Once again, Moose Jaw’s Megan Nash is going to be helping a group of songwriters and nature lovers combine their interests.
Nash is one of four facilitators who will be leading the Songwriting 4 Nature camp on Sept. 12-15 at Last Mountain Lake’s Arlington Beach. A similar camp was held back in May.
“It is a program that I have been fortunate to be a part of for the last few years now,” said Nash. “Our mandate is to encourage folks to reconnect with nature and then to explore the songwriting process through that. We do have people who come to these camps that directly write songs about nature and write songs about the spaces that we are in, and then other people get snippets of songs and take it from there. It really varies from person to person.”
While songwriting is one component of the workshop, Nash says they also take time for activities like hiking or birding. She adds it is a great learning experience.
“It is always inspiring to hear about other people’s process,” said Nash. “I grew up on a farm and I live out in the country now, so it is really important for me to be close to nature. I find I draw a lot of inspiration from that as well…I usually leave with a few different ideas.”
Nash, along with fellow facilitators Ryan Hicks, Glenn Sutter and Kara Golemba, will lead several workshops and presentations on songwriting. Eventually, everyone will collaborate on a group song.
“I was fortunate enough to facilitate the last group song, which was really fun. It was an interesting challenge because we had over 20 songwriters contributing to one song, so how do you balance that and make sure everybody gets heard? It was a fun challenge to steer that ship.”
Of course, Nash is also gearing up for her upcoming show at the Cultural Centre on Sept. 7 with special guests Scotch & Water. She says the show will be your first chance to hear some of her new material. Tickets are available now.
“I’m really excited. The Mae Wilson Theatre is one of my favourite places to play in the entire world. I love that theatre. I’m really excited for the band from Germany to come —I still can’t believe they are coming here. I won’t believe it until I pick them up from the airport that they are actually physically in Canada. It is going to be very surreal for me; I met them when I was on tour over there.”
Registration for the songwriting camp is open from now until Aug. 30. The camp is designed for adult songwriters, regardless of experience.
“If you are just a lyricist and you don’t play guitar or an instrument, well that is why these kinds of camps are so beneficial, because maybe you will meet somebody that you want to work with. Or you can work on your lyrics too; you don’t need to be a singer/songwriter to attend these camps,” said Nash.
“At the end of the day, this program encourages you to slow down and to be aware of your surroundings and how you feel. It is about the process.”
More information about the camp and how to register is available online.
