Anne Heaton

Singer-songwriter and piano-player Anne Heaton has captured audience imaginations with her songs that are, by turns, “tender, barbed and spiritual” (Washington Post). She’s been featured by the New York Times Music Podcast, NPR, the Sundance Film Festival and Lilith Fair (2010). Anne has headlined over 1,000 shows in North America and shared the stage with artists such as Jewel, Sarah McLachlan, and jazz drummer Max Roach. Anne has taught songwriting at Berklee College of Music, Interlochen, and GRAMMY Camp. She recently researched the social emotional learning outcomes of songwriting with teenagers. Anne lives in Milwaukee, loves coffee, Lake Michigan and being a mom to two freethinking daughters.

In this workshop, we’ll focus on melody making and on discovering what YOU most desire to write songs about (they can be deep, lighthearted, humorous – whatever feels right!). We’ll do some freewriting as a group and then we’ll play some fun games to help us create melodies in playful and easy ways! If there’s time, I’ll share the 8 aspects of melody and how artists like Ani DiFranco, Sara Bareilles, Bill Withers (and many others) use them in their songs! Then, you too can experiment in using these melody aspects in your own songs! No experience necessary.

In this workshop, we’ll sing together and ground ourselves in the ways group singing can positively impact us mentally, spiritually, emotionally and physically! At the beginning, we’ll sing cover songs (feel free to send suggestions!) and experiment with harmonies. Then, we’ll create and sing one group song together on a theme that resonates with us all. No experience necessary.