quality for this is much better. The free recording apps on smart phones are sufficient for our needs.
ABOUT THE SLIDING SCALE
In an effort to make this class available to more people I'm happy to offer a sliding scale rate for this class. Arrangements can also be made to pay in installments.
$450: Pay this standard amount if doing so would be an investment, but not create hardship for your household. You might choose this rate if you are able to regularly meet your basic needs and have some expendable income, can travel every couple years without burden, and have some debt but are able to pay it regularly. This is the rate I need most people to contribute so I can run the class.
$600: This pay-it-forward amount is for you if you are comfortably able to meet your basic needs, own the home you live in, have paid or pay for private education, travel recreationally, have access to financial savings and/or investments, have reliable work or do not have to work to meet your needs, have inherited wealth, etc. This rate makes it possible for me to work with people who need a lower rate.
$350: This discounted rate is for you if you have limited expendable income, have little or no access to financial support from family, have significant debt, and little or no access to savings. I have up to 3 spots available at this rate.