#rob seals

hanging out with friends at Stanford my last weekend in Cali :)

Greetings from Longview, Texas! After an intensely awesome 10-week stint studying songwriting, voice and guitar in Los Angeles, I'm back home in getting into the groove of homelife. I'm gonna be spending the next year helping out my parents at their clinic as well as putting together a batch of songs for an EP I plan to record this time next year. Before too much time passes by, I figured it'd be a good to look back and document what I actually accomplished. Here goes...

Musical stuff I accomplished in LA:

Broke through writer's block: wrote ~1 new song a week (9 songs total) 

Dove headfirst into collaboration: co-wrote 7 songs with several awesome artists and writers at The Songwriting School of Los Angeles

Obtained valuable feedback on several of my older songs, including "Believe" and "16"

Built a strong foundation of skills for songwriting with Rob Seals at The Songwriting School of Los Angeles

Learned how to sing strong and deliver moving performances with Michael Goodrich at The Songwriting School of Los Angeles

Made up songs about seagulls, killer balloons, and learned how to write hooks with Tim Fagan, co-writer of Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat's "Lucky" at The Songwriting School of Los Angeles

Developed better singing habits and strengthened my voice with Speech Level Singing teacher Kelly Kernohan

Got my guitar shredding on in lessons with guitar sage Vreny Van Zotzin

Became a one-man cover band: learned a crazy-diverse variety of covers through Berkleemusic online course, "Pop and Rock Vocals," from Bob Dylan to the Temptations, The Drifters to Elton John, Led Zeppelin to Radiohead.

Performed "16" at songwriting competition at Genghis Cohen hosted by the West Coast Songwriters group

Took over the Kulak's Woodshed open mic with fellow Stanford singer-songwriter Isabella Tang

Sang about "The Book of Love" and other cool things at the annual Southeast Asian Service Leadership Network (SEALNet) Send-Off Dinner at Stanford, CA

Watched a brave, brave girl flirt with Bruno Mars during a Q&A and met a lot of cool musical folk at the 2012 ASCAP Expo

Learned how to schmooze with industry folk and munched on donuts at a NARIP music industry networking brunch at Universal Mastering Studios

While accomplishments are great and all, the best part of being in LA was definitely the amazing and kindhearted artists and writers I met. I really treasure all the friendships I've made through my classes at The Songwriting School of Los Angeles and the connections I've made with all the teachers there. Even though I'm hundreds of miles away in Texas, I feel like I have a wonderful musical community supporting me in this journey of mine. To the many amazing people I've met and reconnected with in LA: I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and wish you the best in life, music and otherwise :) Please keep in touch!

Also, if you're reading this and want to be updated on my latest blog posts, upcoming online concerts (livestream.com baby!), etc., you can subscribe to my mailing list at http://www.andrewplan.com. Take care, and all good things to you!