SPRING IS FOR SONGS
Get ready for SONG CAMP! Let's climb a mountain. Let's make some songs.
It finally happened this week. I was driving on the highway and I looked out at the mountains and they were not just the grey of winter, but blushing a little bit pink because SPRING IS ACTUALLY COMING TO VERMONT!!! We’re supposed to get snow tonight, but I see buds and nothing can take that away from me!
I was on my way to sing some harmony vocals for the one and only Allison Fay Brown which only made it better. Being in the studio gave me the push I needed to take an idea I have been shaping from imagination to life, and today I want to introduce you to a new seasonal series at “A Wilder Wonder”.
SONG CAMP
“Anyone who uses more than two chords is just showing off”- Woody Guthrie
SONG CAMP will be a spring digital creative intensive starting Monday, April 21. Over 6 weeks, we will climb a mountain together, and come down with new songs, poems, and musical practice.
Songs and mountains twine like counterpoint in my life story.
I spent my thirties driving around the country in vans, (Vandolph, Oh Vanny Boy) singing my songs on some seriously crazy stages. I spent my twenties in the mountains: hiking The Long Trail and The Wonderland Trail, climbing and hiking in the North Cascades and the Olympic Mountains. Songs and mountains: They’ve been a source of inspiration and transformation in my life, even years after I stood on the biggest summits and drove through the night to get to a festival in Utah.
Mountains are an unmistakable figure in our collective human consciousness. If we can make it up high enough, they widen our perspective. We don’t come down the same as we go up. It takes effort and training to climb a mountain, but most of the journey is still one foot in front of another. Songwriting is much the same. It’s a balance between that mystic spark that comes when you hold out your hands and pay attention and creating steady forward momentum through craft and experimentation.
What is a SONG?
Technically- a song is a piece of music for the voice, but when I say song, I mean it broadly. A poem has a beat, a good essay sings, and a dance is just a song for the body. Where I say song- you can substitute any creative practice, but a song digs deep, and it’s that spirit we’ll be looking for.
SONG CAMP is for you if:
You want to write a song.
You want an excuse to write a song.
You want permission to write a song.
If you write songs and want to try something different from your usual process.
SONG CAMP is also for you if:
You want to begin a music practice.
You’re already a musician and you want to reinforce the foundations of your practice.
You are a human and want to explore rhythm and resonance in your life.
HOW DO I SIGN UP?
I believe in the transformational and healing power of music, and I want EVERYONE to have access to their own musicality, so my weekly illustrated essay is always free. The SONG CAMP WORKSHOP will be below the paywall. We’ll work with the ancient pentatonic scale, rhythm and groove experiments, writing prompts, and exercises derived from deep reading. We’ll have a SONG CAMP chat on Substack where we can ask questions and share ideas.
I’m excited to get to the mountains, even if they are digital ones. I imagine the creeks will be flowing, the trilliums will be popping, and the snow at the top will be dazzling.
Spring is here.
Spring is for songs.
In case you missed it…
The world is a lot. Music is there for you.
Music as Medicine
“The body is a temple, the soul is a bell. That’s why music is the best medicine I sell.”
Hey- be good to yourself, You’re a freaking wonder - Jes
I didn't know I needed this... Earlier this week I took a train through the mountains and was in search of a creative project that would combine the figurative mountains and my creative practice. I might have found it. I'm hesitating because I'm not a song writer or a singer, but this is so poetic, and I need more poetic connection in my life...