Taranaki musician Juliet McLean will lead a songwriting workshop on Saturday June 18 at Space Studio and Gallery, 18 St Hill St, Whanganui. The community songwriting workshop will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Terry Sarten, who organizes the event, explains that this songwriting workshop is for anyone looking to hone their songwriting skills.
“If you know how to play an instrument and have original musical ideas or if you are more of a lyricist/lyricist looking to find a way to create musical elements to carry words, this workshop will be an opportunity to explore new song-building skills,” he says.

The workshop program will be moderated by Juliette and will open the morning session with: “It starts with a song”. Then look at Parts of a Song / How to Connect More Effectively and your songwriting processes. The next section will focus on the prompts: Titles / First Lines / Themes / Harmony.

The afternoon session will look at collaboration or co-writing and use some of the resources generated in the morning session to work in pairs, groups, or alone to start a song or expand on something you’ve started.
There will be an opportunity to share the work at the end of the workshop.

Participants are asked to come with a pen and paper and bring their own instruments if they have one, although there is a variety of equipment available, including an electric piano and guitars.

The Songwriter‘s Workshop is $15 ($10 for students). Numbers will be limited to 20, so please register early at spacestudiogallery.co.nz/events/

Juliet McLean has attended songwriting workshops in the United States and is excited to pass on her learning and her own experience as a singer-songwriter. She will also perform in the Songwriters in Performance concert that will follow the workshop.

The concert will take place from 4-6pm with acclaimed songwriters including the Urban Angels and Elise Goodge and Liz de Vegt, both known for their work on “Flow”, an album of original music featuring the poetry of Airini Beautrais .

Workshop participants are invited to join the audience of performing songwriters with the opportunity to debut the material developed in the workshop.
For more information contact Terry Sarten M: 021 1516 244 or E: [email protected]