{"id":24590,"date":"2024-12-04T14:14:47","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T21:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/singer-and-songwriter-sand-sheff-to-host-songwriting-workshop-at-sunflower-theatre\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:56:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:56:29","slug":"singer-and-songwriter-sand-sheff-to-host-songwriting-workshop-at-sunflower-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/singer-and-songwriter-sand-sheff-to-host-songwriting-workshop-at-sunflower-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"Singer and songwriter Sand Sheff to host songwriting workshop at Sunflower Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sand
Sand Sheff has released 17 albums during his time in music. (Sarah Syverson\/Courtesy Photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The Sunflower Theatre is presenting a songwriting workshop hosted by singer and songwriter Sand Sheff. Later in the evening, Sheff and his wife, Sunnie, will perform.<\/p>\n

The workshop will take place Saturday, Dec. 14, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Sunflower Theatre.<\/p>\n

Sheff shared that he began writing songs when he was a teenager and has now gone \u201call over\u201d playing music.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been very fortunate to get to play music and in a lot of different strange circumstances, everywhere, all over the place,\u201d Sheff said.<\/p>\n

Sheff shared that his songwriting process usually begins with an \u201cuncomfortable\u201d feeling that turns into a song.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I have some sort of weird ache in my body or head or throat, and I can\u2019t quite figure out what it is,\u201d Sheff said. \u201cI start going around, \u2018Is there something I forgot to do?\u2019 \u2026 Eventually I realize I have to go pick up a guitar, go slam on the piano or something. I just start slamming around on the instrument, and at a certain point, a melody pops out, some words pop out and I kind of figure out how to chase it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this workshop, attendees will learn Sheff\u2019s songwriting process, as well as some of the tenets of writing songs. The two aspects of the workshop the theater shared have to do with the practical and spiritual aspects of songwriting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s some funny little shortcuts that can kind of skip some of the uncomfortable and get straight to the point of encouraging the connection,\u201d Sheff said. \u201cEverybody\u2019s going to have their own songs, right? I just have some shortcuts to make it fun and give them some things I\u2019ve picked up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The practical aspects include rhythm, phrasing, scatting, memorization and rhyme, while the spiritual aspect goes more into where songs come from.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe spiritual side looks at the ancient idea that many good songs may originate in certain unseen dimensions, and so are more likely to be discovered \u2018out there\u2019 than grown \u2018inside\u2019 one\u2019s brain,\u201d Sarah Syverson, Sunflower Theatre director, explained. \u201cSand offers unusual ideas and techniques that might be of interest, gleaned from 40 years of songwriting.\u201d<\/p>\n

No prior songwriting experience is necessary. Attendees should bring a pen and paper, and instruments are also allowed, but are optional.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t have to do anything if they don\u2019t want to,\u201d Sheff said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to make everybody write a song on the spot and sing it. \u2026 Anybody\u2019s level of participation is welcome, and there is zero pressure. I\u2019ll try to keep it interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheff has performed in Cortez in the past, but this will be his first show in Cortez in 16 years. He was born in Flagstaff, Arizona, and raised in Oklahoma, but also lived in Durango and spent five years in Nashville. According to information provided by the Sunflower Theatre, Music Row Magazine in Nashville called Sheff \u201cthe very definition of Americana.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following his years in Nashville, he spent three years in Austin, Texas, as the opening musical comedy act for Esther\u2019s Follies.<\/p>\n

While still pursuing his passion in music, Sheff now lives in Moab where he farms. In Moab, he leads the alternative bluegrass band Quicksand Soup.<\/p>\n

In all, he has recorded 17 albums, written two musical comedies and published three books, two of which are on eclipses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Cortez, I love the people, I love the area \u2026 I hope people want to show up. I\u2019m going to try to put on the best show I can. My wife, Sunnie, is playing bass with me, and we\u2019re just planning on having a fun time and deliver some fun music to make it worth people\u2019s while,\u201d Sheff said. \u201cWe hope to see some folks out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tickets to Sheff\u2019s songwriting workshop are $30, and scholarships are available. The concert will take place at 7 p.m. with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for the concert are $15.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be my songs, my kind of interesting, weird songs that just pop out and I sing them for people,\u201d Sheff said.<\/p>\n

Tickets can be bought online<\/a> at www.sunflowertheatre.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

written hundreds of original songs and lived in Nashville<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[363,21,28,60,559,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-arts","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-music","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24590"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78596,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24590\/revisions\/78596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24590"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}