Gretchen Peters to share her songwriting secrets

Gretchen Peters: “Songwriting is storytelling, and telling your story in a compelling way is all about detail.” Pic: Gina Binkley

The Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame inductee is coming to Scotland’s capital next month to run a two-day songwriting workshop

Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall will host a two-day songwriting workshop with Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame inductee, Gretchen Peters. One of America’s leading songwriters, Peters plans to share the secrets to her proven creative approach through informal classes, group song circles and one-on-one sessions where she will personally critique songs and help sharpen skills.

Classes will cover a number of different songwriting topics, including ‘writing authentically’ – how to build the back story for your characters – using detail and imagery, how to keep your sense of creative play alive and when to ‘invite the editor’ into the writing room, finding the melody and how to arrange a song. Peters will be joined by long-term collaborator Barry Walsh in the song arranging sessions.

“One of the oldest phrases in any language must be ‘tell me a story’. Songwriting is storytelling, and telling your story in a compelling way is all about detail,” explains Gretchen Peters. “It’s about what you say, and what you don’t say. It’s about the truth, not necessarily the facts. In this workshop, we’ll explore the process of songwriting — the art and the craft, and the delicate balance between the two.”

Peters continues: “We’ll learn how to keep a sense of creative play and when (and how) to welcome the inner critic into the room. We’ll find ways to work through writer’s block. We’ll learn that only through the specific do you achieve the universal — and that’s the holy grail in songwriting and all writing. We write to find out who we are, and in the process we find out we are not alone.”

Gretchen Peter’s songwriting workshop will take place at The Queen’s Hall, Clerk St, Edinburgh on 28-29 July 2016 and tickets are priced at £320. For more information and to book, call 0131 668 2019 or visit the venue’s website: thequeenshall.net

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