This workshop will be a day immersed in the songs Ali has created, taught by her in her inimitable organic style. Her workshops are inspirational, and she produces a beautiful sound within minutes.

Ali Burns has been delighting choirs and singers for over 30 years with her beautifully crafted songs, which have lovely harmonies for all singers, so not just those with the tune!

Ali Writes: “All these years later I’m still completely in love with the creative process of song-writing. The careful binding of text, melody and harmony constantly fascinates me and I’m drawn to elegantly sparse lyrics that leave the work with the listener. But I also write because I have to – it’s how I stay sane in this bonkers world and how I process the inner landscape of my life.”

Ali talks of herself as a ‘Songmaker’:

“At some point I began using art and craft projects as a way of supporting my song making. Part of my creative process is generally to have a slow-moving theme that I sit with for a few years. For a long time, I wrote about my relationship to the land. And for 10 years or so I explored belonging and community. I’ve also written many songs about surviving grief. And now I’m mostly thinking and writing about transition to a low carbon lifestyle as our climate changes. 

At first art allowed me a place to just be creative without too much investment in the finished piece. But as time has passes it become more and more important to me and these days a song idea may become a painting, a video or something more sculptural before, or while, it emerges as a song. What I do know is that painting and making allows me to think deeply about an idea. My finished songs may look simple but there’s often a hidden mass of work behind them.”

You are in for a treat!