Final performance
Final Performance night - all the songs were written during SWF week. On the last day of the the 2009 Festival, we all got together in the café to play back the last of the week’s songs. Many people had delayed their live performance until this final session, due either to completing a particular song toward the end of the week, or the time taken in developing chord sheets for the house band. So the band had to learn around 20 songs in a 3-hour... [Read More...]
Midge Ure on songwriting – and a Scottish songwriting competition
Here’s a video of Midge Ure (SWF special guest 2006) on songwriting, with some useful comments on cliché in his own first attempts at songwriting – hopefully this should give heart to some of our new writers! [Read More...] Read More →
UK Songwriting Festival Student comments
Chloe describes how the Festival has altered her perspective on songwriting. Read More →
Slideshow
Live Songwriting
SWF tutor Andy West writes a song live in front of an audience – SWF 2008. [Read More...] Read More →
Performance and songwriting
To state the obvious, the UK Songwriting Festival is about songwriting. Specifically, it’s about songwriting as opposed to performance and arrangement. We often use the metaphor of a picture frame – the arrangement and performance are the frame; the song is the picture. A song is transferable to a different performer (i.e. a cover version); a song can be arranged/interpreted in different ways (instrumentation, tempo, groove/feel, arrangement... [Read More...]
Richard Thompson – Guest songwriting tutor 2008
Richard Thompson performs ‘Cold Kisses’ at the 2008 Festival. [Read More...] Read More →
Teaching songwriting with a Mac
I occasionally get asked, by Festival songwriters [Read More...] Read More →
SWF08 – tasks
Here’s a list of the songwriting tasks from the 2008 festival. Most people did one task per day, with the guidance and support of their tutor; Introductory task – “My Name Is” • Write ten titles. If you have time, choose the most inspiring one and develop it into a chorus. If you have (more) time, complete the song. SKILL DEVELOPMENT – beating writers’ block Task 1 – “Do It Again” • Write a chorus-based song where... [Read More...]