Songwriting Part 1 of 5

A Dream Set Free

Check out this clip that I caught on my Voice Memos App on my iPhone and some video footage of the campground.

How many times have you had your dream set free? Here is one of my dreams being set free and I want to share it with you.

A Dream Set Free is a beautiful new song written by me and my friends at the 16th annual Taproot Teacher Training, hosted by Jean Miller, of Art of Homeschooling and Barbara Dewey of Waldorf Without Walls.

Over 30 amazing friends came together for this training and retreat from all over the USA to Camp Asbury in Ohio. These incredible parents and teachers are changing the world on breath of love at a time. 

It was an inward and outward, playful and collaborative project that was so amazing!

Guess who was in this session?

Amber Hellewell of Hearth Magic and published author of the new book, A Summer's Call: A Michigan Day.

What a great start to our session, having her with us.

In the water with my mermaid friends

Amber, Dani, and Viktoriya, we created the first verse.

It was Friday afternoon, on August 5, 2022. Our session was booked down by the Lake Pavillon.

Dani, from The Everlasting Tree School.

She is a teacher at this school, which is deeply rooted in Haudenosaunee culture and language, and inspired by Waldorf teaching methods.

We all got in the lake for a refreshing swim and then we decided to carry my guitar high above my head to sit out on the floating dock. 

5 Steps for Writing a Song:

1. Musical idea
2. Theme
3. Mood
4. Tempo
5. Lyrics

First I played them a song I wrote called, Memories and Dreams.

Then I played them a different song I wrote on guitar without words.

Then, I asked them if they would help me write the lyrics for it, after we decided the theme would be about dreams coming true.

We did some brainstorming.

It is really cool how this new song became an extension of Memories and Dreams.

Amber, Dani, and I collectively came up with these lyrics:

"A dream is just a simple thing,

It starts as a seed.

A wish deep within your heart,

That longs to be freed.

Planted deep, and still asleep...."

Viktoriya thought she was not part of our project, but little does she know that she was very important.

As she went paddle boarding all around us, she came over to listen, giving us feedback of how it sounded. 

Next we began writing the 2nd verse that would include some pain and tension, the conflict. 

The 2nd verse was about rain and thunder, we wrote,

"it's gonna rain and thunderstorm..." 

And no joke, Viktoriya and Dani saw the lightning bolt and we all heard a loud burst of thunder.

We had to get out of the lake and it abruptly ended our Friday session!

Check out Part 2 Now