Longform Pop Songs. Just Don't Call 'Em Musicals!

Instructor: Scott Guy

Three Tuesday evenings 7-10pm

July 2, 9 & 16

Course Fee: $225 (Early Bird/ANMT Member Fee: $165)

Something's happening in pop music today: the songs are growing longer...and beginning to resemble musical theatre songs. No! Can it be true? Believe it. This news actually made the front page of the L.A. Times. (March 30, 2013) According to the Times article, pop songwriters who wouldn't be caught dead in the same sentence with the words "musical theatre" -- are beginning to explore the longform pop song. Stories!? In the pop charts? Character arcs? Can it be true? Let's find out for ourselves. This three-session intensive explores the brave new world of the extended pop song. Shifting tempos, additional hooks and bridges, storylines, character arcs. Concept songs. We'll also delve into the world of chants, robotic warbles, barebone beats, rhythmically varied tracks, and even hints of tinkly pianos. We'll go back in time a little bit to hear longform in the past few decades (like "American Pie" and "Bohemian Rhapsody"), but the course will focus primarily on completely contemporary songs which are being downloaded today, now. Join ANMT's Lyric Lab instructor as we listen, analyze, then listen again to the future of musical theatre: today's longform pop songs. Here's a partial list of the songs we'll be studying together: Frank Ocean's Pyramids; Fun's We are Young; Girls' Generation's I've Got a Boy; Grandmaster Flash's The Message; Jill Scott's Le Boom Vent Site; Justin Timberlake's Mirrors; Justin Timberlake's Spaceship Coupe; Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy; Kendrick Lamar's Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst; Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway; Nightwish's Ghost Love.

INSTRUCTOR INFO:

Scott Guy

Under Scott's tenure as Executive Director, the Academy has developed over 100 musicals for producers across the country, and over 200 independent musicals by ANMT writers. Scott has produced several ANMT musical theatre festivals and multiple seasons of concert readings and concerts. Scott's current and recent writing projects include: a musical with Placido Domingo, Jr., script consultancy with Disney for a Pirates of the Caribbean musical; book of Manson's Girls; and book/lyrics for Der FrankLloydWrightenlieder. SPAM: a song cycle will receive its world premiere at Boston Metro Opera next year. Television credits: Six Emmy nominations, and over 100 produced television scripts for Warner Bros., FOX-TV, Disney, Discovery Channel, PBS, etc. www.scottguy.biz.

OUTLINING ANYWHERE!

Instructor: Elise Dewsberry

Six Monday evenings from 7pm to 10pm

July 15, 22, 29; August 5, 12, 19

Course Fee: $495 (Early Bird/ANMT Member Fee: $395)

The Outlining Lab is available in-person OR online (or a combination of the two!) Video lectures, exercises, handouts, and tests are all available online. Attend the live sessions for feedback on your homework assignments - or submit your work online if you can't make the sessions.

An outline can be an invaluable writer's tool for clarifying the structure and story arc of a musical idea. It can then serve as a blueprint for the rough draft that the collaborators will use to develop the new musical. Writers who skip this important step in the development process are likely to find themselves bogged down with a partially written new show that is riddled with logical inconsistencies, and does not compellingly deliver the intentions of the creative team.

In the Outlining Lab, you will be lead step-by-step through the process of developing a musical idea from concept through to a working outline, with detailed constructive feedback along the way. By the end of this ten-unit course, you should have a well-developed and detailed outline that will solidly prepare you for the collaborative task of writing your new musical.

Along with the basic six steps to an outline, other topics dealt with will include:
Types of Conflict
20 Questions for your Outline
Language of an Outline
Dealing with Feedback
Pitch and Synopsis
One-Liner and Logline

Don't start writing until your outline is rock solid!

INSTRUCTOR INFO:

Elise Dewsberry

Currently the Artistic Director of ANMT, Elise has been involved in the development of new works for over fifteen years: as an actor/singer, as a director, as a dramaturge, and as a writer. At ANMT, Elise co-teaches the Core Curriculum, runs the Full Length Curriculum and Book Lab, and is the dramaturge for the annual Search for New Musicals. Elise is also on the New Works Committee of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, and is the co-ordinator of the SoCal New Musicals Network. While living in Toronto, Elise served as the Assistant Artistic Director of the Muskoka Festival; the Co-Ordinator of the festival's annual Musical Theatre Writer's Colony, the Associate Dramaturge of the Canadian Stage Company; the Resident Dramaturge of the Smile Theatre Company; and was the co-founder of Toronto's ScriptLab. Elise spent many years touring Canada with NINE MONTHS - a one-woman musical which she commissioned from writers Carl Ritchie and Stephen Woodjetts. Elise and Carl also co-wrote ANY BODY HOME?, which has been published by Dramatic Publishing and has had multiple productions around the world.

'I recently had the pleasure of working with The Academy for New Musical Theatre on a reading of THE GROUCH'S DAUGHTER, my new musical co-written with Jack Helbig. ANMT staff member Elise Dewsberry served as both dramaturg and director, and in our years of working on this show, no one person has been as helpful to us as she was. Prior to the reading, we received a set of notes that were as thoughtful as they were thorough. ANMT's suggestions led to a rewrite that greatly helped me shape the show and refine its style. I'm deeply impressed with the care and intelligence of their creative input, and would not hesitate to work with ANMT again.'
-Mark Hollmann, Tony award-winning composer, Urinetown

'We ...feel as if a nurturing dramaturgical Mary Poppins has visited us with wonderful insightful nourishment. It appeared to us that you seemed to really relate to the characters we've established and are caught up with their plight and have come up with ways to strengthen them ... Your suggestions are invaluable to us ...'
--Ron Yatter

'Elise Dewsberry's rare gift for analyzing plot and character is enormously helpful to writers. Her story sense is phenomenal.'
- Stephen Oles, bookwriter, Seattle

'Wow!! ... It's as though you were reading our minds ... What's particularly brilliant is that you are having us work through the process in manageable stages. What a gift you have, that you can lead us so that we need to climb out of only puddles of quicksand of our own making, rather than oceans of it! We both hold you in the absolute highest esteem imaginable.'
- Roger Love and Ann McNamee

WRITING LYRICS: A NEW APPROACH

Instructor: Kay Parker

4 Saturday afternoons from 3:00pm to 5:00pm

July 6, 13, 20. 27

Course Fee: $175 (Early Bird/ANMT Member Fee: $150)

In 1977 Ms. Parker discovered that there were actually only 11 types of lyrics in American songs, no matter the musical genre. She has spent the last 30 years teaching her technique to others around the world, many who have gone on to earn their living as songwriters. Come and discover how you can write more easily and effectively by learning how to write for different areas of the body! She will play examples of these types from every musical genre, focusing on Musical Theatre, so that you will quickly understand how to: find the right lyric for your melody; find the correct melody for your lyric; write your first draft in one hour or less; complete lyrics you’re 'stuck' on; and learn the importance of the Big 'But'.

INSTRUCTOR INFO:

Kay Parker

Ms. Parker has worked on both sides of the music 'desk' since 1978, from her first job, working with the Beatles catalogue and the catalogues of Mann & Weil, to her last job as Creative Assistant to the Vice-President of Film Music for BMG. As a songwriter, the first song she ever wrote was recorded and continues to earn royalties. She spent 3 years as a staff-writer for Motown. Since 1978, she has had over 40 songs recorded and released internationally. She is the only lyricist to have won first place in the American Song Festival five times. Her songs continue to be recorded and have appeared in films and television around the world. As a music journalist, she has had many articles published in the professional music press including cover stories on such artists as Melissa Ethridge and Juice Newton and she has interviewed such legendary songwriters as Willie Nelson. As a teacher, she has toured the world teaching groups of songwriters, and has been on the faculty of UCLA Extension, The Grove School, Trebas Institute, and most recently the world-renowned Musician’s Institute.