Meeting ID: 836 2661 3501
Passcode: 538276
Week 1
"You write a hit the smae way you write a flop" - Alan Jay Lerner
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2026
Thursday, March 5th, 2026
Tuesday - Building your resource
1. Song Title List
2. Idea List
3. Develop your weakness
- Show up to the easel
- Your writing space
- Obstacles
- Reviewing your repertoire
- what songs have you started? Finish those.
- Habits to develop
- Carry a notebook
- Observe and listen
- Ask questions and be in your head
- Write, write, write!
- Read lots of books
- Make decisions
- Power through or let it rest
Assignments:
1. Find at least one song that is unfinished, either in your mind or in your writings and finish it this weekend.
2. Notebook - Somewhere near the front of your notebook, make a list of songwriting topics you can draw on. (It is helpful to have this list in a Google Doc as well where you can access it from anywhere.) You need ten topics/ideas.
3. Somewhere in your notebook make list of titles that you can draw from for this class. (also helpful to have in Google Docs) Make a list of 20 titles.
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Thursday - [IN-PERSON] @ Swallow Hill - Martin out at the Livingston Songwriter's Festival - Substitute teacher
Class Recordings
Week 2
"I started being a songwriter by pretending I could do it, and it turned out I could." - James Taylor
Tuesday, March 10th, 2026
Thursday, March 12th, 2026
Tuesday - Finding Inspiration
Creation - Discussion class
- Tips for Creativity
- Creativity Exercises
Assignments -
1. Free write for ten minutes using your non-dominant hand.
Assignment - Make a list of five things that make you feel creative.
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Thursday - Workshopping session [In Person]
- Bring a song to share that you have worked on revising
Class Recordings
Week 3
The more time you spend writing the "luckier" you will get.
Tuesday, March 17th, 2026
Thursday, March 19th, 2026
Tuesday - Approaching Revision
- Strategies for working through the hard moments.
- Making your songs more interesting.
- Layered approach
- Sculptor
- Professor
- attorney
- Thinking through your characters and narrative elements.
- Merging ideas
Assignments -
1. For two minutes (set a timer), write all the descriptive words (adjectives and adverbs) that you can think of. Once finished, go through your list and write synonyms for each of those words.
2. Choose an object in your house. Write a one-page description of that object with as much detail as possible. Once finished, highlight all the descriptive words (adjectives and adverbs) and replace them with the "opposite" of those words.
2. Rewrite a song that is already finished. Go line by line and see if you can add imagery, replace common adjectives with more complex or specific ones.
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Thursday - Workshopping Session [In-Person]
Don't forget to contact Martin about setting up a 1-on-1 song coaching session!
Class Recordings
Week 4
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” - Thomas Edison
Tuesday, March 24th, 2026
Thursday, March 26th, 2026
Tuesday - Finishing revising and Q&A
- laying out your song
- creating the product
- Preparing it for rehearsal
- revision after performance
Assignment: Finish a song that you have started and make a lyric sheet with the chord progression.
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Thursday -
Bring a song written from Section 2 writing prompts
Class Recordings
Tuesday
Passcode:
Thursday
Passcode:
"Yellow Submarine" Songwriting Work Tapes - Part 1
"Yellow Submarine" Songwriting Work Tapes - Part 2