WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.760 align:middle line:90% All right, man. 00:00:04.760 --> 00:00:06.660 align:middle line:90% Did you give anybody prompts? 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:07.920 align:middle line:90% Was there like a theme? 00:00:07.920 --> 00:00:10.240 align:middle line:90% Thanks for asking. 00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:12.880 align:middle line:84% When I'm first working with folks, 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:14.620 align:middle line:90% sometimes I'll give prompts. 00:00:14.620 --> 00:00:17.260 align:middle line:84% But this is an interesting thing. 00:00:17.260 --> 00:00:21.368 align:middle line:84% I feel like it's my responsibility to step out 00:00:21.368 --> 00:00:22.660 align:middle line:90% of the way as much as possible. 00:00:22.660 --> 00:00:25.240 align:middle line:84% So most of these songs didn't have prompts. 00:00:25.240 --> 00:00:26.140 align:middle line:90% And there's a risk. 00:00:26.140 --> 00:00:29.200 align:middle line:84% I realized when I first started working with spellers, 00:00:29.200 --> 00:00:33.540 align:middle line:84% I have preconceptions about what songs are supposed to be about. 00:00:33.540 --> 00:00:35.460 align:middle line:84% And so even just by giving a prompt, 00:00:35.460 --> 00:00:38.860 align:middle line:84% I risk making our product more neurotypical, 00:00:38.860 --> 00:00:42.540 align:middle line:84% basically, which is like what I want to avoid-- 00:00:42.540 --> 00:00:47.245 align:middle line:84% never want to put any kind of my blinders on accidentally. 00:00:47.245 --> 00:00:48.620 align:middle line:84% So the vast majority of the time, 00:00:48.620 --> 00:00:49.600 align:middle line:84% especially with the folks that I've 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:52.120 align:middle line:84% been working with for a long time, we just start the session 00:00:52.120 --> 00:00:54.580 align:middle line:84% and I say-- what do you feel like writing about today? 00:00:54.580 --> 00:00:56.420 align:middle line:90% What's been on your mind? 00:00:56.420 --> 00:00:59.240 align:middle line:90% Sometimes we do-- 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:01.920 align:middle line:84% I think of it as being the equivalent of a body scan. 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:05.010 align:middle line:84% In a yoga class, you do a body scan and feel 00:01:05.010 --> 00:01:06.450 align:middle line:84% where you might be holding tension 00:01:06.450 --> 00:01:10.890 align:middle line:84% or where you might be feeling a little nervousness 00:01:10.890 --> 00:01:13.350 align:middle line:84% or feeling a little excitement in your body. 00:01:13.350 --> 00:01:15.650 align:middle line:84% And I ask a lot of these collaborators 00:01:15.650 --> 00:01:18.530 align:middle line:84% to do a similar thing-- like in their mind, 00:01:18.530 --> 00:01:22.470 align:middle line:84% in their consciousness, scan recent memories, 00:01:22.470 --> 00:01:25.030 align:middle line:84% long-term memories, scan the future, 00:01:25.030 --> 00:01:26.570 align:middle line:90% what we're looking forward to. 00:01:26.570 --> 00:01:31.250 align:middle line:84% And similarly looking for knots-- 00:01:31.250 --> 00:01:35.210 align:middle line:84% K-N-O-T-S-- knots of anticipation or a little bit 00:01:35.210 --> 00:01:39.330 align:middle line:84% of discomfort or a little bit of curiosity or whatever it might 00:01:39.330 --> 00:01:44.450 align:middle line:84% be, and then just follow that toward an image or toward 00:01:44.450 --> 00:01:47.470 align:middle line:84% a phrase, and then build our song from there. 00:01:47.470 --> 00:01:50.370 align:middle line:84% But it's really, really, really student-directed. 00:01:50.370 --> 00:01:54.490 align:middle line:84% And that feels super important for me and also super 00:01:54.490 --> 00:01:56.890 align:middle line:84% important to articulate, just to shine the light back 00:01:56.890 --> 00:01:57.910 align:middle line:90% on these writers. 00:01:57.910 --> 00:02:01.130 align:middle line:90% They're doing it on their own. 00:02:01.130 --> 00:02:03.002 align:middle line:90% Is Grace here. 00:02:03.002 --> 00:02:03.710 align:middle line:90% Do we have Grace? 00:02:03.710 --> 00:02:04.940 align:middle line:90% Not sure. 00:02:04.940 --> 00:02:08.120 align:middle line:84% This was also written at one of our songwriting camps. 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:11.440 align:middle line:84% I think this is one of my favorite. 00:02:11.440 --> 00:02:12.960 align:middle line:90% I love the turn of phrase. 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:15.020 align:middle line:84% This is called Stalking Straight Line-- 00:02:15.020 --> 00:02:20.120 align:middle line:84% S-T-A-L-K-I-N-G. And it's a railroad song, 00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:22.400 align:middle line:84% but it's not your typical railroad song. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:25.180 align:middle line:90% I think this one slaps. 00:02:25.180 --> 00:02:26.440 align:middle line:90% So this is by Grace. 00:02:26.440 --> 00:02:29.290 align:middle line:90% [GUITAR PLAYING] 00:02:29.290 --> 00:02:32.580 align:middle line:90% 00:02:32.580 --> 00:02:37.140 align:middle line:84% (SINGING) I love the way they sound 00:02:37.140 --> 00:02:39.440 align:middle line:90% Rolling out of town 00:02:39.440 --> 00:02:43.860 align:middle line:84% I feel the stalking of the straight line 00:02:43.860 --> 00:02:47.280 align:middle line:90% On the train line 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:51.260 align:middle line:90% I see the sky moving by 00:02:51.260 --> 00:02:53.600 align:middle line:90% The train seems to fly 00:02:53.600 --> 00:02:58.100 align:middle line:84% I feel the stalking of the straight line 00:02:58.100 --> 00:03:01.400 align:middle line:90% On the train line 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:05.540 align:middle line:90% I see the trains outside 00:03:05.540 --> 00:03:07.980 align:middle line:90% I know too, right 00:03:07.980 --> 00:03:10.620 align:middle line:90% I hear the machines 00:03:10.620 --> 00:03:16.180 align:middle line:90% Moving, riding up a mountain 00:03:16.180 --> 00:03:19.140 align:middle line:90% Next stop, all right 00:03:19.140 --> 00:03:22.900 align:middle line:90% It's a long ride tonight 00:03:22.900 --> 00:03:25.820 align:middle line:90% Living free 00:03:25.820 --> 00:03:28.680 align:middle line:90% Come on and ride with me 00:03:28.680 --> 00:03:33.140 align:middle line:84% I feel the stalking of the straight line 00:03:33.140 --> 00:03:35.980 align:middle line:90% On the train line 00:03:35.980 --> 00:03:38.780 align:middle line:90% I feel the machines 00:03:38.780 --> 00:03:42.940 align:middle line:90% Moving, riding up a mountain 00:03:42.940 --> 00:03:45.700 align:middle line:90% I hear the machines 00:03:45.700 --> 00:03:48.600 align:middle line:90% Moving, riding up a mountain. 00:03:48.600 --> 00:03:51.570 align:middle line:90% [GUITAR PLAYS] 00:03:51.570 --> 00:04:08.366 align:middle line:90% 00:04:08.366 --> 00:04:11.330 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:04:11.330 --> 00:04:12.350 align:middle line:90% 00:04:12.350 --> 00:04:15.070 align:middle line:90% Awesome. 00:04:15.070 --> 00:04:20.630 align:middle line:84% I think this is a big part of my creative life, 00:04:20.630 --> 00:04:23.250 align:middle line:90% collaborating with spellers. 00:04:23.250 --> 00:04:26.130 align:middle line:84% And then also, I'm a touring singer songwriter, 00:04:26.130 --> 00:04:28.830 align:middle line:84% writing my own work and playing with a band 00:04:28.830 --> 00:04:31.610 align:middle line:84% and putting out records of my own and whatever. 00:04:31.610 --> 00:04:37.590 align:middle line:84% And I'm always trying to find, in my own work, 00:04:37.590 --> 00:04:40.590 align:middle line:84% like turns of phrase that where the meaning is immediately 00:04:40.590 --> 00:04:44.910 align:middle line:84% understandable, but also that people haven't heard before. 00:04:44.910 --> 00:04:49.310 align:middle line:84% And it's kind of riding this line between cliche, but then 00:04:49.310 --> 00:04:52.523 align:middle line:84% with just the tiniest little twist or something. 00:04:52.523 --> 00:04:54.190 align:middle line:84% That's what makes a great song, I think, 00:04:54.190 --> 00:04:58.930 align:middle line:84% is something that's familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. 00:04:58.930 --> 00:05:03.456 align:middle line:84% And the stalking of the straight line is exactly that. 00:05:03.456 --> 00:05:05.410 align:middle line:90% You know exactly what it means. 00:05:05.410 --> 00:05:08.292 align:middle line:84% It's so stalking, but never would 00:05:08.292 --> 00:05:09.750 align:middle line:84% have thought to write it like that. 00:05:09.750 --> 00:05:11.160 align:middle line:90% So good.