• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Anne Heaton

  • Home
  • About
  • Work With Me
  • Gallery
  • Blog
  • Stay in Touch

Year in Review

April 25, 2021 4 Comments

Helen working on a story in Creative Writing class

Mid-March 2020, as I was following grocery trips with rigorous showers and collapses into bed, and as I constantly worried about my Dr. brother who was working in a Covid clinic, I also wondered  how my kids would continue learning and how I could live purposefully during such an unusual time? Somewhere in this brain stew, I was inspired to host weekly Creative Writing and Songwriting Classes for children ages 7-10. Even though I’d taught adults and teenagers over Zoom since 2014 (and taught in-person songwriting to children many times), I didn’t know how Zoom classes would fly with the younger kids. It went amazingly well! While it could’ve been better for singing, it was great for writing stories and songs. We played story writing and storytelling games. Some students made books and wanted to publish them!

We learned about the Hero’s Journey and our north star was having fun and cultivating respect & appreciation for others and their created works! The children even ended up leading creativity prompts that they made for each other! Parents reached out because some children wanted 1:1 songwriting lessons, so I said why not?! And so it began. I wish I could share these children’s songs with you! They wrote about their pets, favorite fruits, summer vacation, quarantine, nature and the meaning of life. They cut right to the heart! You may have heard one or two of the group songs on Facebook. One of my personal faves was “Stuff I Do When I’m Bored” where the children seemed to slowly discover, as the listed all the stuff they do, that they weren’t that bored after all 🙂

In May, I facilitated an ongoing hymn-writing workshop for the middle school youth at the UU Church here in Milwaukee. This was a gratitude-creating experience in which the middle-schoolers wrote an antidote to what we often experience in the media, a song called Kindness is Unstoppable!

When spring rounded into summer, Berklee College of Music asked me to teach three sections of Writing Hit Songs in cohorts of 10-15 teenagers each over 12 weeks. So many songs were written, and teens from all over the world, many of whom had been in quarantine for months, got a chance to connect with one another.


Luka’s original version of this classic book

Soul Songs rolled into summer with the continued children’s classes, a middle school aged Songwriting Class and an adult Soul Songs 6 Week Course. The adults in our group showed so much empathy and support for each and they kicked ass on writing songs!

In terms of being an artist, well that was not as easy. I had just released my new album and accompanying storybook, To the Light, and like everyone else, my tour dates were cancelled. The 20-year Live from New York Reunion Tour was also postponed (although we just rebooked it for May 2022) and one of my favorite gigs, the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, where we often connect with many friends, did not happen.

But we stayed connected in other ways! I played online shows, two Live from New York livestreams and I hosted a weekly “To the Light” Book Club where we met and I played one song and read a story and then we all answered discussion questions and made sense of things together. This was a super bright light for me in a really dark time!!! Thank you for being a part of it.

Live from New York being pensive


To the Light Album & Storybook

This Fall, I got a chance to to collaborate with SoulCall and facilitate a Sorrows & Silver Linings Songwriting Workshop. This was a ball. A group of about 15 adults created the beginnings of songs about their experiences of the pandemic during this 90-minute workshop.

Uncategorized

anne

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jerrod says

    June 17, 2021 at 3:27 pm

    Hello Anne,

    I hope your well. My name is Jerrod Robinson I’m from lansing Michigan’s I sell wrist watches, CDs and record albums on eBay.
    When I’m sourcing for my store I love picking up CDs of artists I’ve beaver heard of.
    I picked up a copy of your Black Notebook. I absolutely love it. I did a search and found your sight and just wanted to tell you your music has made my day. I’m looking forward to listening to the rest of your music. Keep it up Anne! Regards

    Jerrod

    Reply
    • anne says

      October 29, 2021 at 1:22 pm

      Thank you so much Jerrod!

      Reply
  2. Soness Stevens says

    November 25, 2021 at 5:47 am

    It sounds like you radiate light even in the darkest times for these kids!

    Reply
  3. Adam Sharma says

    December 14, 2021 at 2:00 am

    Listening to Black Notebook now, a go-to for me. I bought the CD from a live performance in NYC. Maybe the Bitter End circa 1998. Could that be right?

    You’re an amazing performer; glad to see that you’re still creating.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Get 5 Days of Inspiration and Song

Upcoming Shows

Friday, May 13th, 2022
THE BITTER END with LIVE FROM NEW YORK, New York, NY(United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
Saturday, May 14th, 2022
CLUB PASSIM WITH LIVE FROM NEW YORK, Cambridge, MA(United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
Monday, May 16th, 2022
EVANSTONSPACE details TBA, Evanston, IL(United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
Saturday, November 9th, 2019
WOMEN IN ART MUSIC FESTIVAL, East Lansing, MI(United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
Sunday, November 17th, 2019
The Morning Brunch with John Bommarito 107.1, Grand Rapids, MI(United States) Time 10am Tickets: TBA
Sunday, November 17th, 2019
Supporting Susan Werner @EvanstonSPACE, Evanston, IL (United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
Thursday, December 5th, 2019
An Evening of Story & Song w/Natalia Zukerman @ Club Helsinki, Hudson, NY (United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
Saturday, December 7th, 2019
Winterbloom @ Circle of Friends, Franklin, MA (United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
Sunday, December 8th, 2019
CD Release Show @ Club Passim, Cambridge, MA (United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
December 12-14th, 2019
Special Guest on EBird & Friends Holidays Shows @ The Ark, Ann Arbor, MI United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
Sunday, December 15th, 2019
CD PRIVATE HOUSE CONCERT, Ann Arbor, MI (United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
Thursday, December 19th, 2019
CD Release Show @ THE ARK, Ann Arbor, MI (United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
Su nday, December 22nd, 2019
CD Release Show @ EvanstonSPACE, Evanston, IL (United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
Saturday, March 14th, 2020
Private House Concert, South Bend, IN(United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
Thursday, May 14th, 2020
THE LOCKS AT SONA with LIVE FROM NEW YORK, Philadelphia, PA(United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
Friday, May 15th, 2020
THE BITTER END with LIVE FROM NEW YORK, New York, NY(United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
Saturday, May 16th, 2020
CLUB PASSIM WITH LIVE FROM NEW YORK, Cambridge, MA(United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
Monday, May 17th, 2020
EVANSTONSPACE details TBA, Evanston, IL(United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
June 15th - 19th
BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC 5-DAY SINGER SONGWRITER WKSHP, Boston, MA(United States) Time TBATickets: TBA
July 19th-25th
SUMMER SONGS CAMP, Stony Point, NY (United States) Time TBATickets: TBA

Recent Posts

  • Year in Review
  • To the Light is here!
  • How Do You Handle Change?
  • MLK, Wagon Rides, Paul McCartney and Ice Cream
  • As It Is On The Treadmill So It Is In Life :)

Archives

Copyright © 2023 Anne Heaton All Rights Reserved