Go to Activities

EcoLit Songwriting Workshop

  • Event
  • 3.-4.
  • Sep 2026,
  • 10:00 am
We are pleased to announce two songwriting workshops taking place September 3–4, 2026! Those interested can register for one of the two workshops starting now. Each workshop lasts two days, and attendance on both days is required. The workshops will take place in Cologne.
The workshop is open to anyone 16 years of age or older and will be held in German and English. Musicians, songwriters, and anyone who is new to writing or has a passion for writing, music, literature, and nature are invited to attend.
The exact workshop locations will be announced by email one week before the event begins. The schedule for the two days is as follows:
September 3 Day 1: 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. (outdoors; lunch will be served on site)
September 4 Day 2: 3:00–7:00 p.m. (indoors; snacks will be served on site)
At the end of the workshop, participants will have the opportunity to perform on September 7 at the Orangerie Theater as part of EcoLits’ closing event: Wondrous Relations: A Festival of Arts, Education, and Ecology.
The workshop leaders will provide further information about the performance at the Orangerie during the songwriting workshop.
In this workshop, participants will explore organic sounds, instruments, and improvisation.
About the workshop:
Nature is full of sounds, moods, and inspiration. In this workshop, we’ll combine perception with creativity. Together, we’ll discover how impressions, sounds, and feelings can come together to create a song. With Zainab Lax (music therapist) and Joël Joao (singer-songwriter), we’ll develop lyrics, melodies, and rhythms—and maybe even write a song about nature together.
The workshop will take place on September 3 and 4, partly outdoors (location to be announced). On the first day, we’ll awaken our senses outdoors through mindfulness, movement, and initial poetic and sonic sketches. On the second day, these ideas will come together in collaborative songwriting: lyrics will be crafted, melodies discovered, and brought together in groups to form vibrant arrangements.
We’ll be coming in the music van, so there will be plenty of instruments. No prior experience necessary.
In this workshop, participants will explore various approaches to songwriting inspired by nature and literature.
About the workshop:
Björk — “When I write a song, I see a tunnel, and then the chorus is an open space, or the bassline takes on this shape. I see songs more as a geometric, spatial experience.”
John Lennon — “It’s very easy; all you have to do is say what you mean, make it rhyme, andadd a backbeat .”
Tori Amos — “Playing other people’s songs is such a learning experience. When you immerse yourself in those songs (…), eventually you begin to see possibilities you wouldn’t have known about if you hadn’t been exposed to them.”
Leonard Cohen — “You lose your grip, and then you slip / Into the Masterpiece.”
There are as many different approaches to songwriting as there are people in the world. That’s why this songwriting workshop is primarily about exploring different songwriting processes: from the initial inspiration to the finished song. We’ll focus on the theme of nature in songwriting and literature—nature as inspiration, nature as a score, and nature as a place of creation.
The two-day songwriting workshop will be led by Sophia Spies and Wolfgang Pérez. Sophia Spies, also known as Faira, has been writing, composing, and producing experimental folk music in both English and German for 20 years. This October, she will release the final installment of her current EP trilogy, “Skies, Waters, Whys,” on the Cologne/Berlin-based label Papercup Records. Wolfgang Pérez blends influences from pop, Brazilian Tropicalia, jazz, and electronic music in his work. His latest album, “Só Ouço,” which he recorded in Rio de Janeiro, was released in 2025 on the British label Hive Mind Records.
The workshop will take place on September 3 and 4, partly outdoors (location to be announced). We’ll start with a listening session in a green space and then explore various playful creative tools for individual songwriting. On September 7, there will be an optional public performance where participants can present the songs they wrote during the workshop. The workshop leaders will also play a short concert to wrap things up.
You can come with song ideas you’ve already started working on, or even if you’ve never written a song before!
What you bring to the table:
Notebook, pen,
If available: guitar or other portable instruments
If you’d like: song sketches, poems, and lyrics you’ve already started

More posts

Event

We are pleased to announce two songwriting workshops taking place September 3–4, 2026! Those interested can register for one of the two workshops starting now. Each workshop last

© 2026 Ecocritical Literacy in Music- and Literature-based Practices of Arts Education

Contact

Ecolit Logo in weißer Schrift mit grünen Plfanzen, die die Schrift umranken
Contact

Thank you for your interest in EcoLit!

If you have any questions or suggestions or would like to be included in our newsletter, simply send us an e-mail. We look forward to hearing from you!

Contact

Thank you for your interest in EcoLit! Should you have any questions, feedback, or simply want to learn more about our work and collaborations, please use the form below to get in touch. We look forward to hearing from you!