Songwriting Course at Arvon

Last September (2013) I attended a songwriting workshop at a beautiful old manor called Totleigh Barton, in deepest mid-Devon.

It is a creative centre run by Arvon (http://www.arvon.org/) offering residential, week long courses, in a rural location (no mobile phone signal and no internet!).

The accommodation is simple, comprising of room with a single bed, desk, chair and chest of drawers. There is a large dining room in the medieval part of the manor, a library and a converted barn (containing many sofas and a grand piano).

We were greeted on Monday afternoon by the centre staff who laid on a real Devon cream tea. As other attendees arrived the course tutors introduced themselves. They would be hosting workshops and personal tutorial time.

Our two very talented singer/songwriting tutors were

 

Boo Hewerdine (http://www.boohewerdine.net/),

 

and

 

 

 Karine Polwart (http://www.karinepolwart.com/)

 

On an Arvon course the tutors are usually joined by a guest on Wednesday.

 

 In our case this was Mark Freegard (http://kyotistudio.com/) the owner/producer of Kyoti Studios, Glasgow, who actually stayed for the whole week and patiently recorded some of

the songs written during that tme.

Most mornings consisted of a singing/vocal warm-up with Karine, followed by songwriting challenges from Karine and Boo. These consisted of writing three verses for a song on a given subject (30 minutes), then reading them out and working on them later. On occasions this meant writing the tune to another persons lyrics, or collaborating with someone.

During the week everyone helped cook a meal and wash up. In addition to the workshops, there was evening entertainment; a quiz, a concert by the two tutors, sing-arounds.

As the course progressed, some of the finished songs were recorded by Mark, who had set up his studio in the library. The CD of 20 or so songs was played in the barn on the last night. This was a great way of showing what everyone was working on during the week.

The friendships made over the week have been great, with many of us continuing to correspond via Facebook.

The validation I gained from the course has encouraged me to get on with recording my own CD. The initial tracks are currently being laid down, as time permits.

Also, I had to deal with the results from my tests for Cancer that I had shelved while I had this amazing week.

Out in the wilderness

After I left school I played on my own for many years, occasionally at local events on the Isle of Wight (probably very badly), until 1980.

In the 1980's I started volunteering at Medina Theatre in Newport, where I learnt how to rig and focus the lights and run a lighting desk for a variety of shows. Also, I started to master how to mix the sound for live shows. There was an amazing range of artists that came through the doors in the theatres early years. It was a real challenge at times. But it was here that I met a pianist (Helen) that eventually became my wife.

In the early 1980's we spent many days going through all sorts of music and often recording them onto good old trusty cassette tape. We just used to set up four microphones and let the tape run. Amongst all the recordings were some real gems. Lots of covers and some 'very' originals, mostly just busked from a few scribbled notes. There are a few surviving tapes, that have been put onto CD for posterity.

The one thing that this partnership did was teach me how to accompany others and really learn to listen while I was playing with another musician. Helen's father was/is a jazz musician and it was listening to him that the penny dropped that I loved jazz. He introduced me to all sorts of recordings. He also had a portable vibraphone. Ok, when I say it was portable, it was about two octaves and fitted into a case/box, but I would challenge anyone to carry it any distance.

The sound a vibe makes is just amazing and some of my favourite jazz musicians are vibe players (Milt Jackson/Gary Burton).

 

 



Songwriting

Q. So when do you get the bug to start songwriting?

There is that initial stage where you are just so delighted to play a single chord, that is fingered correctly and where the strings are not buzzing and there are no dull thuds (where the string hasn't been held down hard enough), and your fingers no longer sting. After that comes the challenge of changing to another, equally successfully held chord and then back to the original one, or... onto a new another one!

The tutor books will show the chord name or a chord box detailing the fingering and with this information you expand your knowledge. Then you hit a song with 'F' or 'Eb' in it and have to rethink this whole song playing idea.

But with perseverance and some swearing you get through this steep learning curve and plateau out to be able to get through a whole song without too much scrambling about. You may have even started to change songs into a more playable key (avoiding 'F' and 'Eb')!

My first sheet music was for songs by T-Rex, Sweet, Moody Blues and Alice Cooper. I really didn't understand the dots, but could manage the chord/chord boxes. Looking back, they are the songs I would just busk along with now, intuitively knowing where the chords would be going. But how did I learn this? I suppose it was just with trial and error.


So, going back to the songwriting question, it had to be once I got my first guitar and started to string chords together.

The big question is... What was my first song? Now this is where it gets a little complicated. Is that a completed song, with lyrics and everything, or the first attempt at writing an original tune? My first tune was called 'Cascade'. I am not sure why it was given that name, and all evidence of it is long gone. I must have written it in 1973 or 1974. My first song with original tune and lyrics was 'Waiting on the Station'. Some of this does exist. I have a couple of verses (lyrics) with the chords and can vaguely remember how it went. One day I will record a bit of it as a record of how far I have come in the past 40 years!