7-Day Challenge
Seven days of practical songwriting tools to spark ideas, work through creative blocks, and build habits that keep you writing.
LESSONS
7 Video Lessons
TAUGHT BY
Andrea Stolpe
PACE
Self-Paced, Lifetime Access
PRACTICE
7 30-Minute Assignments
WHAT THIS IS
Build the skills and confidence to keep writing songs.
We often think songwriting is a talent you’re either born with or you’re not. But songwriting is a craft and it can be learned.
Throughout my career as a staff songwriter and professor, I’ve seen hundreds of writers struggle with the same challenges I’ve faced: finding an idea, knowing how to develop it, and working out what comes next. Every writer brings a different perspective, but many of the obstacles are familiar.
I created The 7-Day Challenge to help you work through those obstacles using practical tools experienced songwriters rely on. In just 30 minutes a day, you’ll learn techniques to spark ideas and develop them into songs. Whether you’re starting out or have been writing for years, these are tools you can return to whenever you need a way forward.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
Bring your lyrics to life with sensory detail that helps listeners see, feel, and connect with your story.
Develop your story from verse to verse by exploring different perspectives and giving each verse something new to say.
Connect chords, melody, and lyrics so they work together to express the emotion of your song.
Create memorable melodies and natural rhymes using short musical patterns called motifs and rhymes that support what you want to say.
THE CURRICULUM
Every one of the seven days.
-
Discover how imagery improves the experience of the song, intensifies the moment, and makes human the characters.
-
Learn how to shape a story over the scope of a song with just a few questions and the use of something called 'Vantage Point'.
-
Take your clues from the sounds of the chords to fill in melody and lyric.
-
Strengthen the melody by focusing on the smallest unit, the motif. Repetition is key, and increases the memorability of the song.
-
When we already have lyrics, we've got to write melody to compliment.
-
Writing melody first means we need lyrics to match the stress pattern to sing smoothly.
-
Leave the straight jacket of rhyme behind as you discover looser rhyme types in your natural writing style.
WHAT YOU GET
7-Day Challenge
♪ Seven daily video lessons, each with a PDF guide to help you put the techniques into practice.
♪ Seven practical assignments, each designed to take around 30 minutes.
♪ Learn at your own pace: follow the seven-day schedule or fit the lessons around your life.
♪ Lifetime access to every lesson and guide, so you can return to the tools whenever you need them.
♪ Access to the Alumni Community when you finish: connect with fellow songwriters, ask questions, share your music, and support each other’s progress.
$149
Andrea’s Featured In:
REVIEWS ON TRUSTPILOT
What writers are saying
Helpful on Many Levels
I appreciated the practical tips Andrea provided to help me bust out of my writer's block and to help me revise/improve my songs. She gave me a lot of tools to think about and use. Andrea also built an exceptional community of songwriters with varying skills, strengths, and talents. The people were open-minded, collaborative, and super supportive. As a result, the songs created at the retreat were amazing.
- Marion Sheaffer
A complete system for learning songwriting
Andrea has figured out a way to take the tools of songwriting and codify them in such as way as to make songwriting learnable if you are willing to do the work and follow the steps. She is insightful in her individual comments no what matter level you are as a writer. I highly recommend this experience if you are songwriter and want to further your skillset. This workshop was very useful to me!
- Jim
Amazing 10/10
Andrea is incredibly knowledgeable about her craft and I was impressed at how thorough and concrete her process and tips were to help construct songs. She was extremely empathetic and attentive with everyone who asked a question and I could tell she had a genuine interest in helping everyone there. If you’re looking to level up your songwriting I’d recommend checking this out.
- Isabel Hanson
A true gift
Andrea is one of those gifted artists and educators who knows how to facilitate creativity and foster connection. She leads with curiosity and empathy and models for her students the true meaning of collaboration. To learn from her is to learn from the best. Grateful to have her as a mentor and friend.
- Samantha Joy Pearlman
Is this the right course for you?
BEFORE YOU DECIDE
WHO THIS IS FOR
Future songwriters
You have a passion for music and want to write your first songwriting ideas with confidence.
Those transitioning back to music
You're returning to songwriting after time away or another career, and you want a fast, practical framework to get your momentum back.
Artists needing a creative spark
You feel stuck or out of practice and need a kickstart to break through blockages and get writing again.
WHO THIS ISN’T FOR
Writers ready to write, record, and release songs
If you want a 6-month system to write a song every 3 weeks and gain the tools to record and release them, take a look at Write, Record, Release.
Writers who want 1:1 feedback from me
If you are looking for personalized guidance on your songs and creative growth over time, take a look at The Mentorship Program.
Andrea Stolpe has spent more than twenty years writing songs and helping other people write theirs. She arrived in Nashville as a staff writer in 1998 with a classical piano background and a degree from Berklee, and spent the decade that followed in writing rooms learning to collaborate, singing demos, and, ten years in, making a record of her own.
She has written for artists including Faith Hill, Julianne Hough and Jimmy Wayne, and held publishing deals with EMI, Almo-Irving, and Universal Music Publishing. Her book, Popular Lyric Writing: 10 Steps to Effective Storytelling, is a standard text at Belmont, Berklee and the USC Thornton School of Music, where she helped build the songwriting courses within the Popular Music Program. Her online courses have earned Grammy nominations in music education and a Gold Telly Award. She teaches now the way she learned, in small rooms, alongside other writers, through her in-person retreats, online programs, and in the studio at home and abroad. She is still, first, a songwriter.
ABOUT ANDREA
Frequently Asked Questions
Find all your most frequently asked questions below. Can’t find the answer you’re looking for? Feel free to contact us here.
-
This course is designed to serve you at whatever level you’re starting from. Beginners will have the opportunity to create a foundation in songwriting that can be built upon incrementally. More seasoned writers will find something that helps create more consistency in their process, and arms them with plenty of new tools to connect more deeply, and more frequently.
-
This is a self-led course, and each video lesson and assignment is pre-recorded, so you can watch and complete them whenever it is most convenient for you. While you can go at your own pace, we do recommend trying to complete the course within 7 days.
-
This is a self-led course that you can take at your own pace. All modules are open when you join the challenge, and will stay open forever. While we recommend trying to complete the challenge within 7 days, you can take it completely at your own pace if you’d like.
-
The 7-Day Challenge is a low-friction kickstart designed to help you overcome the blank page, get your ideas flowing, and give you foundational tools you can use right away. The 15-Day Explorer is the next step. It expands on those tools to help you unblock unfinished ideas, build a lasting daily practice, and complete a full song with direct audio review from Andrea. We recommend completing the 15-Day Explorer after finishing the 7-Day Challenge.
Seven foundational tools for a lifetime of songwriting.
Gain instant access today and build a practice that keeps your creativity moving.
Come write with us,
