Express Rather Than Impress: Songwriting with Miya Folick (August '22)

All access to lecture recordings, songwriting prompts and all course materials for Miya Folick's songwriting workshop taught in August 2022. By purchasing this past course, you're able to watch Miya's lectures and go about the course at your own pace!

Miya's lectures cover the following topics and themes:

1. Addressing the distinct difficulties that come with starting and finishing a song and how becoming a finisher of songs is a crucial skill that can be learned!
   
2. The value in “trying on every dress in the store” – arriving at a sound through a broad approach of experimentation + play, and the important role that “bad ideas” play in this process
   
3. Dismissing the idea that the song you’re writing needs to reflect who you are. You can be anyone in your songs and shifting perspective in timeframe, location, intention, people within a single song can add depth and dimensionality to your songwriting.
   
4. Learning how to express fearlessly by developing a heightened awareness to how your body and emotional self responds to experiences and how this can lead us to the ability to write openly even with other people in the room.
   

This course also includes songwriting prompts from Miya such as "Express rather than impress", "Detail and Specificity", "Developing a melody", and "Creating movement in lyrics".

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Here's a quote from Miya on the class...

"Songs carry us in so many ways. As songwriters, they teach us how to sit inside our bodies and listen to our instincts. They show us how we feel. Sometimes, they help other people to understand how they feel! They allow us to reach across a room of strangers and find intimacy and understanding. (They also allow us to enter a room and immediately feel alienated! But I'm going to focus on the intimacy part) In the best moments, it truly feels like communing with magic.

For me, the act of songwriting is an exploration. I am in search of something. But, it's not always easy. I've found that my main obstacles to songwriting are fear, distraction, and a crippling sense of meaninglessness!! In my class, I'm going to share some of the ways that I deal with these perplexing conditions when they arise. How do we start songs? How do we finish them?!?

I believe that songs are vital to our experience as humans. My hope is for us to help each other feel seen and to feel safe to express ourselves.” - Miya Folick

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-- Testimonials from August 2022 students --

" Miya, you are so thoughtful, relatable and your lectures have been really inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing your time and wisdom with us. I’m very grateful for this experience. My songwriting and confidence has been uplifted by these assignments and your influence!"

"thanks for your vulnerability, and for sharing so much with us. it was such a joy to hear from you and your experience, and you helped me feel excited about songwriting. helped it feel more accessible, and less like this grand, lofty thing."

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This "Past Course" includes:

1. Class Video Recordings – Watch all 5 of Miya Folick's lectures + Q&A's on her songwriting process.
2. All course materials, including songwriting prompts crafted by Miya.
3. Access to the "community jukebox" – upload your new songs to the jukebox and share the tunes with fellow classmates!

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Q: What musical experience is required to understand the material in this course?

A: People across all musical levels will be able to gain something from the course. However, it will be helpful to be comfortable playing a few basic chords on any instrument of your choice in order to complete the songwriting prompts.

Q: What if I’ve never written a song before? Can I still participate in this workshop?

A: Yes! As with any new skill, just starting is usually the hardest part. This workshop will provide the structure and accountability we all need to get started and follow through, for beginners and old guard writers alike.

Q: What is different about watching this past course versus participating while the workshop is run live?

A: By purchasing this course, you'll have access to the same resources as the students who took the course while it was running other than the live songshares. 

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Questions? Email us at hi@schoolofsong.org.