THE FALL 2024 CLASS HAS BEEN CANCELED DUE TO LOW ENROLLMENT.
PLEASE FILL OUT INTEREST FORM TO HELP US PLAN AND DESIGN FUTURE SONGCRAFT OFFERINGS.
Wild Songcraft is a five-week course in which we will use nature connection practices and experiential community learning to ignite our creativity and inspire our practice of songwriting. Through sit spot activities, thought-provoking writing prompts, insightful song analyses, and joyful group collaborations, we'll learn to craft beautiful melodies and lyrics while while cultivating a deeper sense of reverence for the wild world.
Course Details & Logistics
(Please read in full before completing registration)
What is the Cost?
This course is offered on a sliding scale with a suggested donation of $100 - $250*. Donating at the upper end of this sliding scale helps ensure these programs remain accessible to those with less financial means. Please donate whatever amount feels accessible and reflective of the value you see in this program.
*No one will be turned away for lack of funds- if you are really excited to learn about songwriting but can’t make a financial contribution that is perfectly fine! We especially encourage BIPOC, LGBTQ+, young people and other folks from marginalized communities to attend at whatever cost feels accessible. Wild Remembering would not be where we are today if not for the scholarships and financial support we have received from generous teachers and organizations.
Learn more about our philosophy of Gift Economy.
Who is this course for?
From fledgling songsters to established writers looking to re-kindle their creative fire, this course is designed to be accessible and enriching for anyone- wherever you may be on your songwriting journey. As a participant you will choose your own challenge, engaging with the online classes, field trips, sit-spot activities, writing prompts, and song analysis assignments to whatever degree feels appropriate to you and your schedule.
That said, beginning the course with a basic competency with an acoustic musical instrument will be helpful (comfortable with at least 4 chord shapes and at least 1 strum pattern). For those that do not play a musical instrument, a capella songwriting (voice only) is still an option as is collaboration with other instrumentalists in the course.
Will we just be writing songs about flowers and butterflies?
No! Participants in this course will explore whatever themes they feel most inspired by. We will be using the practice of nature connection to unlock our creative potentials and inspire our writing process. Some writers may also use the natural world as the subject and/or setting of their songs while others might not.
That said, participants will be encouraged to study the lyrics of famous writers who skillfully infuse naturalist language into their songs. Examples of these artists include Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Gregory Alan Isakov, Kate Wolf, Joan Shelley, Neil Young and so many more! Also, there are some amazing songs about flowers and butterflies so don’t hate.
Where & when will the course take place?
ONLINE CLASSES
Five consecutive Wednesday evenings on Zoom, September 18 - October 16 from 6:30-8:00pm.
These sessions will be recorded for those who can’t attend live.
GROUP FIELD TRIPS
Five consecutive Sunday afternoons, September 22 - October 20 from 12:00-5:00pm.
Field Trip locations will be approximately equidistant from Asheville and Sylva, NC, within 1 hour drive from each. Possible locations include Black Balsam, Pink Beds, Sunburst, and Soco.
Will there be homework?
In addition to the Online Classes and Field Trips, participants will be encouraged to spend at least 15 minutes each day at their nature sit spot and invited to respond to daily free-writing prompts. In addition, there will be optional weekly activities including songwriting assignments, lyric analyses, collaboration & feedback forums, and master songsmith playlists to soak in.
The time commitment is totally up to you! Some folks might choose to spend every waking moment pouring fistfuls of vine-ripened lyrics into their their ravenous ragged notebooks while others might be contented drafting a few ditties on their front porch while they sip coffee and watch the the titmice. There is no wrong way to participate and no shame in going at your own pace. That said, the more time you can commit to your songwriting practice, the more freely and fully your creativity will flow.
What will I need?
Acoustic Musical Instrument - Participants should own, or have everyday access to, an acoustic musical instrument- ideally one that you are willing to spend a day in the woods with. Expensive hand-made solid hardwood instruments look and sound great but might feel too precious to take outside the climate controlled haven of your home. I prefer to bring along my “beater” guitar and leave my worries at home. Loaner instruments will be available to play during our Field Trips for those who can’t bear to let their babies leave home.
Backpack-style instrument case - On most Field Trips we will spend the day a short walk away from where we park our cars. That said, it is incredibly convenient to have a lightweight padded backpack style case (or one with a strap you can sling over your shoulder). Hard plastic cases will work fine but tend to be clunky and heavy. Cardboard cases will get destroyed in the woods. Guitar bags with backpack straps can be found pretty cheap at music stores, used on eBay or FB marketplace, or on certain online retailers that shall not be named.
Notebooks and pencils- I personally like to keep a few sizes of notebook around: tiny ones that I can carry in my pocket for whenever inspiration strikes, and larger ones whose pages I can fill with my morning free-writing and in which I can lay out entire songs on a single page. I also like to have a waterproof notepad around, because songwriting in the rain can yield some pretty powerful results. I use both pencil and pen to write. You can ese whatever feels most comfortable and enjoyable to write with…AND in the spirit of nature connection, participants will be discouraged from using their phone apps to write during this course.
Appropriate clothing and footwear- Please check the weather forecast and dress accordingly for Field Trips. Hiking shoes, warm layers and rain jackets are highly recommended even if the forecast looks clear and warm.
A sit pad and/or lightweight portable camp chair- Having something to sit on while writing and paying music outdoors will be helpful. Slouchy camp chairs with arms are awkward with a guitar so try to find something without arms. I will have a few chairs that folks can borrow during Field Trips.
Water and Snacks- Always carry whatever you need to stay hydrated and sustained. Hunger is a compelling excuse to stop writing and head back inside!
About Your Teacher
Topher Stephens has not earned any accolades for his songwriting. His songs have not been recorded by any famous artists and his music has not been featured on any television shows or motion pictures. But if you’ve spent any evenings wandering the heath balds of the Balsams, you just might have heard one of his lonesome melodies mingled with wood smoke drifting quietly from his sedge-tussocked camp and making their way over the autumn-leafed lowbush blueberries .
Raised among the rivercane and old-time reels of Appalachia, Topher inherited a deep love of music and and a reverence for wildness from his loving parents. After whiling away his undergraduate education on African Dance, Buddhist Philosophy, Ethnomusicology, and Field Ecology classes, he did what any self-respecting liberal arts graduate would do and wandered aimlessly for the next decade and a half. Along his travels he stumbled into love with experiential education, eco-psychology, banjo building, and Bob Dylan’s first 17 albums. He eventually made his way back to Western North Carolina and currently resides in the childhood home his father built dangerously close to the Caney Fork River. He earns his meager living teaching grown ups how to rediscover their child-like wonder for the natural world and spends his free time collecting driftwood and admiring birds.