Paula Cole and Will Dailey Engage with Songwriting Workshop Students

Every summer, Berklee offers a weeklong intensive, interactive program that covers topics ranging from the business of songwriting to music composition to creating demos.

Students in this year's Songwriting Workshop program recently participated in a master class with Grammy Award-winner Paula Cole, a faculty member in Berklee’s Voice Department, and attended a clinic with Boston-based recording artist, songwriter, and producer Will Dailey.

Cole: Keep Calm and Perform

During the master class, Cole gave students the opportunity to play an original song and then receive feedback from her and from their fellow songwriting peers assembled in David Friend Recital Hall.

“I don’t want too many nerves,” prefaced Cole. “This is a loving place.”

After each performance, Cole keenly pointed out overarching areas of strengths as well as areas for improvement. She also left room for the songwriting students to comment on each other’s songs.

“Relax and take a big breath,” Cole advised one of the students. “I’m nervous before everything I do. It’s so much about managing your anxiety before you go out.”

When a student followed up to ask how to manage anxiety, Cole answered, “I do some long, slow deep breathing. I’ve done a lot of yoga in my life. Yoga is a performer’s friend. Sometimes it’s just about getting conscious and taking long, deep breaths. It’s amazing how it calms your heart rate. Also, I hug my bandmates. Before a gig, we share a hug—it helps.”

A student song that reflected early Americana influences prompted Cole to offer listening recommendations in addition to performance advice.

“Listen to Nina Simone, Emmy Lou Harris, and Dolly Parton. Keep that wonderful organic influence and real instruments. It’ll set you apart from the pack,” she said. “You just need to do it more, right? You’re new at this and you’re singing your high notes off the mic, but really, your high notes are great! You don’t have to be scared. So the antidote to that is just practicing—just doing it more.”

Moreover, Cole said, a musician’s duty is to give their best no matter how they feel. “It doesn’t behoove us to limit ourselves and collapse with anxiety when we’re [on stage]. It’s our responsibility to our gift to work with that anxiety,” she explained. “Yes, I’m anxious, but I’m breathing through this anxiety and I’m still going to be my best self.”

Dailey: Open the Door with Your Story

As Cole’s master class concluded, the students made their way over to Cafe 939 to hear from Dailey, an independent recording artist with his label, Wheelkick Records. Dailey interspersed the clinic, which was moderated by Bonnie Hayes, chair of Berklee's Songwriting Department, with raw, honest performances of his songs, testifying to the truth behind the words he spoke. Dailey has released albums with Universal, CBS Records, and JS Music Group, and as an independent singer-songwriting based out of Boston, he related to the Songwriting Workshop students by discussing his humble beginnings. He shared his story about how he wasn’t signed when he made his first ablum and offered advice and encouragement to the aspiring young singer-songwriters in attendance.

“I paid for [making my first record] whenever I had cash in my pocket. It was $25 an hour at that studio, and in the end I was out of money,” said Dailey. “I cut a deal with the studio owner at the time. He needed a car, so I told him I would sell him my Honda Civic to pay for the rest of the record.”

He called his car the Red Bullet and ended up calling his record Goodbye Red Bullet. According to Dailey, he had no idea at the time that the story of parting with this car, a story that came up in many press interviews, would eventually become a powerful marketing tool for his music.

“That story opened up who I was, which then led to the music. The thing that got Elvis famous was his hips. Yes, a DJ heard it and spun it over and over, but that DJ spinning it over and over in Texas is part of the narrative. The narrative opens the door,” said Dailey.

He went on to explain, “You have to find the natural story. That’s how we communicate as people through the human experience, and we have to remember that when we share our music, it has to remain human. I think a lot of modern communication takes away from that truth because we just think we need to share things because of social media. But social media is just a gateway to share human experience.”

As the end of the session, Dailey encouraged the aspring singer-songwriters to have patience and tenacity, and to measure success by more than just the number of people who hear their music.

"It's possible to have a career in music, but you have to abandon the projection that the world has on you. I'm not a household name by any means, but I have enough fans around the world to always make music. It's about finding ways to keep having faith in yourself."

This faith and perseverance has fueled both Dailey and Cole, bringing them to a place where they are able to give back to the next generation of singer-songwriters.