Songwriting Workshop: Using Unconventional Song Forms

Overview

A deep dive into a variety of song forms guaranteed to ignite your creative energy, and give you different ways to shape your songs.

This 90-minute Workshop will look at songs forms that have NO CHORUS, as well as common variations to those songs forms. We’ll also look at song with a CHORUS, but look at ways to approach these in unexpected ways.

By the end of this Workshop you will

• Understand the difference between different sections and features of song form
• Be able to identify song forms as you listen to music
• Be able to harness your listening to create blueprints for your own song
• Understand song forms without a Chorus, and have a range of different variations to add colour and surprise to this song form
• Understand unconventional songs forms that have Choruses, and have blueprints for using different song forms in your own writing
• Understand a variety of approaches to writing the Bridge

Who this Workshop is for

Songwriters of any level of experience who:

• Recognise they are writing songs in a limited range of song forms, and want to broaden their creative palette
• Want to understand contemporary song form and structure

Your Teachers

Keppie and Benny are working professional songwriters, and both teach contemporary songwriting in some of the world’s most renowned colleges and universities. They are also the founders of the popular ‘How to Write Songs’ YouTube Channel, with a hell-bent mission to help people become better songwriters.

Keppie has taught songwriting at the Berklee College of Music, for Berklee Online, the Australian College of the Arts, the Open Academy at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, as well as at the Songwriting School of Los Angeles. Ben has taught for the JMC Academy and the Australian Institute of Music.

As working songwriters, Keppie has written and co-written songs that have had over 10 million streams in the past 2 years with bands and artists as diverse as ARIA-nominated Twelve Foot Ninja (heavy metal) and Universal Music songwriter Skye. Keppie’s songs appear in major network television shows, and most recently, Keppie was commissioned by Penguin Random House to write one of the first full albums of original work to appear in a major audiobook release (Mothertongues, 2022)—many of the songs were co-written with the authors.

Keppie’s “voice is beautiful, just gorgeous. She’s like a contemporary female Nick Drake…and her guitar playing is so beautiful, so raw…” —John Mayer

“Coutts’ songs marry soul and folk so gorgeously, you’ll cheer when they get stuck on endless repeat on the jukebox in your brain.” —The Boston Globe

Ben Romalis has composed music for large companies such as Adobe and Cathay Pacific, and also composes music for games, televisions and advertising. As a songwriter, he is a founding member of the internationally touring alt-country band, The Green Mohair Suits, which has released 4 studio albums to date. Ben is the founder and head producer at Silamor Studios, a boutique studio specializing in video and audio production, as well as out-of-the-box creative collaborations.

Ben lectures across a range of subjects including Songwriting, Production and Composition for Screen. He has vast experience designing and delivering workshops on creativity and innovation, as well as mentoring and coaching other industry professionals to help them realise their potential.

“Green Mohair Suits make music for pleasure. Our pleasure. If you don’t find yourself smiling, tapping or joining in on one of those harmonies, you’re leading a very sad life.” —Sydney Morning Herald

You can check out our YouTube channel, How To Write Songs, here!

You can read our articles and posts on songwriting tips and tidbits here!

Refund Policy

No refunds