Meet Sam Beebe on the Web, Instagram, and on Spotify!
Bio: You may have met me in an MIS class as Mr. Beebe, your substitute teacher, but I wear many other hats, as they say. I am also a writer, and a musician, and I was a professor of writing at New York University for 10 years before moving here with my family several years ago. Some of you will know my wife, Viki Peitchev, who teaches English in the Middle School, and some may even know our son, Niko, who is in Grade 1 and regularly pops into Ms. Peitchev’s homeroom in the mornings.
As a writer, I am just now finishing up a non-fiction book, for which I hope to find an interested publisher. As a musician, I have released two albums and several singles, the most recent being an album released (on all streaming platforms) in February of 2024. I have countless hours of experience making music with GarageBand and Logic Pro, which I am excited to share with those of you who would like to begin (or continue) experimenting with making your own music and collaborating with others. And if you get into it and want further , I could be available for follow-up sessions as a private tutor in music production.
Workshop Description:
Do you love listening closely to the lyrics in music? Do you love learning them, and singing (or rapping) along? Have you ever tried writing your own lyrics? Even if you don’t think of yourself as a singer or a musician, you can still write lyrics—maybe even to use in collaboration with friends who do have an interest in singing. In this workshop, we’ll start by talking about some of our favorite song lyrics, and trying to identify the qualities that make us like them. Are they emotionally powerful? Are they funny? Are they brilliantly clever? You can even think ahead, of favorite lyrics that you would like to bring up with the group. We will also speculate about the possible inspirations and motivations for the songs and their lyrics. Are they like therapy for the singer? Are they telling us a story? Are they trying to hype themselves and their audience up? Are they trying to communicate a message?From there, I will share with you some lyrics from one of my own songs, and give you a behind-the-scenes look at my writing process, breaking down various aspects of my lyrics.
Finally, time allowing, you will try to come up with a few lyrics of your own, inspired and informed by the workshop—which might even get the ball rolling on a whole song!