Do you have a budding musician or songwriter in your family? This one-day collaborative songwriting workshop with performance is tailored specifically for young artists by legendary musician, songwriter and educator, Jon Gailmor. The 90-minute songwriting workshop for 2nd – 5th grade students takes place from 10am – 11:30am on Saturday, April 6, 2024. The 90-minute songwriting workshop for 6th – 8th grade students takes place from 1pm – 2:30pm on the same day. All students return that afternoon for a 4:30pm performance of the songs written during the workshops along with music by Gailmor. The workshops and performance take place at the Weston History & Culture Center at 104 Weston Road in Weston, CT.

Advanced registration is required. Fee is $40.00 per student. Complete registration form and pay at: www.westoncthistory.org. The fee includes the 90-minute songwriting workshop and performance as well as 2 adult and 2 child tickets to the performance. Additional tickets to the 4:30pm performance will be available for sale as the date gets closer for an additional $5.00 per adult and $3.00 per child.

Collaborate with other young artists in this exciting musical workshop! Jon Gailmor has been guiding children and teens in songwriting for over 23 years. During the workshop, students work with Jon to develop a topic and theme for a collaborative song. Together the group writes the lyrics and develops the rhythm and melody of a song through interactive musical exercises with Jon on guitar. Topics covered during the workshop include meter and rhythm, lyrics vs. poetry, and song structure. Students return to the WHCC that evening to practice and perform their song for family and friends. This experience will help students discover their uniqueness as well as their poetic and musical talents while collaborating with their fellow composers.

About the teacher: Jon Gailmor grew up in New York, Philadelphia, PA and Westport, CT, attending Staples High School, where he sang in the glee club, the A Capella Choir and “The Orphenians”, 30 singers who toured the U.S. Virgin Islands and Compo Beach. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Sociology and singing in the Men’s Glee Club, “The Penn Pipers” and toured the United States, Ecuador and Peru. Over the course of his life, Jon has performed in concert halls in Ecuador, a Peruvian tennis stadium, cafes in France, Italy, and Greece, and among the grapevines of European wine country. In the 1970s, Jon and former classmate Rob Carlson formed a band and recorded the album “Peaceable Kingdom” on Polydor Records. After a stint performing in Europe, Jon returned to the United States and laid down roots in Vermont, where he developed and led a weekly radio show for kids, called “Just Kidding”, which ran for 23 years. Since his Vermont arrival, he has been performing in schools, colleges, resorts, restaurants and folk clubs throughout the country, serenading at child care and senior centers, singing at prisons, hospitals, corporate and private parties. He presents songwriting residencies and workshops for students and teachers in pre-school through college, and helps companies and other organizations create their own masterpieces. Jon has been honored as an “Extraordinary Vermonter” by the governor, received the Mayor’s Peace Prize in Burlington and was awarded a Silver Citation by the Vermont Arts Council. He sang as Vermont’s representative at the 25th Anniversary of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and, in 1996, was chosen to carry the Olympic Torch through Brattleboro, on its way to Atlanta. Jon was recently one of four recipients of the Ellen McCulloch-Lovell Award in Arts Education. He has toured with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, has released six solo albums and lives with his family and other two, four, six and no-legged creatures among the 800 folks of Elmore, Vermont. Learn more about him at: https://jongailmor.com.

The Weston Historical Society D/B/A The Weston History & Culture Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. It is located at 104 Weston Road in Weston, CT. Parking and entrance on High Acre Road.