Student accepted to songwriters workshop

Published May 27, 2020

Mount St. Mary Academy sophomore Ellen Brady has been accepted into the New York University Summer Songwriters Workshop. Ellen, one of only 42 applicants from across the world to be accepted, will participate in the intensive seminar June 15-26.

“I cannot describe the excitement and shock I felt when I opened the email from NYU,” Brady said. “I applied to the program in the first place just to receive some feedback on the songs I had recorded, never expecting to actually get accepted considering how well-known and famous this workshop is.”

During the two-week workshop, which will be held online this year because of COVID-19, Ellen will hone her craft through instruction, targeted assignments and critique from a faculty of acclaimed songwriters in a variety of musical genres. The program also features extensive collaboration, daily peer review and panels providing discussion on the integral aspects of the record business as well as songwriters’ rights.

“I will be getting one-on-one time with Grammy-nominated songwriters, singers and producers who have written for artists such as Beyoncé, Whitney Houston, Dolly Parton, John Legend, Elton John, Usher, Kelly Clarkson and many others,” Ellen said of the upcoming summer workshop. “We will work together in order to perfect the songs I submitted in my application, and I will also get to collaborate with other participants in the program to write new music.”

She recently began researching careers in music and aspires to pursue her passion in a city like New York, Los Angeles, Boston or Nashville.