The next generation of female songwriters will hone their craft next week in a workshop offered in Madrid.
The camp, called Sweet Songbirds, gives middle and high school age girls an introduction to the mechanics of composing while putting them through daily exercises.
The goal is to write at least one song and then perform at week’s end for each other and their families.
The camp is the brainchild of singer-songwriter Lucy Barna, a staple of the local scene for many years. In a recent interview, Barna explained how the young composers developed their creations in a collaborative way, during the first camp session, held in May.
“So we start on Monday and really by Thursday the song has to be done because by then we're practicing performing it," Barna said. So it's pretty quick. But in that time period, they would work together to help each other, give feedback. And then I might offer feedback and say, 'Okay, well, if this is where you're stuck, how about this word? Or how about this bridge part of the song?' So in that sense, they were co-writing, but each person actually wrote their own song.”
Barna says she uses journaling and other exercises to help writers find their voice. She also talked about how the camp gives her a chance to go back to her own creative beginnings.
“They gifted me too because there I was re-experiencing this magical time of adolescence, which is just . . . it was so painful and hard being a teen, but it's also just so beautiful because everything's coming online.”
The next session of the Sweet Songbirds camp begins on Monday morning in Madrid. More information is at lucybarna.com. Thanks to Alina Pontius for coproducing this report.
