Replay: Robbie Fulks shares Five Things He's Learned about The Nature of Songs
Check out the first five minutes of his recent class.
“We all know about words as carriers of meaning and building blocks of ideas and stories, but what about the other two big song elements, tone and rhythm, why are those so appealing and powerful? When a song strikes us as a standout in its compositional grace, what are the characteristics at play?”
– Robbie Fulks, Five Things I've Learned about The Nature of Songs
Robbie Fulks is a singer, recording artist, instrumentalist, composer, and songwriter whose 2017’s Upland Stories, earned year’s-best recognition from NPR and Rolling Stone among many others, as well as two Grammy nominations, for folk album and American roots song. His album Bluegrass Vacation is the most recent in a long-line of great releases. His albums Country Love Songs (1996) and South Mouth (1997) -- even helped define the "alternative country" movement of the 1990s. Here’s the first five minutes of his recent two-hour class in which Robbie shares Five Things He’s Learned about some of the essential elements that enable music of all kinds to communicate, cohere, and endure.
Five Things I’ve Learned about The Nature of Songs offers a deep exploration of the nature and function of songs. Mixing practical insights, historical perspectives, and concrete examples, Robbie covers the grammar of pop songs, the social function of songs throughout history, the significance of performance over composition, some of his favorite storytelling techniques, and his sense of the lasting impact of good songs.
If you’re interested in what makes great music work and how great musicians think about their craft, this class is for you.
Robbie learned guitar from his dad, banjo from Earl Scruggs and John Hartford records, and fiddle on his own. His music from the last several years returns him in part to his earlier bluegrass days, while at the same time extending the boundaries of that tradition with old-time rambles and sparely orchestrated reflections on love, the slings of time, and the troubles of common people.
Robbie knows whereof he speaks, and he brings his guitar, too!
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