Dear 50+ Songwriter,

You know you have musical talent. If you’re not being humble or self conscious you suspect (and hope!) that you have something special. You know this because in the past you’ve been by yourself somewhere – singing, playing an instument or writing something that just takes your own breath away or brings a tear to your eye. It’s hard to feel that musical ‘flow’ state in public, and open mics or stages make you feel inhibited and that magic doesn’t always come out, but you know it’s there. Deep down.

You know you care about music. You feel emotions deeply and every now and then you have the urge to express those feelings in songs or poems. You’re not the worlds best guitarist, pianist or singer and you doubt yourself at times. You’re nervous that after everything you’ve done in your life so far you’re going to be rubbish at something you care a lot about. And people will see that. You’ll forget your lines, your hands will shake, you hit the wrong notes, your voice will squeak, the lights will be bright and hot on your face and the quiet audience will all judge you as ‘not good enough’.

You’re over 50. You’ve had some hard knocks in life and you don’t feel invincible anymore. Sometime you feel very fragile. You remember that musical spark. How you used to love playing or singing back in the day. Maybe you were in a band and had a taste of what it can be like or maybe you only dreamed about it.

You want to do something that matters with your time. Not to people ‘out there’ – you don’t feel the need to ‘keep up with the Jones’s’ and impress other people. You’re long past caring about that. You’ve done that, tried to meet every external standard that out’s there, and whether you succeeded or not, it doesn’t matter any more. You’re more in touch with your true self than you have ever been in your life. And you want to do something that really matters to you.

You’re a songwriter, and that’s a journey that never ends. The only point of which is to keep going. The most common message I hear from Talent Is Timeless members to one another is ‘keep going’.

Talent Is Timeless doesn’t exist to sell people a career in music. Pay us ‘X’ and you can buy your dream life. I don’t believe it works that way and for the lucky 1% that fluke their way into a large sync deal out of nowhere… so what? Good for them, but what next? Is it finished? Was that ever the point?

If there is something we offer at Talent Is Timeless it’s the songwriter life. Adventures, friendship and the joy of focusing on your songwriting and improving it. Fun opportunities, encouragement to progress, inspiration to write more and a safe space to try things out. Not everyone wants or needs to be famous or perform big concerts. But everyone needs to do something meaningful with their time and everyone needs a community around them who love them and support them.

Artists and creatives are my hero’s. Anyone who spends their time doing something ‘just for fun’ and then dares to share it with other people is brave. You need to share your music with people just like you, who really care. Songwriting is meant to be shared. While we often start out songwriting alone, in a room in our house, every song deserves to be heard. Every song deserves an audience. You owe it to your music, and to yourself, to share your songs with others.

See you on the inside.

Love,

Saskia

Founder & Director