Towards a Songwriting Practice: Building and Nurturing Your Creative Toolkit

Join Madison-based musician Maddie Batzli for a 6-session songwriting course! The course will be hosted half in-person at Muso Madison, half online via Zoom. See dates below for details.

The course will include:

• Hands-on melody and lyric writing exercises

• Practical tools for building strong songwriting habits

• Sharing our work-in-progress songs in small groups (via recordings and/or in person)

• Breaking down the elements of a song

• Optional attendance at Muso Madison’s open mic.

The course is intended for a range of experience levels, from those who haven’t written a song before to those who have written multiple songs but may be struggling with writing consistently. Some prior experience writing poetry, journaling, AND/OR some musical background is useful for getting the most out of this class. Maddie has a pop/folk/singer-songwriter style and teaches from that background, but all writing styles are welcome. Content will focus on vocal melodies, lyrics, chord progressions, cultivating personal taste, and learning/experimenting by ear. We will not be learning about how to write sheet music or tab, how to play an instrument, in-depth music theory, or how to write instrumental-only music. 

Course sessions:*

• Feb 20 - In person at Muso - 6:30-7:45pm

• Feb 27 - Virtual via Zoom- 6:30-7:45pm

• March 6 - In person at Muso - 6:30-7:45pm

• March 13 - Virtual via Zoom - 6:30-7:45pm 

• March 20 - Virtual via Zoom - 6:30-7:45pm

• March 27 - Optional Open Mic at Muso (attend and observe and/or perform)

• April 3 - In person at Muso - 6:30-7:45pm

*Participants must sign up in advance, and are committing to attend all sessions (barring unforeseen circumstances). Because this course material builds on itself and intends to support habit formation over time, participants may not sign up for just one course session.

Details:

• Muso Madison address for in-person classes: 2040 Winnebago St, Madison, WI 53704

• This course is intended for adult learners—there will be no grades or attendance taken. However, there will be assignments to write outside of class, as well as built-in accountability structures intended to support course participants’ habit-building. I would love for everyone to leave the course having finished at least one to three songs!

• If you’d like to participate but cost is a barrier, I am able to offer the course at a sliding scale pay-what-you-can rate between $100-150. Please reach out to Maddie at line.sounds.contact [at] gmail.com about this.

• Cancelation policy: For cancelations, you will receive a prorated refund if you decide you no longer want to take the course after the first session. If you cancel on February 27 or later, I am not able to offer a refund.

• Please feel free to reach out with any questions! Email line.sounds.contact [at] gmail.com.

Note: once you click “register” and finish entering registration info, look for the black shopping cart icon. On desktop, it’s in the upper right corner of the page. On mobile, it’s at the bottom of the page. Click the shopping cart to complete payment and registration.

If you would prefer to pay with Venmo, please register by emailing line.sounds.contact [at] gmail.com with your interest, and paying via venmo @maddie-batzli