Songwriting and Production Workshop

Songwriting and Production Workshop with Stephen Webber and Pat Pattison Friday May 29 ­ Sunday May 31, 2015 Friday May 29, 6pm ­ 10pm Saturday May 30, 10:30am ­ 7pm, Open Mic 7:30pm Sunday May 31, 10:30am ­ 7pm Yamaha Music School, Carrer de Santa Rosa, 8. Valencia, SPAIN Pat Pattison and Stephen Webber will provide strategies guaranteed to take your music to the next level. This is a chance for you to gain insight into songwriting and production strategies from two of the most seminal teachers in music today. Taking your music from average to extraordinary takes more than heart or drive alone. This 3­day workshop can help you avoid the pitfalls of mediocrity and maximize your performance and the expression of your ideas. There are also chances to perform at Saturday’s Open Mic. In a world filled with noise, the only way we move forward is to cut through the clutter and invest time and effort into real tools at work in effective songs and recordings. Pat and Stephen’s workshop provides you with that opportunity. Friday May 29, 6pm ­ 8pm Pat Pattison Presentation: Prosody: ​
The most important concept in great writing. All the elements of your song should work together to support the song's central message and emotion. This seminar will show you tools and techniques to make your song stronger and more focused, using structure and phrasing to highlight important ideas, and deepen emotional impact. Friday May 29, 8pm ­ 10pm Stephen Webber Presentation Listening Like A Producer: ​
Emmy­winning composer Stephen Webber reveals exactly how to sharpen your listening skills to transform your production, arranging, and songwriting. In this working session, practical keys to listening on technical, emotional and kinesthetic levels will lay the groundwork for strategies that have placed Stephen’s students’ productions at the top of the charts, including Kiesza’s recent number one, ​
Hideaway​
. Saturday May 30 10:30am ­ 12pm Stephen Webber Presentation Music Production: Maximizing Impact: ​
Learn the simple strategies for transforming your songs into spine­tingling recordings that people cannot stop listening to. Set your demos and recordings apart by avoiding the mistakes that ruin almost all self­produced projects. By focusing on easy­to­implement conceptual and technical aspects of recording and mixing, you’ll learn to tone your tracks into focused, emotionally compelling recordings that will draw listeners in and keep their attention. You’ll learn the art of becoming what Rick Rubin calls a ‘record reducer’ through the ‘rule of threes,’ how to deploy the secret power of low frequencies, and how to make your choruses “pay off” in a big way. Saturday May 30: 12:30pm – 2pm Pat Pattison Presentation Tools and Strategies:​
Sharpen your lyric writing skills and discover the techniques that have helped Pat's students, including John Mayer and Gillian Welch, win Grammys and write number one songs. In this seminar, you'll learn how to craft more vivid lyrics by mastering the elements of structure and the process of building great lyrical ideas into great songs. Whether you're a beginner or seasoned writer, this will help you structure your lyrics more effectively. Saturday May 30: 4:00pm – 7:00pm Master Class:​
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Pat and Stephen Pat and Stephen take already strong songs and put them through a workout until they emerge trim and toned. In the 3­hour session, they will look at participants’ songs, taking time to work out any kinks, focusing on prosody between the intent of the song and structure, rhyme, rhythm, point of view, phrasing and many other tools that have proven so useful to students across the globe. Both live performances and recordings may be evaluated. Pat and Stephen can show you how to take your songs all the places they can go to cross the "finished" line, while millions cheer. *To have your song and/or production considered for inclusion in the masterclass, you should submit a lyric sheet and mp3 to ​
[email protected]​
by Friday May 22 Saturday May 30: 7:30pm Open Mic 1 song each. All workshop participants will have the opportunity to perform a song Sunday May 31, 10:30am – 12pm Pat Pattison Presentation Lyric Writing: Building Your Sonic Fabric: ​
This seminar will explore the difference between what you’ve written and what it could become. As a songwriter writing for singers, realize that you create not only meanings, but textures and sounds with your vowels and consonants that you can use to weave a sonic fabric, a separate level of composition, patterns to support your ideas. Using selected participant’s songs, we’ll focus on creating additional flow and momentum using the sounds inside your lines. You'll develop essential writing tools and skills: effective setting, phrasing, rhythm, and rhyme and crafting singable, memorable choruses. It’ll be fun. Sunday May 31: 12:30pm­2pm Stephen Webber Presentation Focus and Arranging for Records: ​
Borrowing from experience in photography and the visual arts, Stephen Webber will walk you through tangible steps to focusing the arrangement and mix of your productions. You’ll employ concepts and specific tools to refine your demos and recordings into compelling works of art that will grab the attention of your audience and not let go. Learn to harness the power of the focal point, and how to handle supporting players to strengthen the story­telling aspects of your songs. Sunday May 31: 4:00pm – 7:00pm Master Class 2: Pat and Stephen See description for Saturday May 30, 4pm­7pm