April 11-13, 2025

A weekend in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina teaching songwriting with intention.

Please note that the schedule is subject to slight changes and participants will be notified via email prior to the retreat.

Friday, 4/10

• 9:30 am – Meet and Greet, staff and class intros

• 10:30 am-11:45 am – The FUNdamentals of Songwriting! – Marcy Marxer – for beginner songwriters

This is the only time new songwriters will be in a separate group.

This class will explore the nuts and bolts of basic song forms. We’ll listen to songs and we’ll learn what role each section plays in a song and how you can use these forms in your own work. You’ll see how each element can transform your listener’s experience and support the meaning of your lyric. And, we’ll do a little writing exercise.

10:30-11:45 – Assign Yourself! – Cathy

Rather than wait for devine inspiration to drop in your lap for the next song, we’ll work with writing prompts for in session writing. We’ll also discuss ways to create your own writing prompts and keep your practice of writing active. You will learn how to create your own writing assignments and then work on them in a structured way. Have paper and pencil ready.

12:00-1:30 pm – Digging: Emotional Layers in Songwriting – Matthew Parsons

This workshop introduces participants to the fundamental shape of traditional song forms. We examine the mechanisms that make great traditional songs work, and learn to identify the layers of meaning that give a song emotional depth. Participants will be guided through exercises to outline and develop a song using the principles of emotional layering.

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm – LUNCH: Space is available for lunch at the Civic Center, but you provide your own food. You can bring lunch, order and pick up, organize a lunch run, and if you want, hang out with your fellow songwriters and get to know them.

• 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm –   Writing a Great Chorus – Rachel Baiman

How can a chorus be at once universally relatable and also specific to you, your voice, and your song? How can a chorus take on new meaning each time that it is repeated throughout the song? How can a chorus get so stuck in your head that you won’t be able to forget it even if you try? In this class, we will delve into song structure and how to identify and generate a great chorus. 

Dinner on your own

7:30 PM – Instructor Concert at Ashe Arts Center with Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Don Henry, Rachel Baiman

Optional Post Concert Song Swap at Arts Council Building

 

Saturday, 4/11

• 10:00 am – 11:00 am –  One-On-One Meeting with Instructors

Each participant can schedule one meeting with one instructor for 20 minutes to work on one thing- it can be help with a song, song title, song puzzle, challenging line or other single focus topic. Be realistic, 20 minutes. Meantime, many participants enjoy helping each other with their songs, or with harmony or instrumentation for the participant showcase and this time can be used for rehearsal.

Marcy Marxer will also be on staff for this and would love to work with people trying to improve the music to their song.  

• 11:15 am – 12:45 pm  – Biopicking: Nonfiction Songwriting in Traditional Form – Matthew Parsons

In this workshop, participants learn to adapt the stories of real people and historical events into traditional song structures. We listen to and analyze strong examples of nonfiction songwriting rooted in folk forms, then explore techniques for transforming lived or remembered history into compelling, singable narrative.

12:45 pm – 1:45 pm – LUNCH
Space is available for lunch at the Civic Center, but you provide your own food. You can bring lunch, order and pick up, organize a lunch run, and if you want, hang out with your fellow songwriters and get to know them.

• 1:45 pm – 3:15 pm – Co-Writing – Rachel Baiman 

Co-writing can be an inspiring and uplifting experience when approached with care and intention.  In this class, we will discuss best practices for co-writing, how to identify a good team member for your own writing, and even practice getting started on a co-written song. 

3:30 – 4:45 pm –Fun with Parodies – Cathy Fink

1) a literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule

2) a feeble or ridiculous imitation, ie, a cheesy parody of a classic western

Parodies are not only used for political satire, they are an incredible tool for all kinds of humor. Some parodies simply make fun of the craziness of life, or middle-age, or the school cafeteria.  The nice thing is that you start with an existing song and form. We’ll listen to several parodies and use our wild imaginations to see what we can write. This will be a chance to reach beyond our internal work and try to make others laugh about something, or at least raise their eyebrows.

4:45 pm – 7:30 pm Hangout with your Fellow Participants, dinner break

• 7:30 pm –   Song Swap at Ashe Civic Center

Sunday, 4/12

• 10:00 am – 11:15 am – Natural Objects: Writing from What We Carry –  Matthew Parsons

This workshop draws on object writing as a gateway to deeper songwriting. Participants examine artifacts from their lives—tools, heirlooms, scraps, photographs—and learn to observe and interact with them in new ways to spark ideas. Through close interaction with objects, journaling, and lists of associative language, participants discover how to build emotional depth from the inanimate world.

• 11:15 am – 11:30 am: Break

• 11:30 am – 12:45 pm – Traditional Influences for New Songs  –  Cathy Fink & Rachel Baiman

Ola Belle Reed herself was a traditional songwriter who wrote new songs informed by tradition, but not boxed in by it. This class will look at a few of Ola Belle’s songs, fiddle tunes, perhaps some of other artists. We will then explore and even try writing influenced by a traditional song.

1:00 pm – 2:20 pm – Meetings with Instructors and Preparation for Student Showcase
(Bring your lunch!)

Each participant can schedule one meeting with one instructor for 20 minutes to work on one thing- it can be help with a song, song title, song puzzle, challenging line or other single focus topic. Be realistic, 20 minutes. Meantime, many participants enjoy helping each other with harmony or instrumentation for the participant showcase and this time can be used for rehearsal. Marcy Marxer will also be on staff for this and would love to work with people trying to improve the music to their song.

• 3:30-5pm – Participant Showcase at Old General Store in Lansing NC, Weather Permitting, group photo at 3 pm in front of Ola Belle mural in Lansing

Plan on 20-25 minute drive to downtown Lansing.

Coffee, tea, cider, wine, snacks available for purchase