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Tell It In A Song

Join Guest Instructor Bob Cannon (Unbreakable Heart, On Second Thought) for a masterclass in songwriting, beginning January 19, 2021!

Bob Cannon brings his considerable experience as a recording artist, songwriter, educator, and journalist to this 6 week course with Whole Music Virtual Academy.

SONGWRITING FOR MUSICIANS OF ALL LEVELS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

To learn the essential components of pop songwriting for musicians and songwriters of all levels of experience. Students will learn basic music theory, including chord progressions, song structure, and lyrical development. In addition, they will be given information on business practices for songwriters, the role of performing rights organizations, plus publishing and song pitching. Ideally, students will learn the basics of songwriting, regardless of their level of experience. More experienced students will hone their skills and be able to successfully write and sell original songs.

Each class will consist of 90 minutes of classwork (listed below) and 90 minutes of songwriters’ workshop incorporating the previous week’s lesson. In each class, students will submit their compositions and lyrics for analysis and feedback in a discussion setting. Musical examples (both recorded and in-person) are used to demonstrate each point in classwork.

SYNOPSIS of LESSON PLANS:

Week 1:

  • Learning the basics of music theory (tonality, chords in both major and minor keys)

  • Explanation of Nashville numeric method of chord progressions

  • Overview of song structure (verse, chorus, bridge, etc.) with examples of each song format

  • Changing keys: pivot chords and phrase modulations

  • ASSIGNMENT: Submit one-line song ideas for class use. Let class choose these subjects at random for assignment: Write a song based on your chosen subject for review during next class.

Week 2:

  • Further music theory practice (circle of fifths, chord progressions, relative majors and minors)

  • Introduction to effective lyric writing

  • How to write a “hook” for a more distinctive and more sellable song

  • Classwork: listen to songs chosen from last week. Group discussion on results.

Week 3:

  • Music Theory: How to use chord substitution to create more interesting melodies

  • Introduction to “pre-chorus” and “post-chorus” concepts

  • Lyrics: writing in more detail, use of imagery

Week 4:

  • Editing Yourself: making good choices in being your own worst critic

  • How to NOT let yourself be TOO critical

  • Using the “Rule of Three” in writing music and lyrics

Week 5:

  • Prosody: how to make your lyrics sound natural and unpretentious

  • Matching your music and lyrics to best effect

Week 6:

  • Lyric workshop: thinking like a writer

  • Setting the scene of the story

  • Development of character, use of imagery in conveying a character’s story

Meet Bob Cannon

Bob Cannon is a recording artist and songwriter with two albums for Rivanna Records, Unbreakable Heart and On Second Thought. He received his Bachelor of Music in Theory and Composition from University of Delaware, Newark, DE. He studied audio engineering and production at the Recording Workshop in Chillicothe, OH. He has over 40 years of experience in performing and playing guitar, bass, drums, piano, and mandolin.

Bob’s experience as a music educator comes from his 4 years as a private teacher of music theory, guitar, and composition, as well as teaching continuing education classes in songwriting and music at Adult School of Montclair and Chatham Adult School in New Jersey. He is also an experienced long-term substitute English and History teacher at Winnacunnet High School, in Hampton, NH, where he fosters a positive learning environment using excellent communication, interpersonal and organizational skills to aid students in their academic and personal growth and development. 

In addition to Bob’s recording and educational credentials, he is a prolific music journalist. As a writer and reporter for Entertainment Weekly, he contributed features and reviews on books, popular music, CD-ROM, video and children's media, and interviews with leading entertainers. Researched and fact-checked stories for over 500 issues of the magazine, and also wrote daily feature for website ew.com. As the Music Editor for zoggle.com, a website for teenagers that enlisted more than 250 teenage writers to cover news, features and reviews in popular music, Bob tutored students in developing critical writing skills and created and assigned stories and reviews daily for website. Among his other journalistic credits, he has been the Editor-in-Chief of TuTTi, a classical music magazine and CD combination, and TuTTi Legends, a popular music magazine/CD that was used in the curriculum of more than 200 schools; Staff Writer for Country Weekly, writing reviews and features on mainstream country music; Editor-in-Chief of New Country, planning and writing features and reviews for alternative and mainstream country music industries; Freelance journalist for AOL/Moviefone.com, People.com, Musician, Country.com, Salon, Stereophile, Music Row, Country Music, Performing Songwriter, Disney Adventures, New York Daily News, IN-New York, M Music & Musicians, Parenting, and contributing author for MusicHound Country and MusicHound Folk. Writer for VH1 television program World Series of Pop Culture, and on-air music critic for NY1 cable television.