January was the month we had to make a quick switch to online classes due to COVID-19 considerations but we still had a blast! We had our guest speakers, had virtual break out rooms for co-writes and was able to connect despite the challenges!
We always start off class with sharing assignments. Over the holidays the students had the opportunity to write a holiday or new year themed song with a mixture of the rhymes we covered in the November session.
The theme of our January class was to focus on Storytelling. What better way to present this than having one of the best storytelling singer songwriters in Alberta come and join us. John Wort Hannam spend the morning with us - dissecting some of his songs and how they came together and giving the students insight into painting the picture for the audience. The students broke off into virtual breakout rooms to work on a group story telling song of their own - John was able to jump in and out of the virtual rooms to see how things were happening and offer some input. The class wouldn't be complete without hearing a couple of songs from John to sign off from this portion of the session. Find out more about John Word Hannam on his website johnworthannam.com.
We had two guest speakers today, so next up we had a visit from Suze Casey - Artistic Director of the Calgary Folk Club. Suze gave us some insights into what she looks for as an artistic director, how to present yourselves. She mentioned the importance of banter and being able to connect with your audience when you are on stage and not just performing.
The students were sent off with assignments to start writing a storytelling song with the techniques introduced by John to be shared at the next class.