What previous students have to say:
It was an extraordinary experience. What
made it extraordinary began, I believe, with Darrell's insight to hold
the event at Pura Vida. This combined with the talents of the three
facilitators; Darrell, Mary, and Kenny, and the talents of the 21
participants, made for a truly remarkable week. What you did right was
to create an atmosphere of sharing and trust which enabled all of us to
put ourselves out there, so to speak. As to what you might do better,
beats me. The only thing I can think of is, do it again.
- K.M.
The combination of [Darrell], Mary and Kenny showing us your own
process plus guiding us in the gentle search for truth in our work was more than
inspiring- maybe mind blowing open is a better description. So
much of my life lately has been just hanging on that to be in a safe
cocoon to nurture my work opened a part of me I had sealed off. Art IS the
antidote. Mary's book (Margaret Euland) helped to set the tone.
We all have a voice, a truth that connects us to others. You guys were
vulnerable, which allowed us to be. It's hard to teach that- but you
showed us by example.
- K.B.
I
especially loved the articulate and cogent way (Mary) had of saying the
truth about writing--bottom line and direct--much like her
songwriting. I love her honesty, and her way of talking about writing
and art really resonated with me. I particularly love the way both
she and Darrell affirmed how married and meshed (if not ONE) the way we
live and conduct ourselves in life, and the way we write, really is.
They are not separate endeavors. Who and what we bring to both living
and to writing is the same person, the same way of being. Some of my
favorite things that Mary said really spoke to this.
- R.L.
This retreat/intensive is way, way more than a song writing workshop.
There was such an effective combination of elements: the bodywork, the
wonderful food (perhaps that's where Darrell got the idea for the name
"Songfood"), the completely peaceful, nurturing, supportive environment
for an entire week with like-minded souls, the warm, caring Costa
Rican personnel, the beautiful atmosphere of Costa Rica itself, the
songwriter-leaders deep wells of knowledge and relaxed, open,
interactive way of sharing it... it all blended into a perfect matrix
for opening us to our own senses of identity and truth in song writing,
getting to the heart of what we need from it....or what it needs from
us. And that let us move forward and through many issues varying from
writer's block to moving to higher personal levels in song writing. Tho
it's true that this intensive is not so much about the nuts and bolts
tools and "tricks" of song writing as most, that doesn't mean that
these don't ever come up, either. It's just that nuts and bolts are
just that- scattered nuts and bolts- until you know what you are
putting together. This intensive is more about what it is that you are
putting together, where it's coming from, and where it's going. There's
a little of everything, and the sessions go where students need them to
go.
We students started as complete strangers to each other. We came from
all over the country, and even, in a couple cases, from across the
seas, and from widely varying backgrounds, ages, levels of experience,
and song writing styles. There were experienced, well-known touring
singer-songwriters sitting alongside beginners who could barely play a
guitar and had never played to an audience. In this environment, none
of these differences mattered a bit. We quickly realized that we were
all there "for the sake of the song" (to borrow a line from Townes Van
Zandt, who i don't think would mind), and became highly bonded and
mutually supportive... and even now, many of us keep in touch and even
visit each other. As Mary said, "Find your tribe"... and we did.
Pura Vida also has a deeply rich menu of different kinds of massage,
yoga, and other bodywork and spa services available, as well as options
for excursions for everything from walking thru the coffee-plantation
behind Pura Vida to trips to volcanos and wild raft trips (a photograph
taken of Mary's Gauthier's face as she was being carried on a raft
through big rapids was priceless!). Nothing is mandatory, yet
everything is gently available. You choose what you want and need. The
New Year's Eve feast, bonfire, and view, from above, of literally
hundreds of fireworks displays all over the entire Central Valley
(apparently everyone in Costa Rica can obtain fireworks, and sure do
they love to use them!) was by far the most amazing New Year's Eve I've
ever experienced. All in all, i can't imagine a more supportive and
inspirational environment for writing and creativity than was created
in this retreat.
- Lisa Joyce
I spent a week with Darrell this summer at a songwriting
workshop in the mountains of Wyoming. It is hard to describe it as
anything less than a profound experience - sort of like fusing together
five days of supportive therapy, a graduate poetry seminar, music
lessons, a house concert, church at its best, and a party.
Darrell has a sort of Zen Master vibe that created a space everyone
felt safe in. Our group ran the gamut from working musicians who
perform regularly to folks who were new to the craft and had never sung
any of their songs for anyone. Some students had written a lot, and
others, like me, showed up with a couple of tunes and notebooks full of
song fragments and incomplete ideas and stray thoughts.
Taking his cue from where each person was on his or her
songwriting journey, Darrell structured our time together based on what
fit best with people's goals and interests, rather than starting with a
fixed agenda or a canned curriculum.
In a week, he managed to survey
an awful lot of the landscape that songwriting inhabits. Of course
there was talk about structure, arrangement, meter, rhyme, word choice,
chord progressions, dynamics - what you might expect in a comprehensive
discussion of making songs from scratch. But he was equally helpful on
observation, on listening, on tapping into the authentic and personal,
on honesty, on writing songs that matter both to the one writing them
and to those who hear them.
The man has a natural bent for teaching. His songs show
that he knows very well how to find language to capture a thought, and
that is just as true in his classes. His generous spirit draws people
out, even when that means venturing out of their comfort zone - I
watched as he gently helped a shy student quite literally find her
voice. His memory and musicality enabled him to accompany each of us
as we sang our songs, yet still keep track of what was said in the
third line of the fourth verse of a six minute song. And he found
something to examine in each student's song, no matter what the song
was like, that was useful for all of us.
By the end of the week, I felt like I had the tools I'd long
wanted to channel the impulse that had me scribbling stray lines on the
backs of envelopes into writing songs. And I am doing just that.
I've returned from many vacations feeling rested and
refreshed. This is the only time I've come back from one feeling like
a different person.
-- Fred Renfroe, Berkeley, CA
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