The ninth annual UK Songwriting Festival organised by Bath Spa University has again proved to be a resounding success.
28 songwriters took part in the week-long event which was held at Shennanton House in Scotland from the 12 to 17 August.
The week included lectures, group playback and critique sessions, live band sessions and acoustic live recordings. As well as working with musicians and tutors, students gained invaluable insight from special guest tutor Midge Ure who participated in the student songwriting workshop sessions. This year’s Festival was held in partnership with the Burnsong Organisation, of which Midge is Patron.
The Director of the Festival is Joe Bennett, Dean of the School of Music and Performing Arts at Bath Spa University. In his BBC interview Joe said: “It’s extraordinary just to be able to spend time around creativity in such a rich way. This year’s Festival has generated 140 new songs, and the recordings and gigs have enabled some of the new work to reach a wider audience. We’ve heard jazz, rock, folk and even Euro-pop. The house band certainly had their work cut out!”
More information about the Festival is available at uksongwritingfestival.com and an article about the Festival appeared on the BBC News website here.
Bath Spa University offers the world’s only Master’s degree in Songwriting which is available to study at the University’s Songwriter’s Centre near Bath, or as an online distance learning option.
More information about the courses on offer at the School of Music and Performing Arts is available at bathspampa.com Photos of the end-of-week gigs can be downloaded from the Facebook group at http://tinyurl.com/swf12photos
