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1 – 4 May inclusive.
Spring Songwriting Workshop.

The workshops will run from 10 am – 12.30pm and 2.30 pm – 5.00 pm each day. The rates are £230.00 per person for the four days. A deposit of £100.00 secures each place, the remainder due on arrival. Payment can be made by cheque, payable to: Faymus Productions and posted to: Faymus Productions, PO Box 127 Launceston PL15 8WX or Paypal using debit or credit card via the CD shop on this website. Please apply by email to: info@mikesilver.co.uk giving a phone number where you can be reached. Mike will then call you for a brief chat, just to see what your individual expectations are.

Accommodation needs to be booked separately by the students: there is one particular B&B that we would recommend, once a booking is confirmed, however it is extremely popular and would need to be booked early. Otherwise, a quick ‘Google’ to Cornish B&B is certain to bear fruit.

The fee includes a light lunch each day of perhaps homemade soup with bread or local cheeses and salad with fresh fruit. Tea, coffee and fruit drinks and bottled drinking water will be available on a help yourself basis throughout the day.

Because the October workshop was so successful there was always a very good chance that Mike would want to repeat the process, if for no other reason than that everyone enjoyed themselves so much; people teamed up and wrote stuff together and it was terrific to see how well the students got along. Good humour abounded alongside a strong sense of getting down to the task of releasing and sustaining the flow of creativity. At the end of the four days, on the Sunday night, all the students and their partners were the guests of Mike and his wife Julie for dinner at their house followed by an evening of music and song. People tried out some of the songs they’d worked on during the week as well as playing some of their personal favourites too. Naturally the same invitation will be extended to the students for the end of this week as well!

The workshop venue is a charming spacious cottage: it has a generous sized morning room with a long table for the whole group to get together at the beginning of each session but also has some other smaller rooms available for people who want to work in smaller groups, pairs or simply need a bit of solitude. Students are welcome to bring their own devices for recording; Mini Disk/Laptops etc. with them and if anyone wants to preserve something they have written and they have the means to do so, there is a summer house in a corner of the large garden, available for this purpose.

Sadly no-one can ever guarantee our weather but for natural beauty the month of May, when all the wild flowers are blooming, is Cornwall’s finest hour. The area around the cottage has some wonderful walks and the coastal village of Crackington Haven is not far away. So while their other halves are slaving over notebooks and/or instruments, the students’ partners can fill their boots or perhaps take a short drive up the A 39 to check out the shops in Bude for a little diversion. For those wishing to go farther a-field there many tourist attractions available, most of which can be accessed via the Internet.

The tuition available on the course is fundamentally aimed at writing and composition but not limited to that. Mike can help with guitar technique (open tunings/finger-style/chord inversions etc) and vocal training too. In the interests of everyone receiving the right amount of individual tuition over the four day period, the numbers are limited to six students.

Here are a couple of comments from the course that Mike tutored in October:

The idyllic setting of Mike’s songwriting course is well suited to his subtle teaching methods. You arrive full of doubt and trepidation and after a very short while begin to feel confident. I returned home refreshed and motivated. I would recommend this experience to anyone with an interest in lyric writing and/or musical composition. Linda Watkins

Mike’s workshop in 2007 was relaxed and informative with just the right balance of work and fun. There was a good mix of novices and more experienced song-writers all of whom came away with something new and who with Mike’s guidance and encouragement managed to work together as a team and come up with some great stuff! Lynne Whiteland

He got rhythm’ and plenty of it but he’s got a whole lot more besides as well. Mike Silver is a truly gifted singer/songwriter and an amazing guitarist. He offers just the right balance of encouragement and disciplined guidance.

Mike’s informal tutorial style is well fitted to the task of bringing the best out of his sensitive charges be it with songwriting, guitar or performance, or a heady mix of all three.. - Paul Cherry

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"Mike's workshop in Cornwall in October 2007 exceeded my already high expectations, having attended a similar event with him in France the previous year.  The venue, surroundings and ambience were perfect, and there was a general atmosphere of restful creativity throughout, all supported by Mike's gentle but always right on the money prompting, whether in advising on the lyrical content or the accompaniment. The small and intimate scale of the group helped enormously and there was plenty of time for collaboration, working on your own, or working with Mike.  One of the things I've learned from events like this is that the benefits aren't always immediate or apparent, but come out gradually, especially when you recognise the improvements in your writing and performing. That's the real value.

I would recommend the Mike Silver experience to anyone who wants to take their first tentative steps in songwriting or to enhance the skills they already have.  You'll learn, improve, make lasting friendships and have fun in a wonderful place - what more could you hope for?" -  David Stevenson

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This week was one of the most musically inspiring times I have known.  Within two weeks of the workshop, I had written two songs that directly came from that time.

Music aside - what fun! -  John Stannard.

When you bring together two seasoned professional singers each with their own solo standing, to write, record and perform like this there is a risk that the result might disappoint. There is no fear of that in this case.

Johnny and Mike toured together in 2005 and 2006 and the audiences loved it. They will love this, too, and I think one reason might be that it is really a trio album. Mick Dolan has done a superb job at his studio in Trelash, North Cornwall and I reckon his name deserves to be in bigger print!

Postcards From Cornwall is one of my favourites on this CD. Another of many highlights is the down-home rootsy blues of Main Man's Ear in which the two voices come together so well you wonder why they left it so long to get around to this. The country reworking of Karine Polwart’s The Sun's Coming Over The Hill is glorious as is the mayhem of Robbie Robertson's Up on Cripple Creek. Oh ... and don't be in too much of a hurry to take the CD out of the player ... there’s an absolute gem that will reward your patience. There are three songs on this CD co-written by Mike and Johnny. One of which is called We Had it All.

No need for the past tense, boys.  - Phil Thomas