Student report: Workshop with songwriter Jason Blume

I was lucky enough to be included in the Labour weekend workshop with the well regarded Jason Blume. I wasn't one hundred percent sure what to expect but I was very pleasantly surprised to say the least!

The weekend started off with workshops in the morning with Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology tutors. From passing comments, and talking to people who attended them, there was very good feedback.

Then the most exciting part of the weekend rolled around. Jason came up to me ready to shake my hand with a super friendly smile. Then the class started off with Jason cracking a few jokes to let people know he is just a normal human being!

Once everyone had died of laughter, he started off his talk with Lyrics. He asked us all to think of a one word title for a song, then had us think what the word meant. And then we had to follow up with thinking of a lyric or two. He told us the importance of having mystery to our lyrics.

Then he moved on to talk about Melody - explaining how to fit words to the timing of the melody, and the importance of simplicity, repetition and the "unexpected note".

The amount of things I learnt and was told was overwhelming! It was definitely a worthwhile opportunity!

The response I got from the people who attended was all positive and I hope NMIT have more of these days to come.