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Intro to Songwriting with Sara Softich Alexander

  • Virginia Market Square (weekly farmer's market) 111 South 9th Avenue West Virginia, MN, 55792 United States (map)

The workshop is open to the public.

Here are the basics that the workshop will cover:

Songwriting Brainstorming Ideas for Lyrics
Listen to 3 of your favorite songs and free write to the songs. Don’t edit your thoughts, just write!

  1. Write in different places. Observe people, things, sounds, colors. Don’t edit your thoughts, you are just writing. You can edit at a later time.

  2. Class Songwriting Exercise: Come up with 5 words as fast as you can and write them down. Then look at each word, and write the first 5 words that come to mind.

  3. Look through a magazine and write what comes to mind. Then write 5 words that go with each thought.

  4. After brainstorming ideas, the next step is to go through what you wrote and highlight the good words and lines. Then you can work to piece them together.

    Most songs have only 3 to 5 chords. If you learn 5 chords on the ukulele, you can play most songs!

Sample Chords for Ukulele

Verse
C F G G

Chorus
Am C F G

Funding support for this workshop comes from an ARAC Individual Artist Project Grant

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As Long As the Rivers Shall Run - Ellen Sandbeck

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July 19

As Long As the Rivers Shall Run - Ellen Sandbeck