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! – Susan Cattaneo

This comprehensive class will explore the nuts and bolts of song form. We’ll listen to some famous and some not so famous 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.

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 from Prompts and the Six Word Story – Cathy Fink

Have paper and pencil ready. This is a writing workshop. Cathy will present 3-4 prompts and guide you through a series of writing exercises for each one. You’ll develop song seeds, maybe verses  or choruses, and story lines to work from.

Dinner on your own

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

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  – Marry a Metaphor – Susan Cattaneo

Tired of writing with lyrics that feel generic or uninspired? Welcome to the world of metaphor! Using metaphorical language is one of the most important ways that you can create lyrics that have meaning and magic. We will explore the differences between simile and metaphor and dive into ways that you can explore the power of metaphor in your own writing!

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 – Fun with Parodies – Cathy Fink 

From Dictionary.com, definition of a parody:

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.

3:30 – 4:45 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.

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

• 7:30 pm –   Song Swap at Arts Council Building

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 – Writing from a Title –  Susan Cattaneo

So…you’ve got a great title for a song but you’re stuck. Where do you go from here? This clinic will explore the power of song seeds and how they can lead to great song ideas. We’ll work with a variety of creative writing prompts and explore important concepts like prosody, verse development, title placement and melodic contour to help you develop these titles into 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