It’s been a while since I’ve logged into MasterClass. There have been some great new instructors, but this year has been a crazy one. But when I saw their latest class was the St. Vincent Teaches Creativity and Songwriting MasterClass, I couldn’t pass it up.
I have loved every single writing MasterClass to date, every single creative one from wide industries (filmmaking, songwriting, acting), so I had high hopes for the St Vincent MasterClass. This is my review.
St. Vincent Teaches Creativity and Songwriting MasterClass Review
First, let’s check out the spec for the St. Vincent Teaches Creativity and Songwriting Masterclass, and then we’ll get into my review:
- Length of the MasterClass: just under 3 hours
- 16 video modules
- A PDF workbook
- A dedicated community where you can put the exercises into practice and meet likeminded songwriters
The first thing that struck me, which always strikes me about MasterClass, was the production value.
This is a company that started out hiring the best cinematographers and editors and using the best editors in the business, back in the day when they started with big names like Aaron Sorkin, James, Patterson, and David Mamet.
The MasterClasses looked good back then. But they look incredible now.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have taken over 50 MasterClasses at this point (I ranked over 40 of them a little while back), and I noticed that MasterClass ups their game with every single class. Nowhere is this more true than in the St. Vincent Teaches Creativity and Songwriting MasterClass.
Another thing that leaps out at you immediately in this class is the target audience.
I’ve loved some of the female MasterClass instructors (Helen Mirren, Shonda Rhimes, Natalie Portman, Dr. Jane Goodall, and Judy Blume to name just a few). But it is definitely the case that these classes skew towards being female-centric. And the St. Vincent one seems that way from the start.
Annie starts off by talking about her choice to use a stage name and the state of the industry for women who might want to use their real name, real names like Annie Clark. This doesn’t take away from any men who want to learn about songwriting or creativity from this MasterClass, but it might add a shade of nuance and understanding and connection for the female audience.
The aim with the St. Vincent Teaches Creativity and Songwriting MasterClass is to:
- Peel back the curtain on being a professional musician
- Performance tips
- Studio tips
- Songwriting tips
- Guitar tips
- Crafting your own sound
Plus there is a deep dive case study with St. Vincent’s song ‘Saviour’ where she walks you through every part of the songwriting process – from lyrics to countermelody to production.
“The point of a song is to get at the ineffable, and to get at the struggle of what it is to be human.” – St. Vincent a.k.a. Annie Clark
This MasterClass kicks off with a nuanced discussion about the discipline you need to hone in order to cultivate your art.
St. Vincent calls this ‘nun mode’ in which she rejects everything that is not conducive to songwriting.
This is actually a mindset lesson on correcting negative self-talk that sabotages your writing process.
St. Vincent talks about how you can push through that.
One of my personal favourite modules in the St. Vincent Teaches Creativity and Songwriting MasterClass was the insightful module called ‘Every Song Needs an Epiphany’.
I loved the listening exercises – songs by artists like Leonard Cohen, Nirvana, and Stevie Wonder – which are perfect for mapping out the journey the writer goes on, the conflict, the evolution.
This is such a valuable module because you have this artistically successful musician like St. Vincent actually being able to conceptualise these abstract concepts and put them into words that are easy to translate into practical application and action.
Annie’s a good teacher, basically is what I’m saying. And that’s a rare skill.
This module reminded me of the modules in the Martin Scorsese Filmmaking MasterClass in which we watched scenes from great movies like Hitchcock’s Vertigo and be broke them down and analysed them for us.
Another module that was really cool – even for someone like myself who is not going to be recording any songs any time soon – was the module on the basic tools for bedroom composing.
Bedroom composing because Annie recorded her first album in her childhood bedroom at her mother’s house. It was there she learnt to arrange, how to engineer, and how to explore different sounds with her voice.
This is quite a techie module, so it will be good for those artists who are in their bedrooms right now and wanting to know what equipment and software to use.
The bread-and-butter of this MasterClass is Annie taking you by the hand through the entirety of the songwriting process for a song she wrote when she was 16, again in her childhood bedroom: ‘Saviour’.
This is broken down into four modules and around an hour of content and goes from early sketches of the song to chord progression and “proof of concept” to rewriting, revising, refining, expanding with collaborators, embracing counter-melodies, and final mixes.
The ‘Early Sketches’ module was most relevant to me and was not only motivational and inspirational for a writer generally but highly actionable.
There was also a nice surprise for St. Vincent fans in the form of Annie having discovered, by virtue of her friend who had her tape marked ‘My First Single’, the actual early recording of it.
Annie seemed very shy, almost embarrassed of this early piece of musical juvenilia, only wanting to play snapshots of a few seconds at a time, not able to go through the whole thing, but it sounded good to me.
This was another one of my favourite modules in the St. Vincent Teaches Creativity and Songwriting MasterClass.
I’m a “lyrics freak” like Annie too. And this is a loving, informed, artistically sensitive discussion on crafting lyrical thesis statements, drawing people into the world of the song, leaving enough ambiguity so that listeners can impose their own meanings, and making it sound good.
I can’t comment on the guitar modules yet. I’m actually still making my way through some of the amazing guitar exercises in the Tom Morello and Carlos Santana MasterClasses. But if these modules have even a fraction of the insight and joy as the rest, they will be time well spent.
I liked some of the mindset and performer/artist motivational talks. I particularly enjoyed the discussion on how to metabolise shame and use it for your creative output, which is part of the module on humiliation and fear, which then segues into another great module seizing opportunity.
I’m still working my way through the St. Vincent MasterClass, but I can currently recommend it to anyone in any of the creative arts, but especially to songwriters and musicians.
St. Vincent talks compellingly, teaches well, and is motivational whilst providing actionable advice.
I think MasterClass have made a move to only having their All Access Pass, rather than single classes, but I consider that a bargain and one of the best educational, informational, and entertainment investments I’ve made online.
I’ve had my Pass for years now and I love it.
It’s the same cost as a Netflix subscription and provides a hundred times more value.
You can check out the St. Vincent Teaches Creativity and Songwriting MasterClass here.
