Karine Polwart encourages music students to work together

This year’s special workshop at the City of Edinburgh Music School was given by Karine Polwart. Judging from the number of pupils in the room this was a very popular choice.

Karine’s mission was to explain her songwriting process to the students, and she presented an absorbing and illuminating 90 minutes of top tips and demonstrations.

She began by explaining how most of her songwriting work is the result of collaborations, and demonstrated this by letting the class hear how a song written with Martin Green (Lau), for the Edinburgh International Festival show FLIT, came together. The fragment of the tune sent to Karine by Martin elicited feelings and mood about the subject matter, then Karine used the written source material provided to help her write lyrics and melody line over Martin’s piece.

She was also able to show how the song, Suitcase, was adapted again by collaboration with her regular band of Stephen Polwart and Inge Thomson.

The young musicians were very much encouraged to work with each other, and to think about the complementary talents of their peers. Karine told them that it is very unusual to find a songwriter who works totally alone, so if there are parts of the process they are not so good at they should ask for help

The class also heard how it’s possible to soak up influences from other musicians without plagiarising their work, and look for inspiration in other art forms.

A highlight of the afternoon was when two young pupils showcased their own songwriting and received encouragement from Karine and the rest of the class. She talked about the importance of finishing a song even if it is never to see the light of day.

It was a magical session and we look forward to hearing more from the young musicians in the coming years

Karine Polwart will be appearing at Edinburgh Tradfest with Dave Milligan on Thursday 5 May 2022 at Traverse One.