Music & Writing
A Workshop for Musicians, Writers
and Lovers of Music

November 14, 2009
12:00pm - 4:30pm
Frostburg State University Campus

In conjunction with the Allegany Arts Council, the Frostburg Center for Creative Writing is proud to host its first ever Music & Writing Workshop--a program for musicians who need to write, creative writers who love music, and lovers of music who want to write music reviews. The day will end with a small performance.

Featuring four fine writer-teachers with a broad range of experience, the workshops will provide students with the skill necessary to write about about their own music or about the music they love.

Four workshops include Music as Muse, Song and Structure, Lyric Writing, and Critical Writing about Music.

Download a PDF of the application here.

Music as Muse

Music as muse, prose as chord, poem as a form of drum? Possible? Definitely. This workshop is designed to increase the level of musical technique in both prose (fiction and nonfiction) and poetry by choreographing the sentence as a unit of rhythm, by exploring the potential meanings in syntax, and by exploiting poetic techniques to create structures near chant and song. We will begin the workshop by examining the sentences of various prose writers and poets who are rhythmically inventive. Participants will then produce short exercises and share new work. In the end, like our new sentences, we should all be dancing.

Lyric Writing

Lyrics are an integral part of most songs-whether the singer croons or screams or drops rhymes. But what makes some lyrics stand out? And what is their relationship to melody? To the music? To the audience? We'll be listening to some successful songs of a variety of genres, in order to get a sense of how songs work. Songwriters are encouraged to bring lyrics-in-process or whole songs they feel aren't coming together, as well as their instruments, in order to work on the art of song lyric writing. If you have music but no songs-even better, as we'll also discuss process and come up with some prompts to write new lyrics for existing or new music.

Writing Music Reviews

Jobs in the music field go far beyond just the members of the band, and writing is an important part of all aspects. Students in this session will learn how to develop a band's profile, how to write album and/or performance reviews, and other ways of having their musical messages heard through means other than song.

For more information:
Email- nightsun@frostburg.edu
Phone- 301-689-4024