http://www.epcorcentre.org/artist-opportunities.html

Mieke Maligne and Sean Sonego were both fortunate to be selected for the Transcanada Alberta Music Series Young Songwriter's Intensive.  Students from Grade 10 - 12 had to apply with their original materials and their own personal background.  This amazing opportunity offers intense, boot-camp style instruction in songwriting, performance skills and technical production. Mieke and Sean will learn with professional teachers and established Albertan musicians.  This workshop is dedicated to inspiring and assisting the next generation of songwriters. 

Mieke will attend from March 19 - 21 at the EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts in Calgary and Sean will attend from March 26-28 at the TransCanada Arts Centre in Olds.

Mieke writes:

I am so excited to have the opportunity to participate in the Epcor Young Songwriters Intensive workshop in Calgary! Going to this workshop means a lot to me because it will help focus my passions of songwriting, singing and performing, and will be a new and different way to develop them. It is a three day workshop that starts with meeting everyone on the Friday night and going to the Soul Sessions performance of the TransCanada Alberta Music Series.  Then the next day will be small group workshops that include vocal and performance technique, songwriting skills and technical knowledge that is required to stage a professional performance. I feel so lucky to be able to get the chance to learn from talented people such as Colleen Brown and Scotty Hills who are two Alberta musicians who are leading the workshops. It will be inspiring to learn from people who have already been successful in what I am trying to do.

I will be bringing one of the songs that I have written to the workshop (my ukulele song “One More Day”) to have it reviewed and get feedback on it, not just from Colleen Brown and Scotty Hills but from the rest of the participants in the workshop too. I will also get to give feedback on other participant’s songs. Then on the Sunday, we will be doing a final performance of our songs in their new improved state.

This workshop also will be fun as it will give me the chance to meet other people my age who share the same passion as I do and give me a chance to also share some of the singing, performing and songwriting experiences that I have gained from being a Pure Artist!  I am sure it will inspire and motivate me to continue to pursue my songwriting and to work towards completing a CD.

There will also be a representative from SOCAN at the workshop so I hope to get a better understanding of what SOCAN does and how it works.

On top of all of that but I am excited to go to Calgary because I have family there who can come to watch our final performance!

Sean adds:

<;span style="font-size: 10pt;">First off it's an honour to just be accepted in the Songwriter's Intensive.

Songwriting is all about self expression and being able to reach people through our music and lyrics. To be able to work with people who have been so successful with writing their own music gives us the opportunity to help expand our knowledge in order to use the skill of expressing ourself effectively. Writing lyrics has always tended to be difficult for me. I began songwriting about a year and a half ago, and to start off I was actually co-writing with my mom. Since I was very new to writing lyrics I felt it was really helpful to start off working with someone that could write really well, and after awhile I began to write on my own. Now I can comfortably write by myself, but there is still a lot of improvment left. 

I feel that having this chance to work with such seasoned singer/songwriters will be a surreal experience that will not only assist and inspire me to build on my craft but it will also help my performance skills and technical production. I can't wait to head out and participate in the songwriting "boot camp", it's going to be a lot of fun!!

Good luck to both Mieke and Sean.  I am certain this experience will be very inspiring and uplifting! 

Congratulations!