Songwriting, Creativity and Leadership
Calling leaders, changemakers, and seekers of authentic leadership
11 am – 1 pm, Pacific Time, 9/10/24 – 10/29/24
$1200 to public; $1800 (including final project) to candidates in Living Resonance Leadership program
8 zoom sessions, followed by in-person retreat (details TBD)
Do you secretly yearn to sing with passion and express yourself fully and freely, yet you hold onto a story that you can’t, it’s too late or you are not good enough?
It’s time to change that story and free your voice!
In a world facing critical changes, we are calling forth purposeful, creative and authentic leadership. This course invites you to explore songwriting as a path to cultivate your inner leader.
Through this course, you will reconnect with the ancient, organic power of singing and music-making to enrich the experience of everyday life. You will approach songwriting as a way to express the authentic self and connect with ancestors and guidance beyond the ego’s limitation in service of making a positive impact in the world.
We are not focusing on making polished, perfectly produced music. Instead, we celebrate singing as a birthright that everyone can claim, regardless of age, skill level (or lack of) and experience. You will be able to sing songs sourced from your authentic self to heighten your creativity in problem-solving, build confidence in your voice, and generate heart-felt resonance around you.
In this course, you will
- Explore leadership themes such as purpose, guidance, vulnerability and resilience
- Practice the skills of improvisation to stay present and engage with what’s emerging
- Cultivate non-judgmental attitude towards one’s creative expressions
- Transform your lived experiences, inspirations and visions into powerful songs
- Learn simple yet effective songwriting techniques and explore various styles.
- Connect and collaborate with other participants in a supportive and inspiring environment
- Share your work with the audience you choose
This course is for you if:
- You are a leader, social change agent, activist, coach, therapist, human service professional, or someone who desires to take a stand for something you believe in the world as an authentic self.
- You believe in the power of embodied presence and vulnerability.
- You are ready to tap into your creative potential and discover the power of your voice.
- No prior songwriting experience required. Only willingness to experiment and play is sufficient.
This course is open to the public and also a core course in the Living Resonance Leadership MA/PhD program in Ubiquity University.
Facilitators
This course is co-created and co-facilitated by Spring Cheng, Paul Kwiecinski & Judi Neal. Their respective bios can be found on Faculty Page.
Paul, Judi and Spring were called together by a song. In 2019, Spring as the only Asian representative attended Climate Change and Consciousness conference at Findhorn Foundation. She wrote a song called Children of the Earth to capture her experience of the human spirit as well as the challenge we are facing as a species. When Paul heard about the song, he committed himself to producing the song as an international project. His long-term creative collaborator Judi joined him.
Four years later, this projected has resulted into a music video that synthesized the input from artists and people from 14 countries, as well as the performance of a children’s choir. Watch the music video and a zoom launch of the song.
Through this project, they have forged a generative collaboration which naturally led them to creating this course.
Textbooks
The Cosmic Path to Melody & Lyric, by Ernie Hill
Saved by a Song by Mary Gauthier
