Songwriter Odie Blackmon Teaching Fall Course at Vanderbilt

Odie Blackmon

Songwriter Odie Blackmon will return to academia with his Vanderbilt course, Nashville Number System for Songwriters/Performers, which is being offered for the Fall 2012 semester. Blackmon has scored No. 1 hits by George Strait (“She’ll Leave You with a Smile”), Lee Ann Womack (“I May Hate Myself In The Morning”) and Gary Allan (“Nothing On But The Radio”).

Dean of the Blair School of Music, Mark Wait, and Blackmon developed the curriculum, which was initially offered to students in January 2012. The class teaches the shorthand musical notation system used by session musicians in Nashville to illustrate the conception of a song through the recording process.

“Most semesters I’m able to arrange for the class to come in the studio as I demo a new song and watch the real pros lay it down,” said Blackmon. “I love seeing that light switching on in my student’s eyes when they see it all coming together.”

The class studies classic songs, demonstrating what Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” shares in common with the Tone Löc’s novelty hit “Wild Thing,” and paying particular attention to the songs of the Beatles.

For enrollment information, click here.

Blackmon has also released an instructional DVD, The Craft of Writing Hit Songs, and has frequently led workshops on the topic for NSAI.