Leave your self-judgement at home; come prepared to go inwards and discover just how easeful to become prolific and write your best songs — making quantum leaps and new friends along the way.

These intimate and transformative retreats are capped at 8 participants. I’d love for you to join us.

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Who is this retreat for?
Schedule
Location
More about your facilitator
Songs Written & Recorded on Retreats
Songwriting Philosophy
Logistics FAQ
Registration FAQ
Other What-ifs FAQ
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Who is this retreat for?

If you desire to write songs — a lot of them — this retreat is for you. This retreat creates a protected space for songwriters to become more lucid in their creative process and grow as artists. We’re not just here “to learn” and we’re not just here “to do”; this retreat is for songwriters desiring to learn by doing and immerse themselves in a community of practice. It’s a space for people ready for inspiration, expression, and support. For individuals seeking the clarity and momentum needed to make quantum leaps in their lives & in the craft of writing songs.

There’s no one “type” of songwriter this space suits best. While I don’t like the term “singer-songwriter”, that is the most literal description for who this container serves: people who write songs they themselves sing, most often accompanying themselves on an instrument. What those songs are like — genre, vibe, process — or what life they take on afterwards is up to you. Some songs grow to sound great with a band. Others sound great on their own. Many are revelations left behind, never to be performed again: beauties half-born, existing as reverberant echos in the hearts of those who hear them. We gather to grow, to make, to aspire. We’re here to write songs.

No: you don’t need to “know music theory” or already be writing songs to join us. No specific amount of musical experience is required. Professional musicians have recorded songs at the retreats that are on Spotify, other beginners have written their first songs here. My creative philosophy radically welcomes diverse skill levels to be in the same place: the creative principles I advocate for speak to all levels and types of artistry.

That being said, most participants:
— have some experience making music — be it in the distant past, “I took piano lessons as a kid” or very much so in the present “I am writing to save my life”, “I sing in a choir once a week” or “I am looking to quit my job and become a touring musician”
— both want to sing and can play at least a few chords on an instrument

As well, attendees tend to:
— be empathic, intelligent & caring
— be excited about the creative process for its own sake
— have some type of meditation or improvisation practice.
— feel ready to push the envelope, express themselves, and explore the edges of what’s possible

Perhaps above all, attendees love songs. Most participants have at least one artist they’ve been deeply obsessed with or inspired by. Some might say “Mountain Goats saved my life,” or “I am ashamed of how many times I listened to Fall Out Boy and Phoebe Bridgers” (that last one is me). Though not a true requirement, feeling mystified and enchanted by the songs of your favorite artists often indicates you’re meant to engage in the practice of writing songs yourself.

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Schedule

Below is the retreat schedule. Inspired by the work of Charles Eisenstein, these retreats prominently feature negative space — allowing space for rest, social connection, and emergence.

I aspire to balance structure with space for the mysteriously delightful to emerge. As a facilitator, I rely on listening to the group and the individuals within it, to choose the most resonant and transformative offerings for a particular group on a particular day.

Thursday November 20th
ARRIVAL — any time 1pm-6pm

6:30pm — Opening ceremony
7:30pm — Dinner
9pm - 10pm — “Witching Hour”: meditative group improvisation designed to connect and center ourselves.

Friday & Saturday November 21st-22nd

before 9:30am — Morning Practices: Meditation, Morning Pages, Breakfast, Quiet Time
9:30am — musical check-in: good morning improvisation
9:45am — 30 minute songs! each in our own space around the house
10:30am - 12:15pm — sharing & receiving feedback our 30 minute songs — travel around the house, listening to everyone’s song & asking by default “what specifically did you love about that?”
12:30pm Lunch
break
2:45 - 4pm Afternoon activity #1
4:30 - 6:15pm Afternoon activity #2
7pm Dinner
Break time
9pm “Witching Hour”
… then Sleep!

Sunday November 23rd
DEPARTURE — any time 6pm or later

9:30-5pm TBD — Past retreats have ended with a “recording day” — where each participants selects one of their new songs to be rehearsed and performed by the group. We may offer this to all, OR record only a few songs, OR do something new. We’ll decide the day before.

5:30-6pm Closing Ceremony

** Afternoon activities are fluid and determined somewhat spur of the moment. Menu items include: partner writing, a mini-lecture or group discussion, or something devised by the group.

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Location

Tucked in on next to the White Mountain National Forest, about 20 minutes from the nearest gas station…

Off 93N… 10 minutes to the tiny, quaint Rumney Village… then 6 more miles up to a secluded lake… then up a dirt road to…

Amazing Views

To look outwards and inward at once

Spacious & Cozy Cabin

with plenty of bedrooms & common spaces — a pool table, nooks for writing and lounging, a record player — plus a woodstove and a fireplace to keep things toasty!

Stinson Lake

Is one of the cleanest in New Hampshire. Just a short walk down the hill.

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More About Your Facilitator

As a young kid, my biggest wound was not being a childhood virtuoso. A painfully mediocre violinist from ages 3-11, my precociousness did not extend to my musical skill. However, since getting finding the piano, audiences often comment on how “naturally gifted” I seem — how “I must have been born with it”. My musical journey, arduous at times, continuously humbles me. I’ve worked hard for the skill I have; along the way, music has taught me a lot.

Music transfigures human longing. These longings take many forms: for love, belonging, connection, catharsis, security. When we really give ourselves to music, we animate these invisible forces within ourselves and give them voice. That process changes us.

Done well, music engages every level and aspect of our being. Rational, analytical, historical, aesthetic, spiritual, emotional; storytelling, movement, awareness, problem solving, inciting discipline. Understanding music as a multidimensional phenomenon gives us more access to music itself. It gives us permission to explore not only different types of music, but how we make it.

I’m a bit of a musical polyglot. I’ve been a student and peer of world class composers (BA & MA, Brandeis & Tufts) and played in bands with people who don’t read music (drums for Strawberry Machine). I’ve carfted original music for film, theatre, and dance — and produced and recorded bands. I’ve performed classical & contemporary works as a concert pianist, and adore the chaos of free jazz and avant garde. As well, I’ve Music Directed over 1,000 Improv Comedy shows, and taught hundreds how to improvise.

Teaching is one my greatest joys in life. It engages me as an artist, provides stimulation and creative challenges, and in a small way, promotes the healing of the world. I’ve been blessed with double-digits of life-changing mentors; my job is to pass it on.

While teaching, I aspire to continually tune into the highest possibilities of my student, sense what’s really going on, and harmonize my words and actions with what they’re able to receive. Leadership is a crucible: intimately connected to my development as a person. It’s an act of presence and care that sustains me much more than it is “a job.” As worded by the inimitable esotericist and urban mentor, Orland Bishop:

“Who must I be for you to be free?”

Listen to songs that were written and recorded at a CSW Retreat…

What you’re listening to was recorded on the last day of a 3 day retreat in 2023 — and written… less than 24 hours before. The process had four discrete stages:

1) Afternoon Activity
2) Partner Songwriting
3) Group Arrangement
4) Live Recording

Starting off, one participant suggested an exercise for our Afternoon Activity: each attendee has 5 minutes to talk about something they’re very passionate about. The others listen intently, writing down individual words or short phrases that stuck out, for whatever reason, including their raw beauty as words. It was a beautiful way to learn about each other and invite each attendee to open up about something personal to us. Reading from our notes then pop-corn shared what they had written, creating an improvised freeform poem as a group, one line at a time.

From there, Libby and Mike used the words they collected from Vanessa and Maya (in the back, center and left), and co-wrote a song in under an hour.

Then, the next day, we had an hour to sing together and work out a loose arrangement. Then, record a few takes. The result is homey-comfy, and really captures the lightness, love, and care of the people that made it. Enjoy.

Some songs later get recorded on albums.

Here’s a Spotify playlist of songs written on retreats — which later went on to get recorded elsewhere and released.

Vanessa Hale, a former student, Berklee Alum, Board-Certified Music Therapist, and multiple-time retreat attendee recently released her debut EP Grow in the Silence — which included 3 songs written on retreat. Check it out — I co-produced it with her. She also made a music video for a single that we recorded live at a retreat in 2023. “If I Could Find the Sun”

Heres the live video of us recording it in in Rumney:

Intimidated? Impressed? Think it’s too advanced for you? Many Attendees have written their very first songs on this retreat.

Joseph wrote his first four songs at the summer 2021 Contemplative Songwriting Retreat. Here’s one that we recorded on the last day:

Loreno, another first-time songwriter — one of his first batches of tunes. From back in 2021:

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Songwriting Philosophy

Whether an experienced songwriter or a first timer, it’s the same principles: Express what’s inside YOU, follow where it goes; balance the expansive mode, of feeling open and connected to all possibilities, with the “closed” mode, of making clean clear decisions. As John Cleese says, the best artists are not the funniest, smartest, or most “creative” — but the ones who intentionally switch between these modes.

10 things I like to say…

Writing Songs Teaches You How To Write Songs — therefore, focus on Quantity over Quality
Divest from any concern over if your songs are “good” or not. You’ll know much more about writing songs you love (and that are “good”) after you write your first 50… or 100 songs. Keep writing.

Inspiration is A Quiet Force that Requires Attentiveness
Inspiration is always available. To invite the muses, we must find quiet ourselves, and exit the ruts of our conditioned consciousness. When you go within, the river is always flowing. Sometimes this looks like actually meditating — other times it looks like flying high, riding the your inner chaos from a fresh perspective. Seen from an airplane, cars, trucks and cities are small — and make no sound.

Practicing Music Should Feel like Smelling Flowers
In practice, aspire to Presence, Embodiment & Ease. Listening to music feels so good. Are you listening to yourself practice? Aspire to create music as you practice. Enjoy it. Tune into your body. Breathing feels good. Music feels great. Something you’re doing doesn’t feel good? Hint: it’s not the music. You’re doing something else. I kindly invite you to stop doing that. You’ll practice music more if you do.

Appreciating others’ music teaches us how to appreciate our Inner Artist
No one likes everything organically. Questlove talks about this. By exposing ourselves to music outside of our comfort zone, we learn more about music and ourselves. We often find we are more than who we letting ourselves be. Doing so helps us liberate our own voice and become who we are meant to be.

Resonating with Others’ music is a service to Them and Yourself
Being Deeply Listened To is often more medicinal than anything people say about your music. Even nice compliments. Therefore, seek it out and ask for it. And: learn how to give that to others. They will enjoy having you around. If you get real with others’ music, you’ll be getting more real with your own experience. There’s plenty to grapple with inside you.

Music Is an Open System
There is no one thing music is “supposed” to be. It can be anything and mean anything to you – it can be sacred or satanic. A joke or revelation. Harmonically complex or childishly simple. It can be embodied or on a laptop. It can be made alone or with hundreds of people. It can be free you or hellish to make. It can ‘connect you to God’ or enable your drug-induced dissociation. How does music reside in you, and your life?

Simplicity, Beauty, and Truth
Simplicity facilitates ease in communication, and purifies your ideas
Beauty: another word for God, whatever that means
Truth: when we align with truth – when we allow what’s true to be true – we step into reality and align with a flow much larger than ourselves

Practicing courage makes you brave.
Write what hurts you to say. Lean into discomfort. Voice the silent longing in your heart. Tell someone. Tell your notebook. Repeat. Then, do it more. Continually choosing courage in your art practice allows you to become brave. When you’re brave, people can relax around you. Relaxed listeners are more receptive and open.

Creativity is best done with Community (Trusted Companions/Friends of Virtue)
Humans are social creatures. Even the most introverted among us require fellow artists, people who care about us, people who know you and desire to appreciate our journey. Lone Genius is a myth. No one person is ever that special. No one person invented the major scale, the English language, or the guitar. I like Brian Eno’s reframe of calling it a “Scenius”. As artists, we are always in community, even with the dead.

Writing Lots of Music Changes You. Period.
I know you probably wish parts of you were different. Music makes no promise of deleting parts of you that you don’t like. But: if you finally show up for yourself and make your art, you may find you don’t care as much.

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Logistical FAQ

Glad you asked. We have wifi but there is no cell service. I recommend bringing as little technology as you can get away with — a “tech sabbath” if you will.

Some folks do need to bring phones or laptops for emergency contact with loved ones. That is ok. The wifi is pretty reliable but, like most places, not perfect.

But if not absolutely necessary, please take my invitation to do a real dopamine fast! This is big, people.
Unfortunately, we can’t accommodate late arrivals. I learned this one the hard way early on. For groups of this size, one persons presence really impacts the vibe of the group. Cohesion of the group is essential: we’ll need you there the whole time!
Depending on where you’re coming from, yes! We will work to facilitate easeful co-ordiation of ride sharing the weeks leading up to the retreat.
Most attendees are from the Greater Boston Area, but some have ventured from VT, Southern NH, and Western MA.
The house can get chilly in the winter — though it will still technically be fall. The great room (pictured throughout) gets quite warm from sunlight during the day. However, slippers and warm socks recommended. We’ll have tea and hot cocoa too — and run a fire in the wood stove and fireplace for functional and aesthetic reasons.
Bring what you need and anything you’d rejoyce in sharing with others.

We have an upright piano on site. I will likely bring some fun toys to play with (keyboards from the 90’s, ukulele and more).
I wish I could tell you for certain. While I’ll have a good guess in the days leading up to the retreat and will notify participants — I’ll be up the Monday or Tuesday before it begins.

On that front: we won’t have compulsory outdoor activities for this November edition — but please come prepared for cold — including pajamas!
If driving in the snow is a stressor, not to worry: we will coordinate both carpool, and offer to ferry folks up from parking lots 5 minutes or 25 minutes away.
We have five actual beds and four futons. So, chances are about 50-50!

We can accommodate strong & feelings and special requests on an as-needed basis. Otherwise, it will be decided by yours truly, fielding preferences on the arrival day, as folks get familiarized with lived realities of the differnt options.
We will have gluten free & vegan options for all meals.

If you have other needs or very strong preferences, we may be able to accommodate you — peanuts, shellfish.

Please let us know what your needs are; we will let you know if it’s workable!

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Registration FAQ

Registration is simple.

Click this link and fill in the form. As part of it, you’ll send in a $100 deposit to reserve your spot.

You’re welcome to pay in full up front.

Else, your $100 deposit will hold your spot in line for up to one week, giving you some time to send in the remainder of the balance, as indicated below:

$425 — $525 total if payment received before October 30th “Early Bird Pricing”
$550 — $650 total if payment received October 30th- November 15th
$600 — $700 total if payment received Sunday November 16th or later “Late Registration”
The standard price is $650.

If you register & pay in full before October 29th, the price is $525.

Late registration goes into effect on the 16th, and an additional $50 will be added on.

In summary:

$525 total if payment received before October 30th
$650 total if payment received October 30th- November 15th
$700 total if payment received Sunday November 16th or later
Payment can be broken down into multiple stages, or go all at once!

You will be asked to send in a $75 deposit to secure your spot in line.

From there, you will have one week to send in the full payment.

Regardless of when you send your deposit in, Early Bird Pricing ends October 29th. Any payments made on October 30th or later will need to be the full price.
Zelle and Venmo are preferred.

My information is listed on the registration form.

Cash and check can be made available on an as-needed basis.
There are no formal pre-requisites.

However, I suggest that folks can play at least two chords and have a sincere desire to write songs. You can read more up here about what participants tend to be like.

Participants will be encouraged to find the value in their own unique creative journey and can expect encouragement, nurturance, and a meaningful and transformative experience regardless of perceived skill level.

If you’re still very concerned about your skill level, reach out and we can discuss.
There will be a waitlist, which, if anyone drops out the days leading up, will be used.

If you desire to join the waitlist, send in your non-refundable $100 deposit to reserve your spot in line. If you don’t attend this retreat, you can apply it to any other event at Inner&Outer music, including one-on-on lessons, and much much more.

Those on the waitlist will be placed at the front of the line for the next retreat, tentatively scheduled for June 2026.
This is a great question. While $525-700 may be a big stretch for you, or something you spend on weekend trips routinely, investing in your art changes your relationship to it.

We aren’t messing around — though, in a sense, yes we are messing around — but that’s the point. Play is serious business.

Attendees have told me “I used to be blocked, but I went to your retreat and now I’m not any more” and “that retreat is one of my most valuable lifetime experiences”

However, others’ success doesn’t guarantee yours. While risks can be great, please do what’s in alignment for your financial and creative life.

I host the Bi-monthly songbuilder soiree, monthly improvisation classes & songwriters’ circles if you’re looking to connect more with me before investing this money, time, and trust into an immersive event like this.

I’m in.

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Other “What-ifs” FAQ

As referenced elsewhere, it can still work for you to participate.

In addition, may people say they “don’t play any instruments” but have been googling ukulele chords since college.
Truly, simple strumming of a few ukulele chords — I can show you in 5 minutes — is plenty of instrumental technique.

Very experienced musicians require slowing down and getting into the simplicity of making music. Beginner’s mind can be a gift!
A few reframings I can offer here:

— how long does a song need to be for it to be complete? I can send you some songs that are under 2 songs
— how much repetition can a song have? Ever heard of mantras? Many songs just ride one lyric the whole time.
— it’s actually okay. Sometimes I am in a season of writing a lot — and I’ll spit out a 30 minute song in the morning and in the evening. No problem. Other times, when I’m not in the practice, I will “call in too much song”, I’ll have an inspiration that would really take me a long, long time to ‘get right’. That’s ok too. We are practicing opening the channel — and this is what wanted to come through.

So, part of the practice is figure out how this practice can work for you. I’ve never had a student who genuinely can’t write a finished song in 30 minutes.

What this does, too, is function as a diagnostic. Where is your time going? what are you doing? How are you feeling? The self-awareness you’ll be building can help you receive support you need to have a total breakthrough.

Remember: breakdowns often precede breakthroughs.
Big whoop. Good luck writing 5 bad songs in a row.

I don’t believe you, and I doubt that other attendees will let you say this about your song.

Get specific about your criticism of it. There are often areas for personal growth: being okay saying simple things, or emotionally vulnerable things. Your critiques can be fodder for your next song. As well, you may have more grandiose visions for your artistry. Baby steps. Freddy Mercury didn’t write Bohemian Rhapsody on the first go. There’s always something to take away from what you wrote. Perhaps some actual content wants to get recycled, perhaps you are integrating skills or your understanding of music itself. Have patience with where you’re at. Being where you are is literally necessary to get to where you want to be. Otherwise you wouldn’t be there : )
I hope you will.

Tears are great. We have had people cry for many reasons: releasing old things, listening to others’ beautiful & poignant songs. Due to struggling to get something out. Due to the feeling of “whoa that came out of me?”

I normally shed a tear at least once. I often find I write my best material if I Cry while writing it, or immediately after some crying + introspection.

Ahh, the good stuff!
Well, we haven’t really had the mean-ness problem yet. My view of human nature is that we tend to behave negatively when certain needs aren’t being met.

If something negative is happening, please talk to me! If your issue is with me and you don’t feel comfortable approaching me directly, there will be one or two other deputized folks on site who you can speak with.
As for not liking people’s vibes: what we resist in others often shows us something about ourselves. Is someone being really really talkative and you are doing your best to not be too talkative and take up too much space? Or, is someone being really emotional?

Often we put pressure on ourselves to behave a certain way. Unconsciously, our brains can think “f***, we’re working so hard to not be this way, and freaking Steve over there is all la-dee-fricken-daa” — often this is what’s going on.

If someone is really just, not as cool as you, it’s normally not a problem. Cuz you’re cool! And they’re not.
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Hey, talk to me about this on the retreat. I really enjoyed them when I was a teenager but I think they influenced a lot of negative and immature stories I held about romantic relationships. I love talking about the music I like / liked — there’s a lot of fun ideas about it!

I am definitely more embarrassed at my inability to spell embarrassed without googling it!
There’s a lot of things this can look like! I’ll interpret it as a “spiritual emergency” or “mental health” challenges.

Expect a supportive group of strangers and/or friends. I’ll be happy to speak to you one-on-one during any of the downtime.
Most artists I know, especially the more prolific ones, struggle with what we might call mental health. I see the issues as much more about limiting beliefs, trauma stored in our experience, and the continual cycles of “becoming more real”. I have a lot of space in myself to have negative experiences, or a hard time, and to see them as necessary parts of growth.
Moreover — actually making ones art — can both bring up really hard things for us. It’s why many people don’t allow themselves to go there.

Appreciating yourself, your bravery, and having understanding for your journey to get here — these help you see that there’s more to you than the experience you’re having right now.

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Still Thinking?

Let's do it

Are you ready for a creative breakthrough?

Join our next…

Contemplative Songwriting Retreat

Nov 20th-23rd 2025

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