SongLab
This isn't a first-guitar class, and nobody's starting from the ground up. SongLab is for players who are already strumming, already writing, already stitching songs together, and are ready for a mentor to help them level up.
This is the music side of songwriting. You bring the songs you are already writing, and we make the music around them more mature and more you. Most of the work is the music: chords, structure, and finding the voicing or progression that carries the feeling of your words in the most impactful way. If a progression you are playing is not quite landing, Clay might show you a chord with a different color that fits the emotion better.
It is not a lyric-writing or creative-writing class, but Clay will not leave you hanging on your words either. If you are stuck on a line or a phrase, or he hears a lyric that could land harder or say what you mean more clearly, he will help you shape it. The focus is your song, and everything that makes it hit. Whether you write on guitar, piano, keyboard, bass, or in a DAW, if you are making songs, this is your room.
Songcraft that sticks
Practical ways of playing that serve your own songs, on guitar, piano, keyboard, or bass, with less focus on traditional forms and more on your creative direction.
Melody & phrasing
How your words sit in the music: melody, phrasing, and where the emotion lands. We shape the singing and the song, and help with a line when it is not landing.
Theory that serves the song
Just enough music theory, structure, and pattern to make your songs more dynamic, learned through your own compositions.
A real recording
Every term points toward a studio demo, so you leave with something real in your hands, not just notes.
SongLab: Teens
9th to 12th gradeHigh school writers already making songs who want to get better alongside their peers, not sit through a beginner class. Tuesdays, 5:00 to 6:30 PM.
SongLab: Adults
College & upCollege-age writers and up, from the open-mic and songwriter-night world, on their way to sharing it on a stage and looking to sharpen the craft. Tuesdays, 6:30 to 8:00 PM.
Not sure which class fits? Reach out and we will help you find the right room. And if you want extra growth or one-on-one time, contact us to set up lessons on the side, with Clay or one of our other songwriting instructors.
Huddle · 10 to 15 min
Everyone starts together on one core idea for the week: a songwriting move, a theory nugget, or a word, chord, or melody prompt to write from.
Woodshed · about 55 min
Writers break out to work their own songs while Clay floats from one to the next, a few minutes each, longer with whoever is stuck.
Share · about 20 min
Regroup, someone plays what they landed, and everyone sets a goal to chase before next week.
Every week
A standing 90 minutes, same day, same crew, real momentum across eight weeks.
Week 4 · In-house share
A low-key, low-stakes checkpoint, just the class and maybe families, so there is a first finish line to aim at.
Week 8 · Showcase + demo
An end-of-term showcase, plus a demo recorded in the BRMS Creative studio, so every writer walks away with a recording.
Everyone makes a demo
By the end of the term you record a song you shaped in class, guided by Clay's engineer ear. It is yours to keep and put wherever you want.
The stage, if you want it
The term also builds toward a showcase. Love playing out? This is your night. Write for yourself and would rather not perform? You can opt out and still walk away with your demo. No pressure either way.
More stages as a BRMS student
As a BRMS student you are also eligible for our Curbside shows and any performance we open to all BRMS students. Extra chances to get on stage if you want them, on top of the class itself.
Clay Parker has been a performing singer-songwriter for 20 years and has toured nationally for the last decade as one half of the band Clay Parker and Jodi James. While not on the road, he has taught private guitar lessons and served as an instructor at St. Francisville's Songbird Music School for five summers, and he currently operates Electric Wreck Studio, an all-analog recording studio in Baton Rouge, as an engineer and producer.
Those years have given him insight into how to nurture beginning and intermediate songwriters, and into the pitfalls some of them hit with traditional lessons. SongLab is a fresh look at how music is really made, through getting creative, having fun, writing songs, and making noise.
The full 8-week term is $520 (eight classes at $65). Two ways to pay, both hold your seat for the whole run.
Payment is by credit or debit card, entered securely when you register.
Led by Clay Parker
Clay leads everything taught in the room and the demo recordings, as the class's contracted instructor.
Run by BR Music Studios
SongLab is a BR Music Studios class, held at BRMS Creative. BR Music Studios handles registration, billing, and scheduling, and Laura fields questions, the same as our private lessons.
Six seats per class, teens and adults, for writers already making songs. Claim a spot for the fall term.