Teaching workshops on creativity and songwriting is something I've always totally enjoyed. My teaching career evolved along with my success as a songwriter. Not long after my first Warner Brothers release, Beth Nielsen Chapman, I was asked to do a residency on songwriting at the Berklee School of Music in Boston in the early nineties. I had just written a few hits for Willie Nelson and Tanya Tucker. With the onslaught of the attention that garnered, I started to explore the process that developed within me as I focused in on my writing.

From the new territory of actually having success, I was suddenly self-conscious, though I'd been writing since I was eleven years old. It's interesting how success can throw the creative gears out of balance as the "outside" world takes notice and the internal demand to "do that again" starts to creep in. As if I could "know" just exactly what "it" was that I'd done! As I've lectured about my "process," I've tried to capture the essence of what is really happening in a moment when a line or a melody is coming through. Invariably, the manifestation of an idea always seems completely effortless. The hard work is the discipline of showing up and staying open to it in the face of occasional "nothingness."

We are so uncomfortable with "nothing happening" that all sorts of demons can show up in that space and crowd out any chance of creative flow. This dance has been the center of what I feel called to teach. The objective in the beginning is to allow the flow of creativity enough space with nothing in it to have an entrance.

Much work goes into analyzing and restructuring songs in the "part two" of writing. There the intellect must be engaged with all the craft and skill you can muster. It is essential in order to bend and shape the clay that the creative flow has deposited on the page. But without that effortless delivery of raw material (which sometimes comes right out completely formed!), writing can be more like moving around old "known" stale parts.

So in this part of my website, I'm going to string along some pearls of wisdom that have popped out of my mouth from articles and workshops and interviews over the years, and throw in some pictures and stories.

Every year (or mostly every year), I'll be teaching the BNC Creativity Stargaze at the Vanderbilt Observatory in Nashville, Tennessee. Here's the poser from year one!!

It too is an evolving adventure with lots of spontaneity as it is a crash course on being ok with "not knowing" where the next inspiration is coming from!

Here's a picture of Kathy Mattea and me at the BNC Stargaze 2006. She came and did an excellent class in performance and voice. Of course I'm a huge fan and have been blessed to have had Kathy sing a few of my songs on her records.

There is a subconscious garden within each of us. From here songs, poetry and works of art flower. I like to tell my students: "Don't plant your seedlings too near the asphalt of the superhighway of the music business."

 

Here's a description from one of my workshops a few years back. I think it's a pretty accurate description of my emphasis as a teacher:

Songwriting From the Soul Accessing Creative Intuition

Beth Nielsen Chapman is a highly successful songwriter and performer who has written hits for the likes of Faith Hill, Willie Nelson, and Elton John. She firmly believes the source of all artistic expression is spirit, and that it is accessible to all of us, if we can learn to move past the limitations of the mind to let our natural playfulness unlock the door to our unconscious and our soul. In today's workshop for professional or aspiring songwriters, or anyone interested in exploring the genre to unlock her/his inner gifts, Beth will share a variety techniques and approaches we can use to get past our blocks and fears of failure to allow our creative fire to shine through. Beth will perform some songs and critique some participants compositions to illustrate the many ways in which we can explore this uniquely direct , powerful and healing form of communication and expression.

 

Here are some reflections on the songwriting process from an interview I did with a German interviewer:

Questions: Beth Nielsen Chapman

1. Your music has no limits concerning styles and musical directions. You listened to a lot of different music in your childhood, in your adolescence and later on. How far does, what you heard, have an influence on your own music, on your themes and your way to express things?

Musical influences are a huge part of what has drawn me toward certain choices of chords and rhythms etc. In my early 20's, to make a living I was often singing in various clubs and venues performing everything from blues, rock, jazz, to country, folk and bluegrass. This was the best education I could have gotten for my development as a songwriter. I often tell my students, "Embody the songs you love. Know them inside and out to perform them and the muscle memory will give you a great sense of freedom when jumping off the ledges of what you know into experimentation. The elements of what has made those songs great are often very similar across all stylistic lines. That will come through your own songs. It's like good nutrition in the care and feeding of your muse."

 

2. As Beth Nielsen Chapman, the songwriter, you have written countless songs for yourself as well as for others, many of which became great hits. Is it more difficult to write lyrics and melodies for oneself or with another singer's performance and person in mind? Is there a different approach to the song material in each case?

I never write lyrics for someone else. I may choose a style or flavor musically which is in line with a certain artist when writing with them in mind. But the lyric writing is always more time consuming and requires a deeper process for me. I truly believe if I stay true to my own emotional centering and tell my truth from there-I will automatically be more likely to say something that resonates with others. We all, at the core, feel the same most basic emotions-the stories are different. But the ring of truth is a sound we all realize. And even when a poet or storyteller is describing events we ourselves haven't experienced, we become drawn in by the most basic emotional response of the character. We see ourselves in there. This is the most fascinating thing about art and how it works through all of us. And if the artist just speaks from the center of what they know personally, they maximize the possibility of being most universal.

 

3. Songs usually are very personal things. Do you have to "let go" of a song that you wrote if somebody else performs it? Meaning - do you compare your own possible interpretation with the one of the other artist? What do you feel then?

I am always completely honored when another artist performs or records one of my songs. I don't feel at all territorial about it. I've been so lucky to have some of my favorite artists do cover(s?) of my songs. Even when they are different, my overriding feeling is gratitude!

 

4. You often collaborate with others for writing songs or performing. How do such collaborations start? What does a good partner in this respect have to have - the same feeling, mood or a similar approach to music in general; is a good friendship the base or ... what is most important? Can competition, rivalry, or even musical antagonism also be starting points?

Relationship can be all of the above. Most of my collaborations are with people I love and respect for their talent. Almost always I learn something in the process. Occasionally it's purely chemistry, and it's about the work. Whatever way it works it's never the same twice!

 

5. Andy Bey worked with you on the song "Look", which is also the title track of the new album. He is considered one of the greatest male jazz-singers, is on the scene for decades. He has a great voice, a sometimes very political approach and released two remarkable albums within the last few years. How did your contact start?

Ah! Andy Bey....what a gift to the world is his artistry! My manager also managed Andy and when I first heard his music I just had to call him up on the phone. I was in NY and just picked up the phone and asked him to go each lunch. I was lucky enough to be in the vicinity of a piano and had a small tape recorder. So Andy played these extraordinary chords and I started singing over them. He really wrote most of the melody. Then I took four years to write the words! We are friends to this day and I consider collaborating with Andy one of the highlights of my experiences as an artist.

 

6. And: "Look" is a wonderful love-song. What gave the inspiration for this song? What is your attitude towards love-songs in general?

My attitude towards love songs is....that I love them! And "Look" is inspired by a wonderful man that I am in love with.

 

7. You are self-taught in playing the guitar, as well as in playing the piano. and you learn and express songs with the help of your nearly perfect pitch: A fact that brought with it that you did not really need skills at reading and writing musical notation. Is that in your opinion a handicap or a blessing for the musical development?

I don't consider myself handicapped due to my inability to read music. However, I would love to know how and I would never consider knowledge to be a handicap. I don't believe in the theory that being trained as a musician takes away from being creative. I think fear takes away from it...but that can affect anyone. I often tell my students to pour an extra cup of tea for your fear, get it settled in a nice chair across the room and give it a magazine to read and let it know you're going to be working on your song at the piano if it needs anything. If it starts to get in the way say "thank you for sharing."

 

8. As a singer/songwriter, what do you think is possible for you to achieve: how far is one able to reach an audience with music? Is music maybe a healing force? If so, is it in the first row a healing force for yourself or as well a medium for others?

I think the power of music has no boundaries and that it finds those who need it. I just try to put my music out there without too much expectation that it is going to do anything for someone else. I'm always happy that it does...but I have no way of predicting how or when. I just let it go and hope it reaches those who might draw comfort from it.

 

9. Another aspect: Does a person standing in front of many people or being listened to at home by thousands of people have a responsibility to try and change things in society: a social responsibility perhaps? Can an artist do more than to provide "food for thought"?

I think the greatest thing an artist can do is just look deeply inward for what rings true. Being too concerned with saving the world or affecting change in society often results in something too self conscious. The simplest feelings of love, loss, fear, faith, determination, sadness etc, when addressed and expressed from within can make for a very powerful song. Which ironically can often change the world....one heart at a time.

 

10. Coping with grief, with pleasure, with hard and good experiences in life: How far are these the building blocks that form the foundation of your songs? And how far are the dark and bright sides of life important for one's own development?

Well I think coming through devastating loss and waking up one morning with the sense that there's still goodness to life is a gift within itself. Having lost my hair while going through chemotherapy for breast cancer, for instance, has resulted in my never ever again having the experience of having a bad hair day! Any hair day is a good one! Light and darkness....one depends on the other for contrast....and the songs are like life rafts sometimes.

This is the class from the Hollyhock workshop in BC a couple of summers back. I co-taught with the marvelous Paul Reisler.

Paul is a wonderful teacher and we've got quite a good one-two punch between my style and his style of teaching.

As a teacher I firmly believe the source of all artistic expression is spirit, and that it is accessible to all of us the moment we can learn to move past the limitations of the mind to let our natural playfulness unlock the door to our unconscious and our soul. That's where all the good stuff is!

I love to teach all sorts of folks from all walks of life who may be looking to tap into their full creative potential. From professional or aspiring songwriters to anyone interested in exploring the secret to unlocking his or her gifts. I have developed a variety of skills to get past blocks and fear of failure to allow their creative fire to shine through.

Once the fires are burning and the song is starting to fill into itself, then I teach about a how to use a whole other set of tools, this time more accessing the use of the intellect.

Often through critique of the student's songs I will illustrate the many ways we can explore this uniquely direct powerful and healing form of human expression.

Here's Annie Roboff and I teaching a class on co-writing at the BNC Creativity Stargaze 06. She's my favorite co-writer!

Writing songs for me has always been a gift. But I've always really believed that the gift is embodied within the "creative spirit" which is a gift every one of us are given by our birthright. I like the analogy of each of us being gardeners. As composers, we can prepare the soil by learning about notes, keys, and harmonic structure; we can gather and plant the seeds by listening, practicing, and studying and learning from compositions we respect and admire; we can water the seeds by putting notes to paper, or computer screen, recording and listening back, adding and changing and changing again; we can pull the weeds with our editing skills; we can edge our garden with rocks or a fence, shaping the form. But when it comes to whatever it is that pushes the seed through to the light, we can take no credit. The majesty of a flower does not belong to the gardener. The gardener is in the business of "allowing" and creating a space for the magic to appear.

A good song, like a flower, is a divine expression of creativity.

The brain has to get out of the way in order to allow the heart and soul to tap the subconscious wells and infinite expanse of creative possibility. This is where the good stuff comes from. To put it another way: If the heart and body and breath of great writing come from the soul, then you can than the brain for the help with the clothes, shoes and matching handbag!

Here I'm teaching in Battle Creek Michigan.

I love to teach about the creative spirit. My emphasis is in helping people who have become creatively disconnected or suppressed. It's been so incredible to see each person recharge this often long unused source of deep joy, especially folks who have jobs and lives that leave little time to express themselves creatively.

There's not as much money in teaching as there is in writing hit songs, but it feeds me as a writer, and I have to say it's priceless to see someone's creative pilot light come back on when they come to remember the gift they carry within them to once again experience that feeling of "lift off" and tap into their creative genius!

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