From the Verse to the Bridge: A Review of GWN's Songwriting Workshop

By Erika Marte
GWN Mentee

I stepped into Skyline studio headquarters. The room was small and hot yet inviting. Rows and rows of chairs were place on both sides of the small room facing the direction where our special artist would play her magical musical notes. We were fortunate to have mentor coleaders Sarah, Vani, Heather, Maura and Nancy to keep things running smoothly.

The day started as usual, arrival and sign-in followed by a very selfish icebreaker ("I Want my __________ and I want it now!"). After the fun and commanding start, we got down to the mechanics of songwriting. From the verse to the bridge, we learned the anatomy of a song. However, the real entrée was Marianne Pillsbury’s passionate song “The Wrong Marianne” in which she memorably described her brain as mashed potatoes. Marianne, our special guest singer and songwriter, spoke about where the feelings and words for her one of a kind song came from.

We were then on our way to writing our own Girls Write Now song, based on our theme for the year, "Bridging Worlds." We split into two groups (loss and love) and created the lyrics to a beautiful masterpiece.

All the talking about mashed potatoeds had gotten us really hungry. Lunch, as usual, was delicious!

Afterwards, we had the chance to get a tour of the music studio where they sound edit. The best part and the highlight of the day was actually singing our Girls Write Now: Bridging Worlds song. From high to low-pitch voices, off key to on, the day culminated with a standing ovation to ourselves.