New Community Songwriting Program Launched

‘What’s In The Song’, a new community songwriting initiative produced by the CityFolk Festival organization has launched it’s first participating location at Norman Johnson Alternate in Blackburn Hamlet.

This program invites young musicians, songwriters and poets between the ages of 12-18 to gather in small groups to work on the craft of songwriting. A professional and established local songwriter will be the mentor for the duration of the class. In the case of Norman Johnson we are very fortunate to have Alain Morier sign on as coach. Alain is a teacher, a singer/songwriter and a founder of the local band The Barstool Prophets who had a string of radio hits in the 1990’s.

Over ten weeks, each hour and a half long session will be broken up into: 

a) listening to and analyzing the forms and structure of songs, old and new

b) overview of basic chord forms and musical key concepts

c) group writing and techniques for idea development

d) individuals will bring in ideas for friendly feedback from the mentor and group.

The goal is to create at least two complete songs each which will either be performed by the individual, group, or the mentor at a community coffee house near the end of the program. Participants who successfully complete the program will also receive 2 passes to the 2018 CityFolk festival. 

This program is intended not just for performing musicians, but also for those students who like the idea of writing for the fun of it and possibly having other people perform their work on stage. Songwriting is a viable art form and career path now offered in Universities and community colleges across North America. 

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Do you think that your community might have an interest in hosting a program like this? Get in touch with Alan Marsden at amarsden@ottawabluesfest.ca for more info on how to get involved.