Toronto Songwriting School

Music and Mental Health
2020-11-23 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Toronto) | Facebook Live
Toronto Songwriting School presents Music & Mental Health through our Business of Music Series on Monday, November 23, 2020 at 7pm ET.
The topic of mental health for songwriters is so important to us that we’ve invited Sarah Hagerman of Unison Benevolent Fund to join our next Business of Music Series event on Monday, November 23, 2020 at 7pm ET. For those not familiar with Unison Benevolent Fund, they are an assistance program created and administered for the Canadian music community, by the Canadian music community – designed to provide discreet relief to music industry professionals in times of crisis. They offer two distinct types of support – financial assistance and counselling and health solutions. On Monday evening, Murray and Sarah will chat about how these support systems work, how songwriters can access them in times of need, and how we can all support the important work Unison is doing.

How To Book Better Shows
2020-10-19 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Toronto) | Live on Facebook & YouTube
Toronto Songwriting School presents How to Book Better Shows through our Business of Music Series on Monday, September October 19, 2020 at 7pm ET.
There’s nothing like the thrill of a live performance. Concert promoter Jesse Lundy will discuss how to get started as a live performer and how to grow your tour circuit. He’ll tackle questions like:

Where to start? Are open mics a good idea?
How to get booked at a club you’ve never played before?
What is important to promoters when booking a new act?
Are music conferences worth the money?

Jesse Lundy has been working as a concert promoter and publicist in Philadelphia area since 1995 (Electric Factory Concerts 95-97; and New Park Entertainment/Jack Utsick Presents 97-01). In 2002, he joined Point Entertainment as Talent Buyer and Publicist at award-winning listening room The Point in Bryn Mawr, PA. Since The Point closed in June of 2005, Point Entertainment has been producing shows at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, PA, concerts series and special events at numerous venues including The Locks at Sona, their new 110-seat collaboration with the team who brought the Tin Angel to Philly. From 2008-2017, Point Entertainment programmed the Philadelphia Folk Festival. He has managed Michael Braunfeld, The Wallace Brothers Band, The Brakes, and John Francis, and he taught Concert Industry at Drexel University from 2005-2018. Lundy is happily married.

Lyric Writing Workshop
2020-10-17 13:00 - 15:00 (America/Toronto) | ON
OCTOBER 2020 – Songs Your Can See, Hear, Taste, Smell, and Touch
Using your five sense to write songs that resonate.
Are you a lyricist looking to improve your craft? In this class, we work on numerous poetic and literary techniques, including rhyme, alliteration and assonance, and study the lyrics of songwriters ranging from Cole Porter to Eminem.
If you are new to songwriting, you will learn how to turn your thoughts and feelings into powerful song lyrics.
Those with more experience will learn new techniques and processes to enhance their songwriting and add new dimensions to your music.
This class meets monthly. Join at any time. No music background or instruments are required for this class.
Have lyrics already written that you’d like feedback on? We invite you to bring one song to share with the class for group feedback.

How SOCAN Gets You Paid
2020-09-21 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Toronto) | Live on Facebook & YouTube
Toronto Songwriting School presents How SOCAN Gets You Paid through our Business of Music Series on Monday, September 21, 2020 at 7pm ET.

What is SOCAN?
SOCAN (the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) is Canada’s largest rights management organization. Their membership includes over 150,000 songwriters, composers, music publishers and visual artists, and over 100,000 organizations across Canada are licensed to play music.
SOCAN serves and champions music creators, music publishers, and visual artists. They advocate for them and work to defend and protect their rights, so that these artists can be compensated for their hard work. Through direct affiliations and reciprocal agreements, they also license the performance and reproduction of musical works and collect and distribute royalties in Canada and throughout the globe.
Our Special Guest: Racquel Villagante
As the A&R Representative from SOCAN Vancouver now based in SOCAN Toronto, Racquel Villagante has spent the last 2.5 years recruiting emerging Canadian talent to SOCAN, connecting creatives, hosting songwriting camps, and helping music creators at all stages in their careers achieve success in this ever-changing, ever-challenging music industry. Previous to working at SOCAN, Racquel worked as an artist manager, as a TA and instructor at Nimbus School of Recording & Media, and as a label manager for Nimbus’ in-house record label, Business Class Records, where she was responsible for signing artists & bands, project managing commercial releases, and building mutually beneficial partnerships with media & sponsors. Racquel had also been a frequent reviewer & contributor to the go-to online blog for talent discovery in Vancouver’s music scene, HipHopVancouver (HHV). In February 2020, Racquel co-founded and co-hosted “Womxn Rising”, a 2-day conference supporting the career development of up-and-coming female-identified, trans, non-binary, and 2-spirit artists and providing touchpoints for mentorship from female-identified, BIPOC industry professionals. Racquel’s true passions are in supporting emerging talent from underrepresented BIPOC communities, and building meaningful bridges between artists and between artists and industry.

Songwriting Masterclass Series
2020-07-12 19:00 - 2020-08-23 20:30 UTC | Facebook Live
This summer, Toronto Songwriting School invites some of the best songwriters in North America to present a Songwriting Masterclass at 7pm EDT every other week on Facebook Live.
Our Songwriting Masterclass lineup includes Colleen Dauncey, Erin McKeown, Dan Bern, and Julian Taylor. Each will lead their own masterclass, and then we’ll open the comments section for a live Q&A. For those who may not know all of these names, let’s do a quick introduction.
July 12 – Colleen Dauncey
Colleen Dauncey (full bio) is a Canadian musical theatre powerhouse who is best known for her musicals Going Under, Bremen Rock City, Rumspringa Break!, and Prom Queen: The Musical (recipient of the 2016 Stage West Pechet Family Musical Award). But don’t put her in a box. In addition to her musical theatre work, her songs have been featured in movies, television, and most recently, the 2020 web series Avocado Toast. RSVP to her July 12th Masterclass.
July 26 – Erin McKeown
Erin McKeown (full bio) is a musician, writer, and producer known internationally for her prolific disregard of stylistic boundaries. Over the last 20 years, she has performed around the world, released 10 full length albums, and written for film, television, and theater, all the while refining her distinctive and challenging mix of American musical forms. Her first musical, Miss You Like Hell, written with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes, opened Off-Broadway at The Public Theater in 2018. It was nominated for 5 Drama Desk Awards, including Best Lyrics, Best Music and Best Orchestrations, and The Wall Street Journal named it Best Musical of 2018. RSVP to her July 26th Masterclass.
August 9 – Dan Bern
Dan Bern (full bio) may be best-known for his songwriting masterpieces like “Jerusalem,” “Marilyn,” “Tiger Woods” and “God Said No,” but he has also released 25 albums and EPs, and played thousands of shows across North America and Europe. He is a captivating live performer with a loyal, multi-generational following. His songs have appeared in numerous films and TV shows including films Walk Hard — The Dewey Cox Story and Get Him to the Greek, and the Amazon Prime kids program, The Stinky and Dirty Show. RSVP to his August 9th Masterclass.
August 23 – Julian Taylor
Julian Taylor (full bio) doesn’t fit in a box. A Toronto music scene staple and a musical chameleon, he is used to shaking it up over the course of 10 albums in the last two decades. Of West Indian and Mohawk descent, Taylor first made his name as frontman of Staggered Crossing, a Canadian rock radio staple in the early 2000s. Despite being released in a pandemic, his latest solo album The Ridge has been featured in American Songwriter and is already receiving rave reviews worldwide. RSVP to his August 23rd Masterclass.
With tours cancelled and businesses shuttered, we know these are difficult times personally and financially for many people. It’s a difficult time for us. It’s a difficult time for our Masterclass instructors. And it’s a difficult time for many of you. Because of this, we’ve decided to make the Masterclass a Pay-What-You-Can event. Throughout each class, there will be information on how to donate to that week’s instructor. You can also donate by clicking the donate button and selecting the Masterclass presenter you would like to support. Thanks to the generosity of the SOCAN Foundation, we’re able to pay each instructor a stipend for their time, but your donations will make it closer to what they actually deserve for sharing their wisdom and expertise.

We’re excited to be able to bring this Songwriting Masterclass Series to you. Each has their own unique style of songwriting, and there’s a lot we can learn from them so be sure to tune in each week to add their insights to your songwriting toolbox.

Songwriting Masterclass Series Sponsor
Presented with support from SOCAN Foundation.
