Atelier’s Summer Song Soirée

Description

Add the item to you cart and check out to join. No placement consult is required. The class size will be limited to twelve participants, to maximize the amount of individual attention. The Summer Song Soirée is only $51.67 per lesson ($620 total), but sign up before June 10 and receive a 20% discount ($620 – 20% = $496). You can also use PayPal at checkout to spread the payments into four by-weekly, interest-free installments.

I’m proud to announce a virtual songwriting workshop, and a new branch of Atelier that I’ve called Summer Song Soirée. You’ll learn that writing songs does not have to be as elusive and confusing as you may think. You’ll be given simple challenges to confidently build your songwriting skills from the ground up, and you’ll begin writing your song(s) from the very first class. In addition, eligible songs created in this workshop may be included in the set list drawn up for a future Atelier workshop performance in the venues of New York City. Attend the twelve hour-long Zoom lessons on line to learn, ask questions, and receive individual attention with your unique creative output. Replays will be available until the end of August 2024 for those who can not attend a particular workshop. This workshop has been created out of over 30 years of teaching experience, and my classes from Hunter College, which were recognized by the college with a rare teaching excellence award. No placement consult is required. The class size will be limited to twelve participants to maximize the amount of individual attention. You can use PayPal at checkout to spread the payments into four by-weekly, interest-free installments. No placement consult is required.

Summer Song Soirée Schedule of Zoom Lessons

Intervals, Scales and Harmony: (Sessions 1, 2, and 3)

You’ll be asked to start writing your song (or songs) and be given some hacks to get the ball rolling. As we cover additional concepts, you’ll be asked to revise your song with your expanded knowledge and understanding.

We’ll cover intervals, why I think that the standard wisdom that intervals are, “The distance between two notes,” is wrong, and a definition of what I believe intervals really are, exactly. Since intervals are the building blocks of chords and scales, we’ll cover how major and minor keys arise out of patterns of intervals, and how the most commonly used chords can be thought of as byproducts of keys. We’ll also discuss how these concepts have different names as they appear in Classical, Jazz, and Pop music circles, the order that chords are likely to occur, and some tricks with harmony that are commonly used in popular songs.

Song Structures: (Sessions 4, and 5)

The hidden level that has much to do with making songs likeable is the overall form. We’ll discuss different ways of arranging the components in a song, their functions, and how form can be used as an expressive tool. We’ll also zoom in and look at common phrase structures in songwriting.

Elementary Counterpoint Concepts: (Sessions 6 and 7)

Whenever there are two independent musical lines happening at the same time, there is counterpoint. Most songs have that happening at least between the bass line and the melody, and sometimes there is more going on then that. Though counterpoint can run very deep, we’ll look at some common rules of thumb that can help you make better choices with the counterpoint in your songs, and increase your awareness of this important element..

Song Analysis: (Sessions 8 and 9)

We’ll look at how all we’ve learned so far shows up in various songs throughout many popular music styles. This will open your eyes and ears to what’s happening in the songs you love, and the songs you write.

Songwriting Guidance: (Sessions 10, 11, and 12)

By this time, the song(s) you have been writing will have had lots of opportunity to have been tweaked by you in accordance to what you’ve learned in the workshop. Everyone will bring one song to class, recorded or performed, and have at least 15 minutes in the class to play their song for the class and get individualized feedback on your song. Hearing what other people are up to in their own creative endeavors is a big way to open up your ears and mind with regard to your own music too.

Learning to write songs is also the best way to understand songs that have already been written. So, you automatically become a better interpreter of other people’s songs if you can understand and respect them from the composer’s structural standpoint.

The class size will be limited to twelve participants, to maximize the amount of individual attention. The Summer Song Soirée is only $51.67 per lesson ($620 total), but sign up before June 10 and receive a 20% discount ($620 – 20% = $496). You can also use PayPal at checkout to spread the payments into four by-weekly, interest-free installments.

* To be eligible: The song must be finished, the writer must be enrolled in the Atelier band workshop at the time the song is publically performed, the song must not contain any copyright infringements, the song must be suitable to have an arrangement made of it with the current members of the workshop at the time it is to be rehearsed as part of the workshop. Participation in the Summer Song Soirée does not confer acceptance into a band workshop.