Check out the photo of some of the students at radio station KTMP 1340: R to L - Dave Howard, Doug Swensen, Kelly Wright, Jerry VanBuren,Traci Madsen, Beth Lawrence (songwriting guru!) and Cary Hobbs
Last month I taught "Songwriting for Fun & Profit" at UVSC. It was the first time the class was offered (a four week class) and was a real success! There was a wide range of experience in class, which always makes it interesting and a great learning experience for all. A couple of the students had cut their own CD's; some had never written a song; others just wanted to learn how to put their ideas together in song form.
For our class 'final' Cary Hobbs, multi-talented musician and budding songwriter, had the class come down to radio station KTMP 1340 in Heber City (Cary's also an on-air personality there!) to share the music everyone had written in the four week class. Wow! It was really impressive! Even folks who had never written a song brought a completed version of the tune they'd been working on in class. It was good experience for the songwriter's to present their music live and on-air, and 'a good time was had by all'!
It's really amazing to see how much confidence everyone gains when the nuts and bolts of crafting a song are laid out logically, and presented in a de-mystified format. Usually at the beginning of the first class the students reluctantly and apologetically share a snippet of an idea; but at the end of that first class, with me laying out the foundation of rhyme scheme, cadence and form, everyone leaves empowered and excited to get writing.
We're so often told 'you can't' that when someone finally tells you 'you can!' it makes all the difference. All of a sudden, the students creativity opens up, as they change their belief system about their songwriting capabilities. I work really hard at getting the students to give up their belief in limitation, which blocks us from so much joy. So what a great reward it was for me to see the enthusiasm and creativity of each student culminate in this KTMP Songwriter's Showcase! I love to empower people to get excited about their art! Keep writing!
