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To follow up from our Songwriters weekend, I want to let you
hear from Incubator recording artist, Judy
Deans. We are blessed to work with her and I'm pretty sure you're
going to find her enthusiasm contagious!....
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Tami Rowbotham....
Vice President, A&R....
Incubator Creative Group....
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Now here's Judy.......
It was SUCH an incredible time with my Songwriting Coach,
Producer, Incubator Executives, and six other
artists in the coop!....
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God enabled my artist’s heart to soar beyond the skies on
account of this amazing Incubator Family and Songwriting
Retreat! With excitement as a little child, I flew to the Incubator campus,
located on the other side of the country. Appropriately called the ‘Villa
Ingineux’ (meaning ‘House of Ideas’,) the accommodations were created
specifically for artists! As I was whisked away to the dreamy Villa, I knew
this was going to be a visit like none other …and that it was! Getting special
time with Sheryl, my Songwriting Coach, and Leon, my Producer was more than a
delight. I’ve been working with them in creating my original material remotely
for quite some time now, have prayed for Sheryl as she underwent Lymphoma last
year, and have gleaned from she and Leon’s vast expertise from many miles away.
Now, tangibly seeing them; hearing their hearts and knowledge from training
sessions, personal song critiques, and over meals and breaks was an experience
I could never replace, for lack of better words. Though my brain felt much like
mush at the end of each day, God filled this heart with such encouragement and
a new found sense of excitement along with an ‘I can do this …yes, I am a
songwriter!’ The enemy really likes to battle my creative soul when it comes to
this songwriting department, but God beautifully showed me the lies I was
unconsciously bending toward and His truth which supersedes them, like only He
can! That alone was worth the entire weekend!....
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Another tangible way God worked deeply on my heart in this
same manner was through the other artists present. My very first session upon
arriving at the Villa was with Shine and Tara, two special Washington and
Arkansas gals whom I met in my early days with Incubator and are now at similar stages
in this songwriting/recording process. The Lord’s love penetrated my heart in
this first session, as we giggled like giddy girls, heard Shine and Tara’s new singles; mine will be coming
out next …yay!), and brainstormed further songwriting possibilities with
Sheryl, Leon and Nate, Incubator’s servant-leader President.
God continued to penetrate deeper to my core with my sweet, suite mate, Lisa too. He couldn’t have worked out
our ‘meeting’ more perfectly, from the moment she arrived after her late flight
from Maine. Aside from our commonality in being Incubator artists, we also share the
same ministry focus and are worship leaders for our contemporary church
families back home. We are already planning a get together for continued
songwriting, and marvel at how our ‘connecting’ was all but a coincidence as
God worked on our hearts in such similar fashions in the co-writing process
too.....
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Yes, speaking of co-writing, one of the tangible exercises
created to put to practice the songwriting skills learned especially throughout
the weekend was writing, rewriting and recording a song together! That’s right,
after working as a large group on brainstorming what we’d focus on, song
structure, etc. we were split into two groups to begin writing the lyrics and
melodies of our songs. After group critiques of each song, and some training in
rewriting and arranging, we spent some time rewriting, and then recorded a
‘work audio’: guitar, piano and vocals, to capture what we had so far and what
we could continue to improve on and rewrite in the days to come. That alone was
a priceless experience, and one that will also help tremendously in my personal
songwriting in the days ahead.