BETHANY N (YEAR 9) WRITES

Last Friday we were treated to an interactive songwriting workshop with musical guru Ollie Kaiper-Leach.

Ollie Kaiper-Leach (c) performing as Music Captain in the award-winning smash hit show, Choir of Man

Ollie gave us a unique insight into the way he writes songs, and shared some practical tips to help us improve our song writing process and how to make our songs more relevant to our ideal audience. For example limiting songs to a maximum of four minutes because many people have a short attention span. He also explained how to make our lyrics resonate with the subjects that interest our audience.

Ollie's five steps to success

1. Scribble and step away. Start noting down words, phrases and ideas of what you might include.
2. Feel the music (without playing your instrument). Ollie likes to finish writing the lyrics before moving towards an instrument as then the lyrics are more authentic. Therefore the music supports the lyrics.
3. Sing along while writing. Even if you aren’t a singer, start finding your melody, the key can be changed later.
4. Create your rough shape with how you want it to look. Where do you want a verse? How often do you need a chorus?
5. Add colour. No more writing, this is where you start arranging. Adding different instruments and sounds to your song. But everything must have a reason for why you're using it..

We also discussed the way technology is influencing the way we make music and all the different software you can use to create music.

At the end of the session we got the chance to ask Ollie some questions about how and when he likes to write. Ollie dedicates a specific time to writing rather than waiting around for an idea to just come. Deciding what he is going to write about before he starts. Once he starts writing he doesn’t stop, only going back to edit after the lyrics are finished.

So, an insightful and thought provoking workshop with lots of tips that we can use in the future...