An all-around incredible experience. Highly recommend. I encountered an accomplished, polished, professional writer & educator with an enormous heart and a sincere desire to connect with others on a human level. Not often I encounter people with this level of success in commercial music who are still humble & grounded. She was able to communicate her secrets and techniques in such a way that they were new & fresh to an older writer like me, yet still engage and make those same concepts understandable at a kitchen-table level to those in our cohort who hadn’t really studied songwriting on a professional scale. It would have been easy to spook a new writer with her level of knowledge, yet at no point did I sense anyone feeling overwhelmed or struggling because the material went over their head. So, not an easy task for her. And she made it seem effortless. And at no point was I bored. Not for a second. It would have been quite easy for her to go granular with faculty-speak, yet everything remained pragmatic and accessible. A great handbook accompanying these sessions as well. This retreat is ideal for aspiring songwriters and even helped inspire a high-mileage scribbler like me. Worth every.single.penny.

It was more people than I was… It was more people than I was expecting. I found the amount of people a little overwhelming and it was difficult to connect until late in the course. Perhaps better 'break the ice' exercises at the beginning instead of all introducing ourselves in such a big circle which was quite daunting. Not enough breaks to just take it all in. 14 hour day with only breaks for meals felt very intense. My accommodation was a long walk away from the main venue so the round trip meant I had to take everything I needed at the start of the day and did not really get a chance to go back to my room unless I missed the communal meal experiences. I had not expected to do so much cowriting with people who were quite inexperienced . That made the experience quite difficult to be really thoughtfully creative and became more about working on one's levels of patience and tolerance. I found Andrea captivating, sensitive and very knowledgable.

What a life changing experience What a life changing experience! I went into the retreat with some hesitation; was I good enough to keep up? Could I co-write with high level musicians and song writers? Andrea just has a way about her that facilitates learning, community, and positivity. After the experience I learned that I can more than keep up; I can hold my own. In 4 days I felt like all 31 participants were new found family members, and there were more than a few tears shed on the last day. Thanks Andrea and Madison for all that you do to support artists hone their craft.

Confirming and Liberating Andrea provided a holistic retreat for every personality type and creativity level. I loved that the group was around 30 artists, allowing each individual to get what they needed from one another and the retreat organizers. The retreat felt like a 'family' rather than a typical conference/training. For me, the retreat confirmed some of my writing techniques, and the retreat was liberating in that it gave me the freedom to learn about the songwriting process in a safe, creative environment.

Art is Work. To Sell it is Art. I can't think of a better way to begin or give a boost to your creativity. Andrea is a great communicator. Even so, there's no magic wand that will make you write better songs, but you'll learn how to write songs better. And unless you're a genius like your mama told you, you need to understand the rules of writing songs that stand a chance of being shared.