The Honolulu Community College Music & Entertainment Learning Experience Program, or MELE, will host the First Annual MELE Songwriters Workshop July 10-12, bringing songwriters and local music professionals and business leaders together for three days of seminars, panels, critiques and networking.
Nationally known songwriters participating in the workshop have combined sales approaching $200 million and work in many genres including pop, rock, urban, country, and Disney film/TV. Among those participating:
-- Disney hit makers Adam Watts and Andy Dodd, who have sales of over $40 million worldwide, with songs on “Hannah Montana,” “High School Musical” and “Camp Rock.” Their song, “Beautiful Soul,” (Jesse McCartney) received the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Pop Award in 2006;
-- Dennis Matkosky, writer of hit songs including “Maniac” from the movie “Flashdance.” He has sales of $60 million, and has written for artists ranging from Diana Ross to Clay Aiken, James Ingram, LeeAnn Rimes and Keith Urban. His songs have been in the Top 10 of Billboard charts in jazz, R&B, adult contemporary, country, rock, pop, Christian and gospel.
-- Craig Wiseman, a three-time winner of the ASCAP Songwriter of the Year award. His song for Tim McGraw, “Live Like You Were Dying,” won the 2005 Grammy for Best Country Song. He also has song-of-the-year winners from the Country Music Awards and the Academy of Country Music. His publishing company, Big Loud Shirt, founded in 2003, has had eight No. 1 hits.
-- Kristal Oliver, a songwriter, performer and producer from the Philadelphia urban music scene who has written for and sung with The Cheetah Girls, Diddy, Danity Kane, Heather Hedley, Kerri Hilson, Raheem DeVaughn, Cassie, Skillz, and Blake Lewis.
The lineup of national songwriters will be joined by local songwriters Noland Conjugacion (Brother Noland), Puakea Nogelmeier and Manu Boyd, and Jon De Mello, founder and CEO of The Mountain Apple Company, the leading record label in Hawai‘i, which distributes locally created music in 88 countries worldwide, including Brother Iz’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” from the first Hawai‘i-produced platinum CD.
Workshop participants will learn how these professionals got started, how the writers honed their craft, what goes into structuring a great song, and what it takes to bring a song successfully into the world of the music industry.
In addition to the sessions on the art and craft of songwriting, the workshop includes song critiques, a participants’ song showcase, and essential information about contracts, royalty structures, management, and dealing with record labels and music publishers.
“MELE exists to teach all aspects of the music industry—creative, technological, and business,” says Keala Chock, who coordinates the program at Honolulu Community College. “The long-term vision is to strengthen the production of music in Hawai‘i—to teach the crafts and skills and disciplines essential to creating music that can thrive in the global business of the 21st century, making its mark in the world for the benefit of Hawai‘i.”
Registration for the workshop is being accepted online at http://melesongwriters.org.
There will also be an opening night concert, “Harbor Lights—The Songwriters Sing,” at Aloha Tower Marketplace on Friday, July 10. Tickets for the concert are available to the public for $20, and can be purchased online via the “registration” page at http://melesongwriters.org.
The Songwriters Workshop is co-sponsored by the ASCAP, Outrigger Enterprises Group, the Hawai‘i State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT), and the Mountain Apple Company.