Sessions by regional songwriters and musicians augment Choir and Music Production classes

As part of their mission to foster the art of songwriting and support arts education, local non-profit Washougal Songcraft Festival has launched a new program to supplement the music education programs at Washougal High School. This spring the organization has been running a pilot program that brings regional songwriters into the classroom to perform original songs and talk about musical creativity, expression, practice and production.

The program was organized by two Washougal Songcraft Festival board members, Education Committee Chair Jim Warford and President Christopher Corbell, working with Washougal High School music teacher David Duarte, with the approval of Principal Mark Castle and superintendent Aaron Hanson.

So far the non-profit has sponsored three songwriter sessions in Mr. Duarte’s WHS Choir Class, and one session in the school’s Music Production class.

On April 8, songwriter Brenna Larsen led the first Choir session, performing a song and talking about her songwriting process.

Sibling songwriters Hannah and Mookie Morton of the band LASKA led the next session, which included a lyric writing workshop for the students, on April 17.

Portland-based sound engineer and bandleader Nik Kemmer led a session for the Music Production class on April 21, teaching about the recording process and the way different audio effects are used in the recording studio.

Christopher Corbell was joined by Vancouver opera singer Dan Gibbs and pianist Hannah Early on April 25 in a session on song composition. The Choir class formed collaborative groups to compose a melody for a short poem, and the students also learned some advanced vocal exercises.

There are two more sessions scheduled this spring. Festival founders Stephanie and Christopher Corbell will be performing and talking with the Music Production about instrumentation and producing live music events. Lucas Warford will lead a songwriter session for the choir class in May.

“We are really inspired by the kids’ response to this program,’’ said Christopher Corbell. “And the artists have loved it too, and have expressed to me how much they’d love to see the outreach continue. David Duarte and everyone at Washougal High School have been super supportive. We are treating this spring’s program as a limited pilot project but would really like to work with Mr. Duarte and expand the program in the future.”

For more information contact Christopher Corbell at info@washougal-songcraft.org or (503) 309-9381.