Ella shares her experiences:

This was an interesting ride! All the limitations of the lockdown aside, the situation was definitely challenging in a positive way, forcing us to be more creative. 

The bands I coach normally play covers, I teach them to collaborate, listen and make space for each other. The interaction is key for our workshops, and as it’s impossible to play something “live” together online, we had to think of something different. All the students agreed on shifting the focus to songwriting, and off we went! 

Together, they decided on the subject of the song, the feel it would have (tempo, genre, time signature) and the general structure of it. From there on we split in different groups; some focused on the lyrics, others worked on the chords or the groove. We’d bring it together and continue building, figuring out melodies, breaks, transitions, riffs, etc… 

We used a simple browser software called BandLab to record and build the songs. I was initially hoping to finish a song every 3 lessons but it turned out a bit too optimistic; the software gave us a fair amount of struggles to work through and the collaborative approach was asking for more time. 

On my side, I explored new songwriting techniques that I was ready to apply if they needed more guidance. But they never lacked creativity or inspiration, and it was great to sense their excitement as the songs were unfolding. Their very first songs! 

You might hear some digital clicks and cracks in the tracks, witnesses of the challenges we overcame.