Nashville singer helps Americana Project students

Nashville singer, songwriter, percussionist and guitarist Christopher Williams gave Sisters High School Americana Project students some tips about fine tuning their songwriting abilities last week. He also worked with students at the elementary and middle schools.

Williams, who opened last Sunday's first concert of the 2008 Sisters Folk Festival Winter Concert Series, extended his stay in Sisters especially to work with the students.

Helping the students was old hat for Williams.

"I've had a chance to teach songwriting around the country," he said, noting that he wrote his first song after his heart was broken his freshman year in college. "A lot of guys have found that they get the inspiration to write after their heart is broken."

According to Williams, adding two senses, organic and kinesthetic, to the normal five of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching greatly enhances one's ability to compose creatively.

The organic is one's awareness of his or her body.

"It's kind of what happens on the inside like one's heartbeat and stomach growling, Williams said.

Kinesthetic is one's body relating to something outside of it, such as blurred vision. "You're having blurred vision because you're relating to something else," he said.

Williams told students to remember that songwriting is a constant process and hard work. A songwriter always tries to figure out how to write better and "...say what I want to say uniquely in my own voice. Even though I do it professionally for a living, it is still a lot of work," he said.

Williams encouraged students to find the tools they as individuals like to use when they write. Having the right pen or pencil and the right paper, whether its lined or unlined in a notebook or single sheets, make a difference, he said. Alternatively, some writers are turning to the laptop to compose.

"I haven't decided if I like it more than my pen and notebook," he said.

"It is hugely important to find those things that will help you create," he said, remarking that songwriting requires diligence and structure. "The more you practice, the faster you become and the more skilled you become."

A self-taught musician, Williams did not start playing the guitar until the summer of his junior year in high school after he found a classical guitar in a closet in his father's den.

"I just found it and pulled it out and figured out how to tune it," he said. Next Williams learned chords by ear and then started playing other people's songs. "It's kind of a neat thing to be able to say that I make a living at it (playing the guitar) and that I don't know how that happened," he said.

Even though Williams did not start playing the guitar until he was in high school, he encourages students to start as early as possible.

"If you start before that, it's awesome. I wish I had," he said.

Williams has known Brad Tisdel, the folk festival's artistic director and executive director of the Americana Project, for more than 10 years.

"We've been talking about having me come here for a long time, and it finally worked out. This is the end of my West Coast tour," said Williams.

For more information about the man and his music visit http://www.christopherw.com.