Other recent PSA Seminars...

Steve Seskin
Grammy Nominee

Barbara Cloyd
Hit Songwriter, Booking and
Host of Nashville's Bluebird Cafe

Ted Lowe
Song Screening,
Choice Tracks Inc.

Antoinette Oleson

Song Screening,
head of A&R for Parthenon Music Group Inc.

Steve Gilette
Acclaimed Songwriter, Author

Peter Vaughn Shaver
Entertainment Attorney

Craig Carothers
Acclaimed Singer/Songwriter

Wendy Waldman
Grammy Nominee

If you have an idea for a seminar and/or contact information
please let us know
contact: info@portlandsongwriters.org

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PSA is proud to welcome

Molly Ann Leikin

"How to Be a Hit Songwriter" for Advanced Songwriters

Saturday, September 20th 10am - 4pm
(location TBD)

Members $50 Non-Members $65
registration and info email: info@portlandsongwriters.org

IMPORTANT NOTE: This workshop is for advanced songwriters. And this assignment is for everyone who attends.

Molly’s Songwriting Assignment:

1. Following the guidelines below, please write a new song/lyric/melody to present at the workshop.

2. Please write your song/lyric/melody for someone else to sing, eg: Carrie Underwood or Tim McGraw. Even if you have the best voice in the world, please write this song for someone else who is on the charts now and a name we all know. Elvis has left the building.

3. No slick demo is necessary. One voice/one instrument is fine. A cappella is okay, too. So is a lyric only, or melody only. You could even grunt for three minutes.

4. Make a very simple recording to bring to our workshop – even singing or whistling onto a cassette while in the shower is cool. Performing live is often intimidating, and time consuming, so please bring a recording of some kind, as well as the appropriate player. If you write lyrics only or melodies only, that’s fine, too. Bring what you have, even if your song isn’t finished.

5. Please bring a typed copy of your lyric sheet for each of us at the workshop.

6. Please stick to this song structure: verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus. Don’t forget the bridge!

7. Please go up a major third from the last note of the verse to the first note of the chorus. No minor thirds, no seconds, please – a major third.

8. If you’re brand new to songwriting, you are welcome to join us, but please read one or both of Molly’s books before attending so we can be true to the advanced level of this workshop. Molly Leikin’s books, “How To Write A Hit Song” and “How To Be A Hit Songwriter”, are available in paperback at www.amazon.com.

9. The main focus of our workshop will be learning Molly’s method of strengthening your hustle muscles to powerfully market/pitch your work to all the right people. Remember – they need new artists and great songs as much as you need them.

10. BONUS!! Molly will be happy to do a one-on-one consultation by phone or email after the workshop with everyone who attends. She is offering a special marketing consulting price for PSA members only: one song for $60, five songs for $200, ten songs for $300. All songs must be written by the same writers. We’re on the honor system here. Please bring your recorded material, with a separate lyric for each song, and your check, payable to Songwriting Consultants, Ltd. Molly will take everything home with her, listen several times, making careful notes and getting back to you within a few days. You have the option of a phone or email consultation – pick one. No material will be accepted at this special rate after the workshop.

BIO INFO: Molly-Ann Leikin (rhymes with bacon) was born in Ottawa, Canada and defected with her baritone ukulele to California during a 58 below zero blizzard. The Department of Public Social Services in Los Angeles seemed to think she’d be a good Emergency Intake worker.

Yeah, right.

But it was a day job. And all of Molly’s clients claimed the father of their babies was a rock star, so it was Molly’s job to go after the alleged deadbeat dads for child support. However, instead of Molly helping the underprivileged get off welfare, they got her into the music business.

As a staff writer at Almo Music (A & M Records), then Interworld Music and Chappell Music, over the next ten years, Molly got her songs recorded by almost every pop and country artist on the Billboard charts. Now she has a house full of gold and platinum records, plus an Emmy nomination. She has also written themes and songs for dozens of TV shows and movies, including “Violet,” that won an Oscar.

As successful as she’s been in getting her own songs recorded, Molly is also an international consultant to developing artists. One of her clients has a Grammy nomination, another won an Emmy and thousands of others have made deals with music publishers and record companies.

The author of “How To Write A Hit Song,” “How To Be A Hit Songwriter,” and “How To Make A Good Song A Hit Song”, producer of the best-selling CD collection, “Molly-Ann Leikin’s 9-CD Hit Songwriting Course,” and “Sliced Bread”, a CD of her hot AC and country songs, Molly practices yoga, hikes, collects contemporary art, flosses and lives in southern California.

You can reach her at songmd@songmd.com.

Be sure to check out and take advantage of these and other membership benefits:

PSA Monthly Showcases -
performance free to members

PSA Seminars -
discounted tuition for members
Annual Song Contest and Quarterly Lyric Contest - discounted entries fees for members

Member Web Links - free link to your website and photo inclusion

Collaborator's Corner - free listings for members looking to collaborate with other members
Marketplace - free listings of members' CD releases
Newsletter - new printed newsletters delivered to members who provide mailing address