June 10-12, 2005
“I have been teaching songwriting for 15 years, and am as excited by each new workshop as I was by the first. The creative act is an encounter between the human and the divine, or at the very least, between our everyday selves and a Self that is larger, wiser, and more loving. In nearly all the workshops I’ve taught, I’ve discovered at least one world-class songwriter, quite often two or three. As a result, I’ve become an advocate of decentralized, community-based distribution of the work of these amateurs, that is, people who do this work out of love. Songs at their best can be healing for the composer, the community, and the culture. Music heals. Rhythm, rhyme, melody, harmony, and meter seem to be hard-wired in us. For everyone from regular folks to those with brain injuries, songs get past emotional defenses. I teach my songwriters how to become better shamans.”
”After outlining spiritual, psychological, literary, and musical resources that are available, I ask each person: What kind of song do you admire, but can’t imagine yourself writing? The response guides an exchange in which I devise a songwriting assignment designed to re-frame, then transcend, the difficulty so the budding song writer can bring back, prepared to sing, a first draft of the song in less than a day. The inner critic is banished and the group becomes a more compassionate and accurate outer critic. The deadline isn’t comfortable, but is wonderfully productive in getting past blocks. Everyone is a beginner in trying something new and challenging, so the footing is equal. Together we determine what works well and what doesn’t.“
“Our spiritual guides, implicitly or explicitly, are Rainer Maria Rilke and Brenda Ueland, who present the creative act as both a profound responsibility and as a great, imminently available joy. I’ve been midwife and witness to the creation of many amazing songs over the past 15 years. My workshops are difficult, but as Rilke says, the difficult is essential. Like all creation, they are also fun, occasionally scary, but ultimately safe. I love doing this work and, by experience and grace, I am good at it.”
Bob Franke has taught many dozens of songwriting and guitar workshops, for which he is consistently given rave reviews. He began his career as a singer-songwriter in 1965 and is now at the peak of his craft, spiritually generous, and brimming with wisdom. Tom Paxton says, “It’s his integrity. I always think of Bob as if Emerson and Thoreau had picked up acoustic guitars and gotten into songwriting. There’s touches of Mark Twain and Buddy Holly in there, too.” Bob’s songs are considered classics, fueled by his deep faith and the real-life lessons taught him by his 40 years of playing everywhere from concert halls to street corners. Seasoned veterans and novices alike are drawn to the complex, warm-hearted spirituality and captivatingly clear-cut melodies of Franke’s songs.
“In the folk singer-songwriter realm, Franke is simply the best.”
— Larry Kelp, Express, Berkeley, CA
“ . . . a singer-songwriter unsurpassed for his lyrical grace . . . one of our wisest and most spiritually graceful songwriters”
—The Boston Globe, Boston, MA