Thank you so much for your part in this creative community!The world needs songwriters more now than ever. Songwriters have the capacity to imagine, the patience to notice, the empathy to perceive, and the artfulness to craft all of that into something memorable to hand back to the tribe. Here's wishing you continued courage and joy in that process. May you find here at The Songwriting School treasured collaborators, allies, mentors, and champions to support you in your important work....
Read More

Respected Music Attorney Ben McLane returned to The Songwriting School in October 2018 for Episode 7 of In Writing: Conversations on the Music Business, In this open forum, Ben presented topics from his brand new book Music Business in Ten Easy Lessons, and fielded questions from the audience. Mr. McLane has been involved in deals of more than 100 Top 10 Songs and Albums. If you have a question, he has an answer. Visit his websit: www.benmclane.com Check out Ben's book on Amazon Music...
Read More

As producer, Bob Cutarella has shaped records for some of the most iconic artists in our industry. As publisher or manager, his gift for matching artists and songs led to cuts with still more icons. As a developer of young talent, he workshopped emerging songwriters at The Songwriters Hall of Fame in NY for a decade. Watch this personal interview as Bob reflects on the love and tenacity required to make a life and a living in music.
Read More

The Songwriting School welcomed Guinness World Record Holder for Longest Continuous Freestyle Rap (24+ hours!) and author Romane Armand on Monday, November 13 for a night of rhyme. In his new rhyming dictionary, Book of Rhymes: A Laxative for Creative Constipation, Armand delivers the family-rhyming fruits of 14 years of creative labor, a paperback device for breaking through blocks. Armand explained that his love of rhymes is nearly as old as he is. As a child he struggled in school....
Read More

THE GRAMMYS & THE SONGWRITING SCHOOL THE ROOTS songwriting student and Megadeath lead guitarist Kiko Loureiro (picture above, second from left) took home the Grammy for Metal Album of the Year! His brilliantly talented wife, Maria Ilmoniemi, is a ROOTS and Songmakers alum as well.ROOTS and Music Theory alum Dan Konopka's band OK GO lost the Best Video Grammy to Beyonce. Man, if we had a dime for every Grammy our students lost to Beyonce...The Professional Singer-Songwriter instructor and accomplished indie artist Nikhil...
Read More

Want to be invited when Paul Zollo interviews an iconic songwriter like Songwriters Hall of Fame Inductees Jeff Barry or Chip Taylor, Grammy- & Oscar-Nominated Stephen Bishop, the great Neil Sedaka, or Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame Member Mike Love? We do too! Sign up below to attend in person, tune in live online, or watch the archives. Note: Enter your e-mail address in the space provided and press ENTER or RETURN on  your device. Your address will be...
Read More

How do you know when a song idea is worth pursuing? "It's gotta give me the chills," remarks Songwriters Hall of Fame 2016 Inductee Chip Taylor without a moment of hesitation. He recounts how he has learned to trust what moves him in this inspiring and fascinating conversation and performance with Paul Zollo as part of Songwriters on Songwriting, LIVE - Interviews by Paul Zollo. Chip Taylor is perhaps best known for writing the iconic "Wild Thing" as well as the...
Read More

  (Above: LA's essential art museum LACMA turned its Rain Room exhibit into a memorial for Prince.) Remembering Prince By PAUL ZOLLO The world has changed. Profoundly. He was a miraculous musician of multitudes. As the world knows well, he was a miracle songwriter, a remarkably soulful singer and performer, and an astounding guitarist and virtuoso musician on almost every instrument under the sun. And under the purple rain. First time I saw him live was when he was one...
Read More

The Songwriting School of Los Angeles was honored to host Grammy-Nominated #1 Hit Songwriter Shelly Peiken for a reading of her new book Confessions of a Serial Songwriter on Thursday 3/31/16. She performed seven of her songs, read excerpts from the book to give each song context, and answered questions from a room full of songwriters with candor, humor, and cutting insight born of extensive experience.  Watch the entire night below, in three parts. PART 1 PART 2 PART 3     "Confessions of a...
Read More

The Songwriting School of Los Angeles is honored to have hosted P.F. Sloan as the very first guest of Paul Zollo's Songwriters on Songwriting, LIVE.  In addition to the profound resource these interviews provide for songwriters and fans alike, Zollo began doing them to preserve and honor the legacy of these important figures while we have access to them. We lost access to a great when P.F. Sloan died of cancer last night. He was 70 years old. Below, please...
Read More