Songwriting
It may sound obvious, but it’s worth saying: if you want to be an artist, songwriting skills are at the core your career. Without good songs, there is no career.
…Yes, we know: some artists don’t write their own songs. But most successful artists today do at least co-write their songs. We’re in the business of maximizing your chances of success, and you are more likely to be successful if you have songwriting skills.
We offer 7-week songwriting classes about twice a year, and one-on-one songwriting consultations year round with Justin Long. Some of our voice teachers also teach songwriting.
We can help you learn:
- How to identify song sections, song structures and arrangements.
- A song analysis method that will help you understand what makes great songs work.
- Various strategies to find ideas and themes for your own original songs.
- The basics of lyric writing: narrative, point of view and tense.
- An easy music theory method to help you write chord progressions and spice up basic songs.
- How to use melodic structure and repetition to write catchy melody lines.
- How to jumpstart your creativity and write when you are uninspired.
- The most important part of song writing: the editing process.
After working with Justin for just a few weeks, my brand and imagery were dialed in, I had several effective strategies and goals in place, and I was beginning to feel suspiciously like a professional musician. The long-term value of his Artist Development coaching cannot be overstated; I still meet with him regularly because of his clear minded and versatile approach. He has an ear and a sense of the industry that’s very hard to come by, and I’ve gone out of my way to recommend his services to all the musicians I know.
Working with Justin was a fantastic experience that expanded my horizons as a producer and a musician. Justin’s depth of experience allows him to address big picture problems and help take songs from ‘good’ to ‘great.’ He has the ability to take you out of your comfort zone and make you take a sober look at your sticking points while still being a lot of fun to work with. It is invaluable to have a set of outside ears that you can trust. I really look forward to working with again Justin soon.
I recently started performance coaching lessons with Justin Long and I am seriously mind blown. There are very few schools that offer the curriculum available here. Schools which dispense knowledge in a practical manner that is useful AND AFFORDABLE to an indie artist like myself. I live in the Bay Area of California so our sessions are in video conference via Facetime, but the distance isn’t an issue. The breadth and depth of his expert instruction is thorough, easy to comprehend, logical, and compassionate. He exceeds my expectations (read: value=more bang for your buck). I always leave super excited to implement his methods!
