Workshops
Looping Workshop with Gina Sobel
Saturday, April 12 from 1:30-3:30 pm
Master the Art of Looping!
Join Gina Sobel for an interactive looping workshop where you’ll learn the fundamentals of looping in a fun, hands-on setting. She’ll start with a live demonstration of essential looping techniques, then you’ll have the chance to practice—whether on her gear or your own. Gina will be there to guide you through troubleshooting and help you overcome common looping challenges.
Bring the instrument you plan to loop with (yes, your voice counts!) along with any looping gear you own. Small amps are welcome, too! For teens and adults.
More About Gina
I grew up outside of DC in a home filled with jazz. When I was a kid, my dad’s jazz trio rehearsed at the house and I would play along with the melodies. Eventually, they told me I couldn’t keep playing with them unless I started improvising, so I guess that’s where it all began! Improvising is my passion, in any genre really – I love figuring out how to serve the song and lift the music, and I love helping others to do the same. I discovered old-time and folk music in college and fell in love with that as well – a lot of my music brings together jazz and American folk in a way that feels very natural to me. I really enjoy finding a way to engage my students with music they care about, and I like to teach technique and theory through songs, it’s more fun that way! Whether I’m in my teaching studio, on tour or in the studio, I’m most excited about making great music with great people.
Writing Great Choruses: A Songwriting Workshop with Lilly Bechtel
Saturday, May 17th from 1:30 – 4:30PM
In this collaborative workshop, we will dive into the question of what makes a great chorus and how we can strengthen the choruses in our own songs. What are some of our favorite choruses and what do they have in common? What makes a refrain effective, and how can we use repetition more thoughtfully and effectively?
This workshop will consist of a dynamic blend of writing, reading poems, and listening to music, and will leave students with further prompts, writing exercises, and tools to expand their sense of possibility in their songwriting. The overarching workshop structure will move in response to the curiosities and goals of those present, and beginner songwriters (as well as the songwriting curious!) are welcome and encouraged.
Skills Required:
This workshop is open to all levels — no prior songwriting experience is necessary. Curiosity, a love of music, and a willingness to experiment are all you need! Ages 18+.
What to Bring:
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A notebook and something to write with
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Optional: the name of a song with a chorus you love (you can also email this ahead of time to Lilly at nightteachermusic@gmail.com)
About the Instructor:
Lilly Bechtel is a poet, musician, and trauma-informed yoga instructor with over 15 years of experience leading creative writing and mindfulness workshops. Her music has been noted in Relix magazine and featured on NPR, and her writing has appeared in Poetry, elephant journal, The Huffington Post, Barrow Street Journal, The Faster Times, The Brooklyn Rail, and USA Today.
Lilly is a recipient of a fellowship from The Vermont Studio Center, and in July 2020, she completed her MFA in Poetry from Warren Wilson College. Since returning to her hometown of Charlottesville, she continues to write and perform music under the name Night Teacher. She is currently at work on her first poetry collection, The Likelihood of Touch, as well as her next album, In a Past Life I Was a Human Being, which will be released in October 2025.