Hello and thanks for reading the latest blog post!
This blog post covers three key areas:
Behind Elaine Lennon's THE HOMEBIRD SESSIONS Songwriting Education Programme in Schools
Elaine Lennon's THE HOMEBIRD SESSIONS presents: WIN THIS FIGHT - A song about Climate Change with St Mary's Primary
Support for WIN THIS FIGHT from Greenpeace!
1 - Behind Elaine Lennon's THE HOMEBIRD SESSIONS Songwriting Education Programme in Schools
For those new to the programme, it all stemmed from the nurturing ethos of my own touring live music show THE HOMEBIRD SESSIONS dubbed 'A must for music fans and writers everywhere' by THE HERALD. In the show I took turns with my muscial guests (including top UK & US Grammy Award-winners!) to perform songs from my award-winning debut album and talk about the stories behind our songs. Described as a mastercalss in songwritng for all, during the show I invited an aspiring songwrtier to join me on stage as my 'Showcase Artist' to perform one original song, sometimes for the first time! With support from Scotland on Tour, I toured the show throughout Scotland to great success, winning me a coveted nomination for a UK Americana Music 'Hero' Award.
Invited to the TEDx Cumbernauld women stage to share lessons learned on my journey from incapacity to releasing my debut album lead to an email from the organiser Maureen Hascoet congratulating me because my talk 'Little Bird Little Sailor' was going to be featured on the main TED website, a coveted honour!
I was thrileld to be invited back to perform a special edition of THE HOMEBIRD SESSIONS for TEDx, this time bringing with me my fellow scottish songwriters Yvonne Lyon and Adriana Spina. This lead to 'THE LIGHT', the first collaborative co-write and release under THE HOMEBIRD SESSIONS brand and also the first ever song to be written and performed specifically fo TEDx. US collaborative projects followed with Nashville legendary artist Will Kimbrough releasing 'A BOY AND HIS GUITAR', a co-write between myself and UK Songwriter John Stamp.
I loved doing the show, however, following my last tour my dad sadly passed and my priorities moved away from my own touring and releasing to developing something more close to home...literally.
I was invited by the very lovely Head Teacher at local Holy Cross Primary school to come and write a song with some of the pupils at the school, where, at the time, both my children also attended.
So I blended my background in education and the nurturing ethos of the live touring show and brand with my passion for songwriting and developed STEM-based workshops for the school to co-write, record and release in both digital and visual format, a song!
The project was a superb success with the first song created 'CHRISTMAS TIME' reaching number 5 in the official iTunes Singer Songwriter Chart with a live performance by the children at my show at Cumbernauld Theatre with Scottish Songwrting legend HORSE!
I had some more fun with the kids creating a VIDEO for CHRISTMAS TIME and soon realised that this project, which involved the kids in every element of the process, was not merely about writing and releasing a song, but more about making amazing memories with these kids that will last lifetimes, building self esteem, confidence and pride in their abilities and the creative process, prividing an insight into what is really involved in creating the music they hear on the radio in a fun way! Now in High School, the children from that first project are still proud to say each Christmas that they were part of this project!
This year, Mrs Murphy invited me to return to the school to write, record & release 'WHAT IT TAKES', a song to celebrate the school's Rights Respecting Gold Accreditation. With it's empowering and inspirational LYRICS, the VIDEO for this release was taken by retired BBC & Sky videographer John MacDonald and the track includes guitars from Mr Mellon, the talneted school's football coach! A true community project!
2 - Elaine Lennon's THE HOMEBIRD SESSIONS presents: WIN THIS FIGHT - A song about Climate Change with St Mary's Primary
Word and excitement was starting to spread about my songwriting programme and the Head Teacher Mrs Brazil invited me to come and write with her lovely children at St Mary's Primary in Cumbernauld.
I'm now thrilled to share that the 5th release from THE HOMEBIRD SESSIONS - WIN THIS FIGHT - an up-beat pop song about climate change is out now on All Major Digital Platforms!
This was a fantastic and superbly fun project to lead!
I visited the school to introduce the project to the very excited children who shared all thier wonderful ideas about climate change for the song, then, over four sessions with the school choir we wrote lyrics and melody and recorded the guide track which included musical 'stems' used in the final song like pianos, synths, drums (from my own 13-year-old son Jamie Lennon) and the claps you hear throughout the song which were recorded in the classroom!
We then visited the Sound Production team at New College Lanarkshire where thier students follwed my production lead adding guitars, percussion, synths then recording vocals and finally mixed and mastered the track. I loved working with the team on this one and will return to work on future such project with them in the future. See full credits of all the taleneted people involved below!
I am so proud of all we have managed to achieve! The lyrics are heart-felt, positive & meaningful, the melody will have you up out of your seats dancing along and the catchy hooks and will stay with you long after the track has ended! These amazing children are a credit to their parents and school!
If you'd like to develop your own songwriting skills, or help your little one hone their writing skills, head over to the Top Tips for Aspiring Songwriters section of the blog for ideas on developing your songwriting craft!
I had been recording clips of the kids during our sessions and they were completely up for creating a little video for our song so I had some fun with it and blended clips from our fun time at the studio with the team there too! You can see from the video just how much fun they had and how mcuh they were engaged and inspired by the entire project!
3 - Support for WIN THIS FIGHT from Greenpeace!
I had the pleasure of meeting Graham Gilby from Greenpeace who had heard about our song and shared this encouraging message for the children:
What to do now?
1 - Ask your kids over the dinner table all about the project - Spread the word from the outset of how amazing our kids are and get them talking about what they have learned and enjoyed about being part of this musical adventure! I want your kids to be proud of their part in the project and know they are helping the school as part of it too! Has it inspired them to look at a career in any of the industry parts they discovered during the project?
2 - Read them the Story behind the logo which you can find in the Welcome section of my blog to remind them they can all be creative birds with a grounding and empowering anchor of confidence in their abilities!
3 - Check out my shop for an inspirational gift to help them remember their experience and encourage them to continue on their songwriting journey with my songwriting tools! Check out the best selling limited edition Little Bird and Little Sailor jewellery sets!
Are you a local small to medium-sized business out there who would like to SPONSOR future projects? If so contact info@elainelennon.com
Thanks for reading and pop back in soon to read future updates!
Listen to my own solo music too on all major digital platforms or buy physical copies from HMV or my online SHOP
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