Happy New Year! Club Passim Show & "So What?"
Jan 15th: The BIG Passim Show!
FOLKS! Mark your calendars, and grab your tickets now: I'm bringing a show chock-full of collaborations and good music to Club Passim on January 15th!
This is going to be a very special show for several reasons:
Instead of performing in one large band, I'm going to perform two sets with two different bands!
First, I'll play a set of bluegrass classics in collaboration with the band Pretty Saro; then, I'll re-take the stage with the aptly named Rachel Sumner Band to perform a set of originals, both old and new.
To top it all off, Passim will serve their delicious brunch menu for that evening's show!
Keep in mind, my show at Passim sold out last time, and people were turned away at the door. I don't want that to happen to you!
Grab your tickets and invite your friends and family - it is truly going to be an incredible night!!
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"So What?" - New Song/Video
2019 held a lot of good moments for me, but 2020 is the year I record my first full-length album! I'm in the final stages of writing and arranging, and I'm planning on heading to the studio soon.
To give you a taste of what's to come, I wanted to share with you an unreleased video of one of my new songs, "So What?" filmed with my band. Consider this a sneak peek of both a new song and one of the bands you'll get to see me perform with at Club Passim!
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Songwriting Classes
A new semester at the Passim School of Music begins on January 6th, and I'll be teaching my two courses, Songwriting and Song Development, once again.
Make good on your resolution to write more songs and claim your seat for the semester!
Songwriting
In this class — part investigation, part workshop — we will explore how to write haunting songs by dissecting a handful of the best.
Watch a video introduction here.
Song Development
Lyrics? Check. Melody? Check! Now what?
The life cycle of your song has just begun! In this song development course, you’ll learn the next steps and set of skills you’ll need to get your song ready for recording and for others to play it. We’ll workshop arrangements and learn about chart making and basic demoing. By the end of this class you’ll have a strong sense of your song and the confidence to let the world know about it!
Requirement: you need to have only ONE complete song (lyrics, chords, & melody) that we can work on throughout the class.
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Shows
J A N U A R Y
Wednesday, 01.15 // CAMBRIDGE, MA
Club Passim
The Rachel Sumner Band takes Cambridge!
PLUS there will be a very special collaborative bluegrass set between Pretty Saro and myself to kick the night off!
7pm doors, 8pm show.
RSVP on Facebook | Grab your tickets in advance
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Recommendations
This year I've made a resolution to try to write more and push through creative dry spells by doing regular Morning Pages. This concept comes from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way - essentially, she asks you to get up in the morning just a little earlier than you would normally and write three pages worth of ANYTHING. Anything that comes to mind at all: it could be three pages of complaints about how exhausted you feel and that would count (I've certainly done that). She suggests you don't read these morning pages until at least 6 weeks down the line, so as not to worry at all about the quality. You're not writing the next great American novel. The point is simply to get you writing and through the block so the good stuff can come to you. The only requirement she specifies is that you write them with good ol' pen and paper!
I'd like to know what your fabulous visions for this year are. How are you going to improve your life and/or your creative process?
Feel free to respond to this email to tell me about them!
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As always, thank you so much for subscribing and reading.
Happy New Year, all! I hope to see you very soon.
- R