Cassie Holt Shares the songwriting experience with Emily Ayers!
Book your own Songwriting experience with Cassie Holt by clicking HERE.
Have you ever walked around Downtown Long Beach? Taking in the tall buildings, the murals, and the ocean breeze that reminds you just how great the city is. Have you ever thought of writing a song about it?
Last week, the Long Beach 908 team sent me to do just that with professional singer and songwriter, Cassie Holt, who transforms her day-to-day experiences into music.
Cassie offers this exclusively through one of Airbnb’s new “experiences” that allow people to explore cities in new and exciting ways. It is great for locals and tourists who want to try something new. People get to learn the history of downtown Long Beach while also learning how to write a song with a professional.
Cassie and I started our day on Pine Avenue and 6th Street in downtown. We started walking toward the ocean and passed iconic buildings like the Federal Bar and the L’Opera Italian Restaurant. As we walked toward Shoreline, Cassie shared her experience in the music industry and the process of how to get a song published.
“It took me such a long time to finally figure out how to publish my own music,” said Cassie. “I never realized there were so many different steps and hoops to jump through. So for those that are interested I wanted to make the process easier for them.”
From there we stopped at our first location, which was at the end of the pier in Shoreline, and Cassie gave me the first writing prompt. She told me to write for two minutes on the word “Dream.” She encouraged me to close my eyes and to use all of my senses for inspiration.
I easily filled my small composition book and from there we were off to our next location.
Cassie took me to an old, historic building on the corner of Ocean and Pine Avenue and we wrote on our second topic which was “empty.” The word was reminiscent of the building we were sitting outside of. It was under construction with boarded up walls, and although it wasn’t the same as the scenery as Shoreline Village, it did a great job of shifting the writing a bit deeper (hence why the title of the song we wrote was “empty.”)
After that we went through my notebook and circled five passages that stood out the most to me. As I recited them to Cassie, she crafted my words into two verses and a chorus. Depending on who is participating in the experience, Cassie also gives the option to write accompanying music for the lyrics.
It was exciting to see the words that seemed random on paper were able to be positioned as lyrics to a song that although were a bit darker, still produced something unique. I used my time with Cassie to dig a bit deeper and to explore the word “empty”, but people can take the experience in any direction they want.
The Song that Cassie Holt and Emily Ayers wrote together, "Empty."
I left my time with Cassie feeling inspired and excited to try more things outside of my comfort zone. I think that families and friends who experience this together will leave feeling the same way. Through songwriting, Cassie taught me that any experience can be shaped into music, with a little help and guidance.
Book your own Songwriting experience with Cassie Holt by clicking HERE.
If you do participate make sure to say that Long Beach 908 sent you, and if you write your own song with Cassie we'd love to listen to it!
Cassie Holt's Website: http://www.cassieholt.com/
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