Grammy-nominated producer and composer Steven Ellison, AKA Flying Lotus, will be the latest artist to share his songwriting secrets through School of Song, an educational platform that offers online workshops with acclaimed musicians.
Previous School of Song courses have seen artists such as Brian Eno, Oneohtrix Point Never, AG Cook and Big Thief's Adrianne Lenker deliver workshops that explore their creative process and help students develop their own.
Ellison's course will dive into his unique approach to production and composition while showing students how to build a daily musical practice that "lets inspiration flow". Across a four-week period, Ellison will deliver a weekly lecture on a different subject specific to his creative process, and each class will then be tasked with writing a song using the techniques covered in the lecture.
These subjects include Ellison's "sketchbook approach to music-making", in a lecture that covers "techniques for gathering sounds, loops, and samples in Ableton, focusing especially on the practical methods he uses to fashion those fragments into finalized songs".
Other lectures will explore improvisation in the studio and on stage, and the role of individuality in developing a creative practice. "In a cultural moment that pushes artists toward sameness, we will consider how sound, presentation, and instinct can come together to help you make work that feels personal," says the press release.
In addition to the lectures, there will be regular song-sharing sessions that give peers a chance to discuss each others' work, and an extra hour of live Q&A with Ellison each week.
The workshop is aimed at musicians and producers of all skill levels, and there are no prerequisites to sign up, though School of Song notes that "having familiarity with a musical instrument and/or recording environment will be helpful for completing the homework assignments".
The course will be taught online via live Zoom lectures across four consecutive Sundays (September 13th, September 20th, September 27th, and October 4th) with two lecture sessions on each class day to accommodate different time zones. Recorded lectures will be available afterwards for those who are unable to attend.
If you're interested, the deadline to sign up is September 12th, and the course is priced at $200.
Ellison recently released BIG MAMA, a chaotic seven-track EP that he discussed in detail in an interview with MusicRadar back in April.
