Name: The Art of Listening To Songs: Intertwining Culture, History, and Emotion
Start: 2025-06-05T14:00:00-0500
End: 2025-06-05T15:00:00-0500

Welcome to the APME Memphis 2025 conference. Here, you’ll be able to register for the conference and update your Sched profile. The conference schedule will be available in late spring 2025. At that time, you can view the schedule and select the presentations you’d like to attend. If you have any questions, please visit our conference website or contact us at conference@popularmusiceducation.org We look forward to coming together as a community June 4–7, 2025.

Thursday June 5, 2025 2:00pm - 3:00pm CDT

SPAC - Hodges Choral Room

The Art of Listening to Songs – Impactful Songwriting examines songs within their historical and social contexts, exploring musical choices that reflect the values and struggles of their eras. The workshop investigates the art of songwriting, especially the delicate balance between the ‘marriage of words and music,’ an essential element in creating songs that resonate emotionally with listeners. It highlights the alignment of melody, harmony, and rhythm with vernacular speech which lends an authentic flavor and feeling to songs that represent the culture and societal movements of their time. The workshop demonstrates how lyrics and music work together to convey deeper meaning. This session features selections from For My People – The Margaret Walker Song Cycle, a contemporary musical adaptation of the poetry of Margaret Walker, a Black poet from Jackson, Mississippi, who gave voice to the African American experience during the civil rights movement. The musical settings in For My People cross boundaries, drawing on popular, contemporary classical, gospel, and blues influences to paint and enhance Walker's poetry. The Art of Listening to Songs offers an immersive exploration into songwriting, guiding songwriters, music students, educators, and musicians on the value of learning to listen deeply to songs. The workshop aims to help creatives elevate their craft by making lyrics come alive to achieve truly impactful songwriting.

Speakers

Randy Klein

composer/pianist/author/educator, Randy Klein Music

Award-winning composer/pianist/author/educator - 4 Emmy - 2 Gold Records. Author: Quickstart Guide To Songwriting. Recordings: Millie Jackson (R&B Hall of Fame), Candi Staton, Lil Kim, Black Sheep, IRT, Savion Glover, Sesame Street. Musicals: Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas... Read More →

Thursday June 5, 2025 2:00pm - 3:00pm CDT
SPAC - Hodges Choral Room 3800 Central Ave, Memphis, TN 38117

Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) Voice Pedagogies and Practices, Workshop

APME Memphis 2025

Randy Klein

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