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Post by bellyshere on Sept 11, 2019 19:17:15 GMT
Anyone ever done any songwriting workshops? I really fancy doing one but obviously a recommendation is good.
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Sept 11, 2019 21:10:14 GMT
Hi, I went to one last October at Halsway Manor in Somerset, run by Reg Meuross and his team. Reg has done quite a lot of these. He is running another one next Feb. There was a mixture of nearly beginners (like me) and some quite experienced people and from a wide variety of backgrounds and capabilities. It was over a long weekend and pretty full-on but not in a 'demanding' sort of way; what you wanted to put in was what you got out. All attendees were instrumentalists and although guitars were the majority there was also a cellist, a violinist, an auto harpist and a few multi-instrumentalists. Genre and style were varied too. Halsway is a lovely venue and its VERY good value; they have been doing a lot of restoration over the last 12-18 months. One of the highlights was staying up late and playing (if you wanted) in the bar. Reg is very down to earth and an excellent songwriter and performer. Can't recommend it highly enough. Here's the link to next year's in Feb on a Monday -t Friday, which unfortunately I can't make; I'm hoping he does another in Autumn. If you want any more info send me a P.M.(not the Boris type!) halswaymanor.org.uk/event/reg-meuross-creative-songwriting-2020/
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leoroberts
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Post by leoroberts on Sept 11, 2019 21:12:17 GMT
Steve Tilston is offering one on Saturday, November 2nd in Hebden Bridge. £125 for the day - starts at 10am and goes right through into the evening... further details from Mail@stevetilston.com
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Post by bellyshere on Sept 11, 2019 21:25:58 GMT
Hi, I went to one last October at Halsway Manor in Somerset, run by Reg Meuross and his team. Reg has done quite a lot of these. He is running another one next Feb. There was a mixture of nearly beginners (like me) and some quite experienced people and from a wide variety of backgrounds and capabilities. It was over a long weekend and pretty full-on but not in a 'demanding' sort of way; what you wanted to put in was what you got out. All attendees were instrumentalists and although guitars were the majority there was also a cellist, a violinist, an auto harpist and a few multi-instrumentalists. Genre and style were varied too. Halsway is a lovely venue and its VERY good value; they have been doing a lot of restoration over the last 12-18 months. One of the highlights was staying up late and playing (if you wanted) in the bar. Reg is very down to earth and an excellent songwriter and performer. Can't recommend it highly enough. Here's the link to next year's in Feb on a Monday -t Friday, which unfortunately I can't make; I'm hoping he does another in Autumn. If you want any more info send me a P.M.(not the Boris type!) halswaymanor.org.uk/event/reg-meuross-creative-songwriting-2020/Playing guitar and a bar! What’s not to like?
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Post by bellyshere on Sept 11, 2019 21:28:40 GMT
Steve Tilston is offering one on Saturday, November 2nd in Hebden Bridge. £125 for the day - starts at 10am and goes right through into the evening... further details from Mail@stevetilston.com Damn! I’m being cut up, unless they cancel again, not long before.
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Post by jackorion on Sept 12, 2019 8:06:03 GMT
Hi, I went to one last October at Halsway Manor in Somerset, run by Reg Meuross and his team. Reg has done quite a lot of these. He is running another one next Feb. There was a mixture of nearly beginners (like me) and some quite experienced people and from a wide variety of backgrounds and capabilities. It was over a long weekend and pretty full-on but not in a 'demanding' sort of way; what you wanted to put in was what you got out. All attendees were instrumentalists and although guitars were the majority there was also a cellist, a violinist, an auto harpist and a few multi-instrumentalists. Genre and style were varied too. Halsway is a lovely venue and its VERY good value; they have been doing a lot of restoration over the last 12-18 months. One of the highlights was staying up late and playing (if you wanted) in the bar. Reg is very down to earth and an excellent songwriter and performer. Can't recommend it highly enough. Here's the link to next year's in Feb on a Monday -t Friday, which unfortunately I can't make; I'm hoping he does another in Autumn. If you want any more info send me a P.M.(not the Boris type!) halswaymanor.org.uk/event/reg-meuross-creative-songwriting-2020/I went to Reg's recent workshop in June - I work with his manager and went along as an assistant but ended up getting involved a bit in the tutoring as well. Although I didn't fully engage with the course (I spent a lot of time making things run smoothly behind the scenes) it was still a really inspiring week - I got one good song out of it and I certainly feel my creativity has had a boost since attending. At the next course in February there'll be a different assistant but I still might go along as a punter if I can as I really enjoyed the last one.
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Post by bellyshere on Sept 12, 2019 8:37:51 GMT
Never heard of Reg before. Loving his music. Bit far and pricey for me that one.
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Post by andyhowell on Sept 14, 2019 7:59:47 GMT
Anyone ever done any songwriting workshops? I really fancy doing one but obviously a recommendation is good. Yes I have done a few and they can be worthwhile. Pick a songwriter you respect though! For example, a day workshop with Robb Johnson completely changes the way I saw political/protest songs. This was a day and I’m not sure anything longer than that really works. I did the three day Martin Simpson thing once thinking just about guitar technique but he spent a little time talking about songwriting which was almost more inspirational. I’d love to go to a Reg songwriting workshop.
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Post by PistolPete on Sept 16, 2019 10:47:23 GMT
I've done a couple of one-day ones through the MU (It pays to organise - Join your Union!).
I did one with Dan Whitehouse based on the idea of writing many songs in a short space of time (I can't remember exactly how many we were meant to do 25 in 24 hours seems about right), which involved preparing with newspaper cuttings & random lines from the radio. that kind of thing. Honestly, I'm glad it works for him, but I didn't find a lot there for myself other than how to churn out mediocre meaningless songs if I ever need to. (edit: I'm not saying Dan's songs are mediocre & meaningless just in case that's how people read it)
The second one I did was with Chris Difford - the lyricist from Squeeze - & I found that much more interesting. He ran us through some exercises - co-write with someone in the room; try and write a song with a major artist in mind - but mostly what I took away from it was that he feels he needs to write in a way that's true to his own experiences - or the experiences of the artist who will be performing the song. I found the group-discussion elements rather frustrating, as they seemed to involve listening to Fred from Wolverhampton, who plays weddings of a weekend, declaim his strong opinions on the rights and wrongs of songwriting at length whilst ignoring what a man with several top ten hits under his belt had to say.
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Post by bellyshere on Sept 16, 2019 11:26:57 GMT
Chris Difford one sounds good apart from the bloke from Wolverhampton
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Post by PistolPete on Sept 16, 2019 15:01:38 GMT
Chris Difford one sounds good apart from the bloke from Wolverhampton It was good - I don't want to do Dan Whitehouse down either - he has a regular songwriting circle at Birmingham MAC that I've heard very good things about, it's just I didn't get on with the techniques that he taught on that particular day. As for the overly talky bloke - generally as I get older the kind of people with strong opinions I used to find amusing company just irritate me. We were invited to contribute, it's just when the guy leading the group wrote "Up the junction", and you didn't, and you're telling him he's wrong...
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Post by andyhowell on Sept 16, 2019 16:02:07 GMT
I did one with Dan Whitehouse based on the idea of writing many songs in a short space of time (I can't remember exactly how many we were meant to do 25 in 24 hours seems about right), which involved preparing with newspaper cuttings & random lines from the radio. that kind of thing. Honestly, I'm glad it works for him, but I didn't find a lot there for myself other than how to churn out mediocre meaningless songs if I ever need to. ( edit: I'm not saying Dan's songs are mediocre & meaningless just in case that's how people read it) The second one I did was with Chris Difford - the lyricist from Squeeze - & I found that much more interesting. He ran us through some exercises - co-write with someone in the room; try and write a song with a major artist in mind - but mostly what I took away from it was that he feels he needs to write in a way that's true to his own experiences - or the experiences of the artist who will be performing the song. I found the group-discussion elements rather frustrating, as they seemed to involve listening to Fred from Wolverhampton, who plays weddings of a weekend, declaim his strong opinions on the rights and wrongs of songwriting at length whilst ignoring what a man with several top ten hits under his belt had to say. I have the same feeling about Dan and his courses! He runs them in Brum at the Midlands Arts Centre and I think is now up to three sessions a week. I have some good friends who have been on it and they are all good songwriters! Indeed, some of them met on the course and now play together in a rather fabulous local group. But then Dan doesn't do it for me and — if I'm honest — neither does his music. So, maybe, my earlier point of finding someone you respect is not a bad idea! I'm pretty sure I have met Fred from Wolverhampton — at least the description seems very much spot on :-)
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Post by PistolPete on Sept 16, 2019 16:26:12 GMT
I'm pretty sure I have met Fred from Wolverhampton — at least the description seems very much spot on :-) You may well have done, I changed his name and hometown to protect the innocent, but I've seen him at more than one MU event in Brum.
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Post by andyhowell on Sept 17, 2019 8:16:28 GMT
It definitely is the same guy then :-)
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Post by andyhowell on Sept 19, 2019 8:51:40 GMT
PistolPete Blow me down, Dan suddenly turns up an Facebook as a recommended friend.
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