*WatchLIVE webcastat 5:45 CST.* Doors open at 5:15pm and the event starts at 5:45pm. (CST)

Over the past ten years, Dave Isaacs has earned a reputation as one of Nashville’s most creative music coaches. From his Music Row studio, he works with songwriters and artists on developing their musical skills: not just on playing their instrument but on how they hear, think about, and create music. A dynamic performing artist and songwriter himself, Dave has released 10 CDs of his own material and performed in venues large and small across the US. With his combined experience as a working artist/musician and songwriter, over twenty-five years teaching private lessons, ten years leading workshops, two degrees in music, and five years as a college professor, Dave Isaacs has a rare combination of formal musical training and the real-world experience to know what creative writers and artists need in order to grow.

Workshop Topic:

The Music In Your Words

A great song is the perfect marriage of lyrics and music. Sometimes the two pour out together as naturally as breathing, but most of the time it takes hard work to find the right pieces of the puzzle. And for most of us, one side comes more easily than the other. There are lyricists that don’t write music, composers that don’t write words, and songwriters of all kinds who do both but struggle with one. This is, of course, the great advantage of co-writing: you can find a partner who is strong in the areas you’re not. If you’re primarily a lyricist, that means working with writers that are skilled musicians.

But being “just a lyricist” probably doesn’t mean you don’t have musical ideas. In fact, many lyric writers have a vivid mental picture of the finished song but don’t have the musical ability to put it across. Maybe you do play and sing, and you might even perform regularly, but your skills are just enough to put the song across in its simplest form.

You might not have the time to devote to mastering an instrument, or you may not have been gifted with a natural singing voice. You might feel like you don’t have any musical talent, or that it’s too late to learn. But no matter how skilled or unskilled you might be, there are ways to improve your musical ability. For a lyricist, that ability starts with understanding how words can suggest the music that will fit them. Speech has rhythm, a natural rise and fall in pitch, tempo, and dynamic contrasts. A spoken lyric can suggest a groove, melody, and even harmony, when you know what to listen for.

In this workshop we’ll demonstrate the techniques you can learn to bring musical ideas out of your words, and how even a basic musical understanding opens up worlds of possibilities. After all, the ability to make music doesn’t come from the instrument: it comes from the mind of the player. Developing your musical mind will make you a better songwriter, even if you never play a note.