Lyric Workshop

Two Single Day Workshops:
Saturday 24 & Sunday 25 September

Creative Writing Workshops for Aspiring Song & Lyric Writers
With Ben Watt

Some of the most memorable songs function as stories and it is no coincidence that many writers and poets have started their career as lyricists. In this brand-new workshop, Ben Watt looks at the tools needed to write a new lyric, examining story-telling, authenticity, phrasing and musical context, encouraging the participants to draw sharply from their own experience and understand their listener. "A lyric needs a vivid and truthful immediacy; this is as true of folk ballads as it is of disco and dance anthems", he says.

The aim is to have a set of lyrics written before the end of the day for each participant.

Ben Watt is perhaps best known as the lyric and music writing partner of Tracey Thorn in the alt-pop duo Everything But The Girl. He has also written an acclaimed memoir, Patient, detailing his experience of surviving a life-threatening illness in the mid-nineties (A Sunday Times Book of the Year and Finalist for the Esquire-Waterstones Best Non-Fiction Award). In recent years, in his work as a club DJ and remixer, he has experimented with writing spoken word lyrics over electronic music, working with UK singer MC Estelle and Philadelphia rapper, Baby Blak, and re-editing songs of artists such as Sade and Beth Orton.

He also runs two independent record labels – Buzzin’Fly and Strange Feeling – guiding young artists and advising them on their music and writing.

Dates: Saturday 24 September and Sunday 25 September
Fee: £95 (students £85) for a single-day workshop, including lunch, tea and coffee.
Requirements: A portable instrument, such as a guitar or lap-top, would be an asset but is NOT obligatory
Registration: 9.30 prompt each day; finish 5pm
Bookings via Charleston on 01323 811626, or info@charleston.org.uk
Venue: Workshops will take place at Tilton House, a short stroll from Charleston.
Further information: directions, transport details etc. will be supplied subsequent to each booking.

Supported by the Booker Prize Foundation