DB Leonard

Explore the art of Songwriting.

From conception to production, the Song will be broken down into its parts. And then rebuilt using a gentle process that uses you’re very own voice.

Through a study of arrangement and dynamic arrives an understanding of the song’s structure. What makes up its parts, what makes them work on their own and as a whole. What makes a song memorable.

Once the structure is established, we will create our own chord progressions on our instruments. From this base, the melody is generated. With this in mind, lyrics will be composed. Words will be brainstormed and worked into the music. Through a lively discussion of the masters, we will discover how meaning can translate from a personal place into a universal one. How lyrics can be written, channeled, gathered, manipulated to serve the song.

Through a collaborative process, the class will compose an original song. This process will serve to showcase the highlights (and the pitfalls) of the process. It will serve as a basis to better understand the beauty of your own.

I wanted to thank you for a really wonderful semester. I feel like I learned the basics I need if I’m going to get anywhere in the future, and it’s really thanks to how you structured the class and your frankly stellar execution of it. You did such a great job breaking things down to their simplest level but keeping the momentum going at the same time by presenting us with new challenges.

I have been taking guitar lessons with DB Leonard for 5 months now. Not only have I learned the basic techniques of the instrument but I have developed my own voice. The curriculum DB developed pushes me to explore all aspects of guitar and song writing/development. He has opened up a new door for me creatively and I now recommend him to all aspiring guitar players. Music is now a key element in my life thanks to DB’s guidance.

DB Leonard’s work is served by a virtuoso understanding of the music in language. His songs, poetry, and fiction play off each other. Each is informed by an intuitive sense of text’s roots in oral forms. Furthermore, the warmth and intelligence in his diverse body of work readily enables audiences of all kinds to experience the singing underneath, the singing deep within writing.