I am proud to announce that I just completed my second semester of Jim Bruno's Song Writing class at Foothill College in Los Altos, CA. I call it by it's official title, though some have mentioned that Jim's class has become more cult-like than class-like, with some veteran students taking the class a dozen times or more. The passion and dedication that these folks show to Jim and his teachings could be it's own case study in the need for the supportive environment we all seek while trying to learn and grow. Jim's class is a testament to the power of positive reinforcement, and Jim is a Master.
When I started Jim's class six months ago, I had a notebook with over 20 years of song ideas, titles, poems, stories, etc..that I had never completed. With the support and encouragement of Jim and his talented song writing students, I now have 12 home-recorded original song demos, and the new-found courage to provide them online for public review. That's a huge leap from where I was when I started this class! I can look back and see a tremendous improvement from my first song to my latest, and my folder continues to get many new song ideas.
One of the assignments we had was to write a song emulating a fellow class mate. This was an interesting experiment in not only trying to copy someone's style, but it showed how much every student in class was affecting each other. Lots of emulation assignments became "that has Brian's vocal phrasing with Paul's favorite tempo and Tom's rhyming scheme". Fascinating! And imagine my pride when a few folks chose to emulate me and my fledgling song stylings - I became the de facto country song writer of the group - I was beaming with pride!
I also learned about collaborating with other song writers, something that brings it's own positives and potential conflicts; editing a song, also an eye-opening part of the song writing process, as in "my song is too long, but where do I cut?". The music that the students brought with their lyrics was wonderfully crafted and performed, and some of the vocal performances were outstanding! I found myself rooting for others while watching their personal development, and seeing their efforts get better each week extremely inspiring!
I can't thank Jim and his students enough for their encouragement and support I received each week with my submissions. I would recommend anyone with an interest in song writing take one of Jim's classes at Foothill or The Freight and Salvage in Berkeley. And of course, I would have never accomplished any of this personal growth if not for the encouragement of Maurice Tani: Master Song Writer, Musician, Band Mate, and good friend. It was a great experience.
So now, because of...
Maurice Tani:
and
Jim Bruno:
there is...
Ken Owen
Thanks to you all for your encouragement and support.
-KO
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