Each 90-minute songwriting class is LIVE and led by Gary every Saturday for 8 weeks. Classwork will involve participating in writing exercises (both lyrical and melodic), sharing new creations, talking about your ideas and experiences, giving feedback to one another, and sharing your tastes and personality in class alongside your peers. Class homework will involve between 2 and 3 hours of work outside of class each week working on songs, posting those songs on the private and exclusive Compose Yourself forum, and giving warm feedback to your peers’ posts on the forum. Some of these in-class assignments and homework assignments will involve teaming up with your classmates, allowing you the chance to be inspired by one another’s musical ideas, and strengthening your collaboration skills. At the end of the course, each workshop member will select and work on a final song to be featured on our class album!

Do I qualify for this?

Yes! Any and all songwriting skill levels are welcome. All that is required is a thirst to work on your songs and a willingness to be led! If you’re not comfortable on an instrument, your voice is enough, even if you don’t consider yourself to be a great singer. Your experience listening to and appreciating music will serve you as you enter into this process of finding your own songwriting voice. I wouldn’t say this with such confidence if I hadn’t seen so many people with so little experience make the most extraordinary, moving songs. Just make sure to bring your voice, something to write with, and a voice recorder (like a smart phone) to class!

How is this different than Friday Afternoon Song Club?

While FASC is our most popular and most affordable offering at Golden Lotus Studio, Compose Yourself offers a niche experience for individuals who want to take their songwriting more seriously, or who already do! The classes are more structured and involve multiple exercises for multiple creations. Sometimes they’re fast-paced and sometimes they allow even more time than their FASC counterparts. One of the key differences, and arguably one of the more joyful differences, is that due to the limited number of seats in each workshop, we’ll be able to get to know each other every week live on the Zoom call and on our own private forum page. There’s less anonymity and more intimacy which inevitably leads to richer community and more growth.

This sounds a bit intimidating!

Don’t worry! The good news is that you’re not alone; other classmates will be participating alongside you and getting out of their comfort zones too. I promise that by the end of the 8 weeks, you will be SHOCKED by how comfortable you feel with the others in the class and how any initial feelings of intimidation have reduced if not faded completely. 

I can’t make all of those class times. Can I still take the course?

If you’re just going to miss a couple of the times, no problem. All of the classes are recorded so you can just watch the recording and be caught up quickly. If the regular schedule of the class (Saturdays at 11am EST) doesn’t work for you, send me an email at himself@garygrundei.com and tell me what your ideal class time would be. I will be running another section of the course later in the year and I would love to put you on a waiting list to be the first to know when it’s available.