ARIA Winner To Share Songwriting Secrets At Upcoming SAE Perth Event

Acclaimed Australian artist Chelsea Cullen will give a masterclass on songwriter next month at a free Industry Insight session at SAE’s Perth campus.

The singer-songwriter, producer and performer, who won Best Original Soundtrack or Musical Theatre Cast Album at the 2020 ARIAs after being the voice behind Helen Reddy biopic I Am Woman, will speak about her experiences, challenges, achievements and more on April 20 during the event.

“I have taught singing and songwriting for some time and I’ve tried to come up with a method where it’s all very structured, for example: the verse has to be four lines and then it has to go to a chorus, and it has to rhyme,” the SAE Creative Media Institute graduate said.

“Now I encourage people to break out of the norms of songwriting and just jam – literally just sing whatever melody and words flow out from them in that moment. It’s extremely therapeutic as well.

“Sometimes I’ll come up with some simple chords on piano, and then get the student to add to it with whatever comes to mind. To me that is so much harder than structured songwriting, because you don’t know what’s going to come out and you really have to let go and trust yourself. 

“If you want to write a specific pop song you may wish to structure your songwriting differently. However, if you’ve never written a song before or you’ve got a creative block, improvising is a great way to begin the process.”

Cullen’s free Industry Insight session will also see her perform. To register and find out more details head to the SAE website.