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The Musical U team gets together to talk about the importance of having fun on your musical journey, and how it ties in with creativity, satisfaction, and achievement. 

Listen to the episode:

Links and Resources

• Unlocking Your Musicality: Part One
• Unlocking Your Musicality: Part Two
• Sara’s Music Studio
• About Exploring Without Self-Judgement
• About You Being Musical Inside Already
• About Keeping It Simple

Transcript

Christopher S.: Hello, and welcome to the Musicality Podcast. My name is Christopher Sutton, I am the founder and director of Musical U. And this is another in a series of episodes where we’re exploring themes that came up in our 100th Episode celebration, where we had 26 world-leading experts chime in on the question of one thing you can do to unlock your inner musicality.

And so we’re picking up on some of the recurring themes there. And today’s episode should be a fun one. Because our theme is the importance of joy and pleasure in your musical journey.

Which- seems like it should be obvious, right? We all get into music because we love music, right? But I think it’s probably fair to say that all of us struggle along the way. And all of us occasionally lose sight of what we love in music, and why we’re doing it in the first place.

And I loved some of the comments from our guest experts. We had Brent Vaartstra who- his main tip was to focus on what brings you joy. Because whatever your journey looks like, there will be hurdles. There will be sticking points. And he was saying you need to focus on what brings you joy. ‘Cause that will get you through the difficult moments.

Jimmy Rotherham talked about how learning music should be a pleasurable experience- something that’s at the heart of the Kodaly approach he advocates, and I’m sorry to say is not always at the heart of education. I think a lot of us, whether we’re self-taught or learning with a teacher, get into that murky territory of worrying so much about exams or requirements or affecting pieces, that we forget that actually learning music should be fun, as well as playing music.

We had Matthew and Jeremy from Music Student 101 make several great points about how you can improve your musicality. But I think the running theme was- it should be fun. You should be enjoying these activities. And you should be using the activities you enjoy in music to level up your skills.

And Sara Campbell, who is joining us on this episode, was talking about how children very clearly demonstrate joy in their music-making, much more freely and willingly than a lot of us, as adults, do.

So before we dig into this topic, I’ll just ask each of our guests today to introduce themselves. Adam, why don’t you kick us off?

Adam Liette: Everyone, I’m Adam Liette. I’m the Communications Manager here at Musical U. And I am a trumpet player and a guitar player.

Stewart Hilton: Hello. My name is Stewart Hilton. I am the Community Conductor on Musical U. And I also play guitar. And there you go.

Sara Campbell: Hi there. I’m the Resident Pro for piano here at Musical U. And I’m also a voice and piano teacher and a music business coach.

Christopher S.: Wonderful. And I mentioned there your contribution to the 100th Episode round-up where you were talking about the difference between children and adults in learning music.
And for me, it really jumped out that it was partly about joy. It was partly about enjoyment and feeling free. So maybe we could start with you and your thoughts on this topic, the importance of joy and pleasure in learning music.

Sara Campbell: Sure. I love coming back to the initial question of- why did you want to play music. What brought you to learning to play the piano or the guitar. Or what brought you to wanting to sing?

And in almost all cases, the answer is- it brings me joy. It makes me happy. And I like to do it. And it’s easy, as we go throughout our studies, to lose track of that. Because we might get frustrated when we can’t master a certain skill. Or we’re stuck in a piece, and it’s not going well. Or you’re sitting down to improvise, and you’re feeling really stuck. And so you have to come back to, “Okay, why am I doing this, again?”

And for me, as a teacher- if there are any teachers out there listening- oftentimes, we don’t set aside the time to play and practice nearly as much as we should. Because we get a lot of music in the studio. And when we go home, we’re like, “Oh, I’m exhausted.”

So I am making a more conscious effort for myself to, you know, come back to the idea that I do this because it brings me joy. So- setting aside time with my husband so that we can sit down at the piano and improvise an F major blues, and just have fun together.

Christopher S.: That’s awesome. And it reminds me of a very different era of this company. Back in 2011-ish, I was giving this presentation about Easy Ear Training, as it was then. And I kicked off the presentation with this, like, blues-y harmonica solo, just to get the audience’s attention.

And I opened by saying, “Music is incredible. It’s fun, and it’s exciting. And it’s passionate. Learning music is none of those things.”

And I kind of went into how musicality is often the missing piece. And we lose sight of what got us excited in the first place. Because we get mired in scales and etudes and repertoire. And I know, for me, it was a lot about genre, as a teenager and a school music student.

I was learning classical pieces, for the most part, which was great for technique. But I wouldn’t go home and listen to classical music. And looking back- no wonder I wasn’t super excited about studying my repertoire. Because that wasn’t the music that got me excited.

And obviously, there is a place for exercises and things that are not, in themselves, super fun. Although I think there are often ways to make them more fun. But I just think you can’t allow yourself to so completely lose sight of what gets you excited in music. I think you’ve demonstrated that really well, Sara, by talking about playing with your husband. I love that.

So Adam, you are married. I don’t know if your wife plays guitar, as you do- or trumpet, as you do. But I like the idea of the Liette family band.

Adam Liette: Well, I’m getting it started now with my children. I’m fortunate enough. I’m in this wonderfully joyous time as a parent where my kids are getting old enough to start playing. And so I’m teaching them piano, mostly, right now. Their fingers are finally getting big enough for a guitar.

So every night, I come home from work. And it’s like, “Okay. It’s dad and music time.” And they just literally line up at the door. It’s one after the other, these 10-, 15-minute increments where they all come in for their lesson.
So it’s super fun. But when I think about my kids, there is this great things that happened a couple months ago. My 9-year-old comes up to me. And he plays piano. And he’s like, “Dad, we have a talent show at school. And I want to play a drum song.”

I’m like- drums. Why drums? He just wanted to play drums. It sounded fun to him. Well, I don’t have a drum. And it’s Monday afternoon. It’s like, when is this talent show. Friday. Great. Thanks.

And so I go downstairs. I’m like- drum, drum, drum. What can I do for a drum? And I grabbed a big pan, a pot, from the kitchen. And I was like, “Okay, here’s your-” … And he was playing a [inaudible 00:58:42] at the school. He told me what it was. And it was like, “Okay. Here’s your drum.”

And I turned it upside down. And he started just tapping on it. I’m like … “Okay. So what are you gonna play?” He’s like, “Well, I’m just …” And he just started tapping something. And I’m like “Okay, no need to help you.”

And he just played some stuff that was in his ear. I transcribed it, helped him organize it into a song, which he called the “Dino March.” He loves dinosaurs. And he was so happy for the next four days, playing that song over and over again.

And then the day of the talent show came. And I got off work, went to his school where I got to see it. And he definitely got, as Melody Payne put it, “off book.” [inaudible 00:59:21] he played. ‘Cause he didn’t have his music in front of him.

But he was so excited to get in front of his school and just play. And if I wouldn’t have allowed myse– “Jay, you don’t have a drum. We’re not. No. Let’s play your piano.”

But he found such joy in playing that in front of his fellow students. And now next year, he joins band- I just know he’s gonna want to be drummer. So I’m gonna have a drummer in my house.

But you know, as we’re getting to that age, it’s like- well, what instrument gives you pleasure? What speaks to you?

And think, sometimes, especially with kids, we want them to learn a certain instrument. Or we want to learn a certain instrument, for whatever reason. And we all have this inner desire. And you need to just nurture that.
And whatever instrument your children want to play, let them play that instrument. Even if it’s the oboe, and you know it’s gonna be just a tuning nightmare in your house for the next four years.

Christopher S.: (Laughing)

Yeah, it’s interesting. I wasn’t expecting to talk a lot about kids on this episode, but it is such an interesting lens to see things through. You know?

I’ve mentioned on the show a couple of times now- I’m learning drums myself. And so I have a practice pad and drum sticks around. And my daughter, who’s two and half, will wander in. She’ll pick up the drumsticks, and she’ll just kind of wail on it.

And I watch her do that, and it genuinely reminded me that- that’s what I want to do. You know, I’d been doing these rudiments and these drills with the metronome. And then I was like- oh no, wait. I should just put on a punk song and drum. And suddenly it gave me a totally different perspective that got me excited about learning drums again.

[inaudible 01:01:01] You can get very sugar-y and cliché talking about how kids open your eyes and that kind of thing. But I think this is the case where they have that pure interest in joy that I think we as adults are too, kind of, serious to allow ourselves. You know?

I think, for me, the tricky thing about remembering joy and pleasure is that can feel like it’s clashing with being ambitious. You know? If I’m serious about music, if I really want to accomplish this stuff, I can’t be just having fun.
And the two don’t have to be contradictory. You know? It doesn’t have to be either/or. But I think that kind of protestant work ethic- that you should be suffering in order to improve- is often actually holding us back.

[01:01:30] And so, I don’t know, I’ve just had a few moments like that with my daughter, where I’m like- oh yeah. Learning music should be fun.

How about you, Stewart?

Stewart Hilton: Yeah, I was just thinking, when you were talking about that- having that as your beginning point, is probably good to bring you into music. Because I’ve seen- I wrote down a couple of things.

[inaudible 01:02:13] Because I know a couple of guys that I went to high school with. And one- he went as far with bassoon to go to Eastman School of Music, for bassoon. He got his master’s degree in bassoon. He played at one of the large places in New York City, with an orchestra behind him, and all that. Now he doesn’t play any music at all.

And I have another friend- he played trumpet. He went on- he’d gotten into playing trumpet for country, oddly enough. So he was actually on Nashville Now, way back when cable first started. He was in the band on that. He went to Vegas, played there. Now he doesn’t play at all.

And I asked them, “Well, what happened?” And they’re like- well one, he kind of said it. He’s like, “All I did was music, music, music. I never took a break.” He said, “You know, from the time we woke up to the end, it was either working on an instrument or performing. And doing that.”

So it was almost like the joy was taken from it. It became work. You know, versus something he enjoyed- which was something. A guy I played music with- he always kind of talked about- ’cause I would run sound for a country band. And he always said, “Now, we have to make sure we’re having fun. If we’re not having fun, then it’s work. And then why are we doing it? You know. Because if it’s a passion, we should have a smile on our face when we’re doing it.

And that has always kind of stuck with me. It’s like- man, we’ve gotta have fun. And that includes- [inaudible 01:03:47]we’re getting to a point when we’re in a band, playing with other guys that we’ve looked forward to be getting with and doing music with. You know?

Because I hear the other things- you get a band together, and there’s constant drama. The last thing you’re looking forward to at the end of the day is like- oh, yeah. Gotta get together with these guys. And you have all the issues and drama that come with it. It kind of takes out the fun of things.

So yeah. So I try my hardest to find ways of keeping it fun and joyful. And it actually brings to mind when we were on the road last weekend- going back to the long guitar solos. We were playing in Ocean City, Maryland. And the crowd was quite influenced by liquid refreshments.

So anyway, we’re playing. And there’s one guy- during most of the show, he’s bouncing up and down the whole time. And I’m just like- he was cracking me up. So I go into the solo, and in improvisational mode, I started playing a note, inventing it up and down as the guy was bouncing up and down. And I just- it cracked me up. And I see a couple other guys [inaudible 01:05:07] dancing around.

And I’m like- that’s what keeps it fun. You know, just finding the little ways to do that. It’s like- the other band I have, we- outside. You know, there are a lot of bands that go, and it’s all of us that perform, so we have to be professional- can’t do this. Can’t do that. You know?

But you’re in an audience. So you want to make these connections. So there’s a song out right now called “Tennessee Whiskey.” And we were doing it. And it’s kind of a slow song. And we, instead of doing the guitar solo in the middle, we do a harmonica solo.

So we’re playing this at a campground, and this little girl came walking up to the front of our singer who was doing the harmonica solo. And she just kind of looked and put her hands up. And without even a second [bite 01:05:45], put the harmonica down and picked her up on his shoes. And he slow danced with her while we were playing the song.

And I was like- that’s what it’s about. You know, that keeps it fun. And those are good memories.

Christopher S.: Nice. Well, I- you know, we do our team call every Monday. And you often have stories from gigs on the road. And it’s been interesting because I think you’ve definitely experienced both sides of this. You know- being in the band where everything’s fun and joyful, and being in the band where it’s a drag.

And you know, we can’t expect every musical project to be a joy from start to finish. But I think your stories always remind me that, if it’s not at least fun most of the time, you’re probably not going to stick with it. And that’s the reality. And you shouldn’t stick with it, I think.

So I hope this conversation, for anyone listening, has reassured you somewhat that it’s okay to enjoy learning music. I’m sure some people are listening to this being like, “Duh, I enjoy it all time.” But I know that there are also a lot of people listening who are like, “You know, it has been feeling like a bit of drag lately.” Or “maybe I can make some changes that would remind me why I got into this.”

And I’d like to think that is a big part of the spirit of Musical U and the Musicality Podcast- is trying to remind us that music should be about joyful, free creativity and expression, not just ticking the boxes, passing the exams, playing each note perfectly.

That, to me, is not the spirit of music. And the spirit of music is about joy and pleasure. So I hope, for anyone listening, hearing the experts on our Episode 100 round-up and hearing us, today, talk about how joy does not have to be in contradiction to achievement- these were some of the world’s most expert music educators, people that you can look up to, who were talking about the importance of joy and pleasure as their one tip.

So unless you are looking to be a world-touring concert pianist and train from the age of 8 through 30 to achieve technical perfection, I think it’s fair and safe to assume you can allow yourself some joy and pleasure. And as Brent Vaarstra pointed out, that may actually be the key to succeeding long-term and achieving what you want to in music.

So as was to be expected, this conversation was, itself, joyful and a pleasure. Thank you to Adam, Sara, and Stewart for joining us on this one. And stay tuned for more in this series, where we’re picking up on the common themes from our Episode 100 celebration.

Hey, we’re not quite done in fact. Anastasia from our team couldn’t join us for the group session but she did want to share something on this topic, so here is Anastasia.

Anastasia: Hi, my name is Anastasia Voitinskaia, and I’m the assistant content editor here at “Musical You.” In my own musical life, I play the piano, bass, guitar, synthesizer, and I’m an occasional vocalist. I currently play in a band where I play the bass and the synth, and I have a solo experimental electronic music project.

So when it comes to the importance of joy and pleasure in your musical life, honestly that importance cannot be overstated because it’s not as if we really get into music thinking we’re going to make the big bucks. We get into it because we’re fascinated by it, because we want to create music just like the stuff we hear and love.

So the first thing I think to remember is that these kind of concrete measures of success do not always correlate to how much fun you’re having in your musical life, how much you’re enjoying what you’re doing. It’s great to pass your music exams with flying colors. It’s great to get awards for recitals or for music that you’ve written, but that really doesn’t mean that you’re enjoying yourself.

So questions that you can ask yourself to see if you’re kind of on the right track with happiness in music is, if you’re taking lessons, do I like the way that I’m being taught or the way that I’m learning? Do I like the music that I’m playing or the music that I’m writing? Am I writing something that feels true to myself or to someone else? How often do I play just for fun rather than sitting down and practicing? Have I ever passed up trying something that’s musically interesting to me because someone else deemed it a waste of time and so I listened to them and said, “Okay, maybe it is a waste of time,” and then didn’t go for it?

So being honest and checking in with yourself about, not just your musical progress but your musical wellbeing and happiness, is massively, massively important. I’ve definitely been guilty of placing more emphasis on this arbitrary measure of success rather than my own happiness in music, and in my experience this failure to self-evaluate your happiness leads to kind of this general disillusionment with music that kind of hangs over you like a fog. So again, the way to avoid this is just be honest with yourself.

For example, I was in a band for about a year and a half that will remain unnamed. Then the last three months really it was like pulling teeth. I wasn’t having a good time anymore, but my logic was okay, I’ve been doing this for about a year and three months; I guess I will just keep doing it. But I was so unhappy. I think my bandmates could see that I was unhappy, and it was literally just time that would be better spent doing something else. So, after a particularly long and long-distance tour, I kind of sat down with myself and was like, “Okay, I don’t think I want to be doing this anymore. Musically, this does not align with my interests any longer. Again, this is time that would better be spent exploring something else.” So I quit, and that’s one of the best things that I ever did in my musical life. I was just honest with myself, and I said, “This doesn’t work for me anymore. I need to find something else that will bring me the happiness that this band used to bring me.”

If, for example, you are taking lessons, then a great thing to do is really sit down with your teacher and communicate with them to sort out how lessons can be better tailored to your musical inclinations if you’re not happy with the way it’s going. Traditional lessons may not leave much breathing room for what you want to play and how you want to learn, in which case find a new teacher. Find something that works for you. If you’re not enjoying it, it’s not worth giving a teacher the money.

In general, don’t get so hung up on your musical goals also that you forget to enjoy the ride because something I for sure found is that I think kind of the joy of music lies not so much in achieving these concrete milestones, which feels great don’t get me wrong, but the greater joys are kind of in the little revelations and the steady progress that you experience on a day-to-day basis.

The post About the Importance of Joy and Pleasure appeared first on Musical U.

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The Songwriting Charity founder Nathan Timothy wants to inspire the next generation to immerse themselves in the world of songwriting. Through his charity, he delivers songwriting workshops to young people across the UK, helping them to create an original song within the span of one day, with a specific message in mind – the most popular being an anti-bullying musical workshop called Bully Beat.

Musical U sat down with Nathan to learn about the beginnings of his teaching career, the events that inspired him to create his famous Bully Beat songwriting workshop and later, the Songwriting Charity, and how he encourages young people to explore their musicality in his workshops.

And Nathan isn’t just an educator – on top of his philanthropic work through his workshops, Nathan is a prolific musician in his own right with over 20 years of songwriting experience and six studio albums under his belt, and was kind enough to also share his own musical inspirations and experiences with us.

I guess my first introduction to music was TV and movies – really noticing that the music moved me in some way. That was my first introduction – films like Star Wars and Superman in the 70’s – and I vividly remember staying up late one night and catching a Hall and Oates concert on TV, thinking, “I want to do that! Now how do I do that?”

I grew up listening to a range of music from the likes of The Beatles, The Kinks, The Beach Boys, Buddy Holly, Bee Gees, Chic, Chaka Khan, and Herbie Hancock, but it was electronic music and Howard Jones in the early 80’s that really inspired me to want to play piano and synthesiser and write songs.

I also became obsessed with all the production work that went into making a record around this time. I love the sound of a great record and really appreciate how much time goes into sculpting the sound. Stephen W. Tayler is my favourite mix engineer – he’s mixed all my favourite records. I would spend hours picking apart my favourite songs and try and figure out their DNA! I studied records made by Quincy Jones, Rupert Hine (Rupert is now a patron of the Songwriting Charity, by the way!), and Trevor Horn. I’m still studying and trying to figure out the music.

I started writing songs in a little black book at the age of nine. I’d create melodies in my head and imagine what my band would sound like. But I’d never share those ideas with anyone. It was more like therapy or diary writing to me I guess. I got my first piano at the age of 13 after spending years saving for one, and then spent hours and hours teaching myself to play the songs that were whizzing around in my head.

I was in an electronic band called Purple Dreams as soon as I built up enough confidence to sing in public from the age of about 16, and we would regularly perform two hours of original music in bars and pubs for £40. Looking back, we were crazy and fearless!

I’m really fond of all the songs on my Living From A Suitcase album – it was a really difficult album to record because I was travelling so much and I started to develop a vocal problem which later got operated on, but I have great memories of working on that album and mixing it with Robbie Bronnimann.

If I had to choose one song from that album it would be “You Are Who You Are” – written for my son Christian just after he was born:

Christian is 13 now and a terrific piano player, guitarist and singer! My youngest, Harrison, is nine and has been playing the drums for about a year. He’s got a great singing voice too. It’s loud in our house – there’s always someone singing or making a musical noise but thankfully we have great neighbours. I’ve written Harrison a song too, which will appear on my next album. Being a dad is the best job in the world.

For me, teaching was always about inspiring the children. It still is. I’ll do anything to engage with them and get the best out of every individual. It’s so important to respect and listen to children you’re working with and not be afraid to change your lesson plan if something isn’t working, even if you’ve spent hours on it. We’re all different and all require a slightly different approach to get the best results.

The most memorable teaching experiences were writing and directing the school musicals, organising sports days, and taking the children on school trips and journeys. These experiences are where lasting memories are made and where life-changing moments happen.

I started teaching songwriting when I was on teaching practice back in 1994. I seem to remember friendship songs were really popular with my 10/11-year-olds back then, and I even had a lunchtime songwriting club which was oversubscribed. There was a piano in my classroom which I would use at every opportunity!

Bully Beat was born out of my desire to help create an understanding, a simple definition of what bullying is so that children and young people can accurately report it. Bullying is when someone makes a choice to say or do something unkind to you on a regular basis. It’s totally unacceptable and should always be reported and dealt with.

I wanted to to do something that built on my teaching ability where I could also share and indulge my own passion for songwriting and music tech. I recognised there was a great value to getting children to write their own songs – and it becomes very powerful in the wider community when those songs have a powerful message.

I love the process of songwriting and putting together a record. I love how it makes me feel to create something brand new. That’s what I’m trying to leave the children with at the end of the day. I want them telling their parents what they’ve done in school. I want them to feel really proud of their songwriting achievement.

I left teaching in December 2006. In January 2007, I started phoning up schools asking if I could come and deliver my Bully Beat workshop, not really knowing if it would work, to be honest! Thankfully, it did, and I think to date I must have delivered well over 3,000 Bully Beat days. It’s still my most popular programme by far.

The Songwriting Charity was established in 2011 by myself, John Quinn, and Ben O’Sullivan, for the purpose of tackling other issues through the songwriting process in addition to Bully Beat. Things like leading a healthy lifestyle and the importance of sport with our Sports Tracks programme, healthy eating through our Soul Food workshops, or world peace through our Master Peace programme. We also have a “catch-all” programme called the Encore Curriculum, where the teachers or school provide the theme.

The charity has three trustees who are responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the charity and have a broad range of skills between them. One is a Head Teacher, one is a front-of-house sound engineer, and the third is an expert in digital media.

I’m based in Kent. I have a small project studio at home and do a lot of my post-production work there. I design all the programmes, and am responsible for the delivery aspect. I work with a small team of sessional musicians and video editors delivering workshops.

We have another base in Cambridge headed up by John Quinn, who in addition to looking after our social media works closely with me on fundraising, reporting, and looking after our partners. We also have a presence in and around the Bristol area and have completed some fabulous work there thanks to Ben O’Sullivan and his team.

The first five minutes are crucial for me. It’s about creating an environment where the children feel comfortable enough to want to write a song or a piece of music with me in the first place.

After I’ve achieved that, I encourage the children to improvise messages and slogans related to the theme of the day until they have something that they’re proud to sing or rap. Something they have ownership of.

Following this, my job is to record and frame those ideas using the latest music technology. We also film the process if we can, so that the school and the young people have a lasting memory of the day. I love that the song has a life of its own long after the workshop is over.

Winning BASCA’s Gold Badge the same day Sir Ray Davies from the Kinks got one was pretty cool. That will take some beating. Being invited to his studio to hang out and share ideas was brilliant and he’s recently become a Patron of the Charity too, which I’m proud of.

Every workshop creates so many magic moments that it’s hard to remember them all. We always have a great time, but the Sports Tracks workshops we delivered in the run-up to the Olympics in London 2012 were really exciting.

I’m also very proud of the workshops I set up in my younger sister Kate’s memory in that year too, named Project K. It was truly beautiful. 10 schools, 10 songs and videos all about world peace, celebrated at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff near to where my sister lived. To create something positive out of a really bad situation was the aim and we achieved that.

The Songwriting Charity is all about inspiring the next generation of songwriters. We aim to teach the young people we work with how to get started so that they can do it again and again, long after we’ve left the room. We provide them with a basic method that will hopefully mean they continue writing and creating music. Maybe some will become even more inquisitive and want to pick up an instrument and learn how to play because of us. We want to open that door.

“One Song, One Day” puts a certain pressure on the children (and us!) to get something finished by the end of the day – and that’s a good thing. If we didn’t have that pressure we may just spend all day fiddling around with a bass drum sound! The time restraint means we have to make quick decisions on what to include in the song and what to leave out.

It’s quite a tricky skill but I aim to teach the children to really focus on the best ideas and how they work together.

The fact that the songs are all written from scratch in one day and appear on Soundcloud and iTunes by 5pm is really exciting for all of us. We want it to be the best it can be. We want the children to feel proud of their work so that they can show it off at home. It’s all about them – the children write the words, melody and have a say in all aspects of music production too.

The Songwriting Charity will continue doing what it does best. The “One Song, One Day” workshop format works and I’m not going to change that. I’ve got nothing to prove on that front. The teachers, young people, and parents love it. I get so many positive emails and thank-you letters every week.

I’d like to have more fantastic people delivering for me, and in time that will happen – it’s just a matter of funding.

I’d like to have the resources to train up an be able to employ an army of songwriters to go into schools. We’ve worked with some fabulous funders over the years who really believe in the work, so we just need to find a few more of those to get on board. It really helps us when businesses and individuals want to support us on a regular basis. We’ve just held a really successful celebrity fundraising quiz night so we’ll be doing a few more of those this year.

As for my own music career, I’m writing all the time – so far this year I’ve written 65 songs in addition to all the Songwriting Charity songs, and I’m in the process of recording and mixing those songs for a new album project. I love it. Because we’re all connected now via the internet, technology is enabling me to work with all my favourite musicians remotely. It’s brilliant. I love technology and electronic music but nothing beats having real people playing my songs! It’s a real thrill.

More recently, I’ve been writing songs with specific artists in mind so I’m looking forward to pitching those soon. There are lots of other very exciting things in the pipeline but I’m afraid if I mention them they won’t happen!

Venture Into Songwriting

Nathan’s approach to spreading the joy of writing music is nothing short of incredible. By fostering an environment that encourages improvisation, self-expression, and creating music with a message behind it, he introduces young people to the joys of the creative process and the pride of finishing a song – all within one day!

Perhaps this interview has inspired you to take a songwriting workshop of your own, or if you’re a newcomer to writing music, to try it out. For an easy, stress-free introduction, try out a songwriting challenge. With some creative constraints – for example, writing a song based around a theme – and a time limit, you’ll be amazed at what you can come up with a little creative push.

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