Workshop Stage

2:00PM STORYTELLING OR I’M NOT TELLING

Do you want your listeners to know exactly what you are singing about, or do you prefer that the interpretation is completely open to their imagination? Let’s talk about songs that were misinterpreted and let’s talk about how much you want people to know. Do you tell stories live to contextualize your music. Does it help you connect to your audience, or do you prefer to let the song speak for itself.

Hosts: The Pairs
Panelists: Aleksi Campagne, Dawna Marie, Geoff Holt (Barn Cat)

3:00PM THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

There are so many great stories of songs that nearly got left off albums and then went on to become hits, but what about the other side of the coin? Let’s discuss artist instinct – when you know a song has completely delivered but maybe it didn’t garner the interest that you thought it would? How does it make you feel? Do You move on, do you imagine the time just hasn’t arrived yet for this particular song…? Each artist will play a song that means a lot to them and will discuss the audience’s interpretation. Their interpretation, and what impact you expected it to have vs. the impact you imagine it actually did have. This discussion does not have to be about mass appeal and acceptance, maybe the song resonated so strongly with one person, and maybe that’s all any of us really need.

Host: Sarah Beatty
Panelists: Bernadette Connors, Alannah Kemp, Rachel Hickey

4:00PM WHICH CAME FIRST: THE SONG OR THE STORY

Each of the artists on the panel will play a song that has a personal story meaning to them and will discuss fact vs. fiction, was it a melody that launched the narrative? Did the story completely drive the forming of the tune? Did you embellish, did you add, did you omit? Are there gaps left for the listener to fill in? We’ll play the song and ask panel attendees in the audience to interpret and see how far off they are? Then we’ll discuss the creation of the song with the musicians on the panel. 

Host: Stephen Stanley
Panelists: Burs, Marshall Veroni, Whitney Ross-Barris