Over the course of our sessions together, we will explore many aspects of songwriting, starting with the classics: song form, melody, lyrics, and chord patterns. Then, we’ll throw all those traditional songwriting concepts away to allow songs to come to life without constraint - straight from your heart! Let’s take some time to question the “why” and “how” of songwriting; Why do certain songs move us? How do we release ourselves from judgement and get out of our own way? How do we create a healthy regular songwriting practice? How do we make room for songs to find us? Why do we feel the need to write songs at all? Underlying our conversations and songwriting practice will be a deep commitment to honouring all ideas and showing up for one another (and ourselves) with openness! Everyone is welcome to share, but it will not be a requirement to participate. Note: each session will include activities to get us out of our own heads and into our bodies, such as physical movement and meditations, so please come prepared to spend a bit of time outside and in motion, if you can. If you have any questions or concerns in advance of the session, or have specific topics you’d like to cover during the workshops, please email me at caroline@carolinemariebrooks.com
Bio - Caroline Brooks
Joining us for the first time, Caroline Marie Brooks, perhaps best known as 1/3rd of Juno-award and CFMA winning folk-pop trio Good Lovelies, has been writing songs and melodies for as long as she can remember. Learning to sing harmony with her mother and sister, and strumming chords on her father’s beautiful old Martin, Caroline naturally turned to songwriting to express the everyday. That’s where her songwriting lives; open to each passing moment, and wide-eyed in wonder at this miracle that is life, even in the mundane.
After many years of recording and touring with Good Lovelies Caroline released her first solo album, “Everything at the Same Time” in 2021, inspired by the inevitability of time passing from the vantage of motherhood and middle age and the desire to stay present through all of it. Caroline is a co-chair of the Mariposa Folk Festival Climate Action team, a co-founder of the Canadian chapter of Music Declares Climate Emergency, and the Artistic Director of the Restoration Music & Nature Festival in the Almaguin Highlands. She is a mom to two beautiful kids, and lives with her family in Toronto and Burk’s Falls, Ontario.
Website: carolinemariebrooks.ca
Insta: @carobrooksmusic
Accommodation Options
All 3 accommodation packages include:
All daytime and evening programming: streams sessions, workshops, concerts, song circles and jam sessions,
Access to all of the Wanakita trails, facilities, and use of recreational equipment.
Is for folks that want to stay onsite in a shared cabin. It includes
3 nights accommodation
All meals from Saturday breakfast to Monday lunch
You may choose to share a cabin with someone you know. Otherwise, you will be randomly assigned to an appropriate male or female cabin. Guests are required to bring their own bedding and towels.
Is for folks that want to stay onsite, and enjoy all the benefits of the "Inclusive" package, but prefer to be in a cabin with one other person. *Semi private is only available to folks who are registering with a partner or friend.
