Build a strong foundation for a lifetime in your art and craft and the confidence and skills to create songs that matter.

• Learn innovative creative process principles and exercises in each class that, as a recent student wrote to a friend, "make it nearly impossible to go home and NOT write."

• Gain the ability to generate fresh and interesting ideas every single time you sit down at the page--exactly when you fear you have nothing to say.

• Understand how to write powerful lyrics, from the blank page in your notebook to your polished final draft.

• Tune your writer's ear to create compelling rhythm and rhyme in your lines.

• Compose melodies that bring your own words to life.

• Discover song structure as a powerful tool to communicate your good ideas.

• Master basic concepts of music theory and the body language of a song.

• Cultivate your unique voice as a writer.

• Craft meaningful work that feels like you.

• Identify, nurture, and refine the kind of artist or songwriter you hope to become.

• Create a healthy and productive relationship between the artist in you (the part of your mind that generates ideas) and the critic in you (the part the judges them).

• Develop the confidence and enjoyment for a lifetime of songwriting.

• Enjoy the individual attention and valuable peer relationships that a small, hands-on class affords.

THAT ALL SOUNDS COOL, BUT WHY CALL IT "THE ROOTS"?

In songs, the notes your chords are built upon are called The Roots. Pop culture may have taught you to think of "your roots" as your ancestry, your background, your unique personal history. You may make decisions in your life because of or, at times, in reaction to those roots. And from time to time you may feel the need to "pull up your roots" and enact change in your life. One look at the tree outside your window will remind you that to blossom, the roots must be planted and tended in fertile ground.

We believe that to grow into the songwriter you hope to become, you must first put down strong, healthy roots. This class is dedicated to that powerful process.

This class is especially for me if I...

• can’t seem to finish (or start) songs.
• have never written a song before but have always wanted to.
• am a more experienced writer but need the discipline, inspiration, or encouragement to improve.
• have a drawer full of napkins with song lyrics or songs starts (or an iPhone full of melodies and riffs...) and need help turning them into songs.
• have written songs but can’t seem to write ones I believe in. need help composing melody or working with song structure.
• am sick and tired of playing and singing cover songs
• am in a rut and need a fresh start.
• am not a musician but am looking for a way to unlock my creativity.
• have something to say (and I want it to sound good).
• would like to join a supportive community of peers with different styles and backgrounds who will push and encourage me to do my best work and with whom I can network for opportunities and support.

Graduates of this program range from a Grammy- and Oscar-nominated songwriter, a Billboard charting artist, a multi-platinum artist, signed artists, emerging artists, full-time touring acts, session singers, television and film writers...all the way to first-time writers, and all the points in between.  Everyone takes the principles to their depth, in their genre.  This mix of experience levels makes for a dynamic and invested room of creative people.

When you complete this course of study you will have formulated a personal, creative, and (if appropriate for you) professional plan of action for a fruitful life writing compelling songs.

• Learn by doing: in and out of class, create and finish new work.

• Delve deeper into how to write both for your own voice and for the voices of others.

• Experience the exhilaration and the professional considerations of co-writing.

• Develop the significant skills of insightfully critiquing other songs. This ability not only creates mutual respect in a room of songwriters, it cultivates an awareness of craft and artistry that will lead to potent improvements in your own work.

• Emerge with a clear sense of your creative and professional mission for what comes next in your growth

• Learn by doing: in and out of class, create and finish new work.

• Delve deeper into how to write both for your own voice and for the voices of others.

• Experience the exhilaration and the professional considerations of co-writing.

• Develop the significant skills of insightfully critiquing other songs. This ability not only creates mutual respect in a room of songwriters, it cultivates an awareness of craft and artistry that will lead to potent improvements in your own work.

• Emerge with a clear sense of your creative and professional mission for what comes next in your growth as songwriter and person.

The Songwriting School of Los Angeles recognizes and seeks to honor your unique needs. Whenever you are ready for the next step, we're ready to help you take it.