As part of our Songwriting class, we are reading and discussing excerpts from Paul Zollo's book Songwriters on Songwriting.

This is a collection of interviews with a diverse group of songwriters who describe the many different sides of being a songwriter. These widely acclaimed artists also express varied points of view on what is most important and valuable in the process of creating your own music.

For each interview our objective is to share what we find interesting, useful or even contrary and challenging to our own ideas about songwriting. As always, the discussions are a way for us to uncover the essential and meaningful content in the reading, as well as get to know more about ourselves and each other. Finally, we will listen to and get to know some of each songwriters music and, through discussion, compile a list of "favorite songwriter ideas/tricks" to help all of us reach our songwriting goals.

During this 5 week unit, I expect you will complete a minimum of two songs, written lyrics and progression in "Lead Sheet" format.

To help you through the daily process, use our Circle of Fifths and Chord progression review "cheat sheet", along with the songwriter tricks you have compiled with the help of your classmates.

Interviews - Discussions - and Song Discoveries:

1. Paul Simon - listen to the audio interview, listen to three or more songs (from Concerts, Studio Sessions, or Discover Songs), finally please read one interview

You have one week, so break this into maybe a couple/few different work sessions. You can team up and work together - but write your own discussion/response based on the work you do. -discussion posted by Thursday April 7th, 2016

2. Carole King - discussions posted before Thursday April 14th, 2016

3. John Hiatt - discussions posted before Thursday April 28th, 2016 

4. Tom Petty - discussion posted before Thursday May 5th, 2016 

5. Walter Becker - discussion posted before Thursday May 12th, 2016

HERE is a Playlist I put together for you of a bunch of great recordings from all of these artists.

Try letting it play for a while in the background whenever you work on this unit. Enjoy!

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