Shropshire’s aspiring songwriters invited to ‘Change Tracks’

During May half term, aspiring young recording artists between the ages of 11 and 18 were given the opportunity to produce a professional quality original recording as part of Shropshire Music Service’s ‘Change Tracks’ project; a four day songwriting and production workshop sponsored by Youth Music. 

The project began at the SMS Centre in Bayston Hill, where attendees received workshops on songwriting, sampling and lyrics. Within less than two days, the students had formed six bands and had written a complete song ready to be recorded. The bands covered an eclectic range of musical genres, including pop, folk, hard rock, punk and indie. 

Their songwriting sessions concluded with a masterclass from Brit award winning musician and producer Kris Halpin. As well as giving each individual band invaluable tips to refine their final song, Kris delivered a session on the importance of recording studio etiquette and efficiency. 

The final two days of the workshop saw the bands travel to Telford College’s industry standard recording studios. Creative intelligence and the ability to work as a team under time constraints were demonstrated by all involved, and the workshop concluded with each band producing a fully mixed and mastered track ready for Spotify or radio! 

Feedback from the project has been outstanding with participants commenting that they loved every minute of it. One parent commented, ‘massive thanks to everyone for putting on this amazing workshop. It gave useful insights into the recording industry and really fired enthusiasm for an industry so important to the UK.’