Greetings, musical friends.

I just got this note from Andrea Stolpe, a MN friend who studied songwriting at Berklee with another MN great, Pat Pattison. I attended Andrea's day-long workshop earlier this year and enjoyed it immensely. Andrea was a staff writer in Nashville for eight years after leaving Berklee; she is now living in LA and seeking opportunities in writing scores/songs for the film & TV industries.

As usual, I tell you whether one of my epistles is FYI only or recommend. This one is a definite recommendation! Andrea teaches solid, valuable techniques; I left the last workshop with two great song ideas and the chorus for a new tune.

I'm going to pass this on to my friends at NSAI, MAS and post it on the JPF board. Please help me pass the word.

I just sent Andrea my reservation for the class. I look forward to seeing you there!

Here's Andrea's note to me:


Hello Wayne,
On Saturday, May 6, I'll be holding another workshop in Minneapolis. After our lyric writing workshop about 'Toggling' on March 18th, I feel like there might be some interest in a workshop dealing with melody. There are some simple tricks of the trade I'd like to share with you for setting your lyrics to music. We'll talk about:

1. Developing a melodic motif
2. Reflecting the emotion of the lyric with the melody
3. Brainstorming ideas for melody, speeding up and simplifying the process

If you are interested in attending, please email me so I can get a head-count. I was thinking of a shorter workshop, from 10AM-1PM, so you don't have to give up your whole Saturday. If you'd like to stay for a song-critique afterwards, we can arrange that until 3pm according to interest. The material we'll discuss is the same material I teach in Berklee College of Music's Melody course. It's fantastic stuff and I think you'll be glad you came!
Location: To be announced
Cost: $30

I'd also like to follow up with any questions you might have about 'toggling' and our last workshop. Bring any lyrics you've started so we can review the techniques.

Sincerely,
Andrea Stolpe
universalandrea@gmail.com

Twin Cities Chapter
Coordinator