andreastolpe.com Reviews 420

A welcoming environment surrounded by creative people that opened up new ideas and possibilities of songwriting.

Andrea was incredibly genuine, peaceful, knowledgeable and approachable. She set the tone for the entire retreat and because she exuded these traits, it trickled down to everyone at the retreat. Everyone felt comfortable, I believe, to delve into the craft of songwriting passionately and confidently. I learned so much and believe Andrea has a special ability to understand what I needed and helped me satisfy my goals. She has great interpersonal communication skills and can read a room, which helped I think when she made the co-writing selections. I really enjoyed her thoughtful pairings, and think this allowed me to showcase my unique skills and talents.

Steel sharpens steel, and spending time in a retreat with other songwriters is no different—the result is better songs. Under the wise and encouraging Andrea Stolpe (and team) I was free to learn, challenge, and perform songwriting beyond the perceptions and limitations I brought with me.

This songwriting retreat was hands down the best retreat of any kind that I have ever attended, and I have been to a lot. It was well and thoughtfully crafted and the container that Andrea Stolpe created enabled people to take risks, to learn, to grow, to share, to laugh and have fun, and create amazing music.

This retreat was fabulous. Andrea is a very gifted teacher. For example, of the many exercises we did, one was having one of us come up and play one of our songs (that she had not heard before). With just a few simple changes, she showed how the song could be made much stronger. It reminded me of a master artist creating a beautiful picture with just a few strokes. The retreat was very much "learn by doing", which I loved. No dry lectures, just inspiring discussions. Apart from the exercises, another big plus is meeting a bunch of amazingly talented, kind musicians. There was a big range of levels of accomplishment, but everyone was super nice.

Andrea's style is just awesome. No ego, no dogma, very open and respectful. I understand that people's own work is often very dear to them, so offering criticism here requires real skill. I did notice that Andrea said somewhat sharper things later during the week, as trust had built, and I thought that was wonderful too.

While the retreat was awesome, the accomodations were not. I had to share a room with two extremely loud snorers, one of whom tried to climb into my bed by mistake in the early hours. However, they were nice people, and although I didn't get much sleep, I really didn't feel tired. Adrenaline! But also: I'm gluten intolerant, and the hotel solution appeared to be to just add the label "contains gluten" on everything. The only GF food at one lunch was the salad and the sweet potato fries. No GF desserts were provided at all. But the location itself was nice.

I gave my retreat experience 5 stars because my expectations of what I hoped to gain in the area of songwriting were completely exceeded. Like most, I came for Andrea's expertise and experience in songwriting and I got THAT plus inspiration, community, and clarity about my direction. Plus, you know something was great when you are experiencing complete withdrawal symptoms upon returning. Thank you, Andrea + team!!!

I had an amazing experience! Andrea is a highly skilled teacher of the craft of songwriting. She has a very kind heart and created an amazing retreat experience for a group of songwriters of all levels of experience to learn and grow and create with each other.

I highly recommend Andrea Stolpe's Songwriting Retreat. Andrea is a fantastic and knowledgeable songwriter and educator and you will come away from the retreat with new songwriting tools, valuable experiences in co-writing, and a new community of supportive and talented songwriters to work with.

Andrea puts her all into these songwriter retreats, and as you surely know from her social media posts, that’s an incredible amount of knowledge, and skill at teaching, and leadership in choosing and organizing great people to come together for mind-opening co-writing opportunities.

Wonderful retreat, I had an amazing time! Could have used another keyboard on site. Lol we sometimes were fighting over the two keyboards! Great instructor/instruction. So much fun to write and collaborate, share our songs and jam. The retreat facility was so so. Could’ve used maid service at least for one of the days during the week

An immersive, transformative experience. I was challenged to put my creativity to the test and surprised myself in wonderful ways every day. I met vibrant, diverse & extremely talented creative people, and made strong connections and instant friendships. I will be back!

Last week I attended the Andrea Stolpe songwriting retreat.

It was a remarkable week exploring ideas and techniques to help write better songs. And the opportunity to co write songs with fellow participants was invaluable,

I have been on a real high since finishing the retreat.

Andrea created a safe, caring, and creative environment where we as singer/songwriters were able to share our music, connect, with others and validate what we're doing. I met some wonderful people and we shared ideas, collaborated and created some wonderful music.

Andrea and the team created a safe, communicative, engaging enviroment for creativity to flourish.

Just finished a 5 day retreat with Andrea, her staff, and 33 very talented, creative, hugely spirited and good hearted musicians and songwriters. What a wonderful experience. A 10 on the 10 scale. With a focus on maybe 20-25, ? more, aspects of songwriting, (there are 100’s), and cowriting, the group wrote and performed, lyrics and music, 33 songs in 3 days, just amazing. And there’s time to hang, to visit, to present to Andrea individually, and to jam songs in the evening/night. The retreat site was excellent re comfort, cleanliness, friendliness, and good food, (with dietary options), 3 meals/day, and snacks!!!! What Andrea, (who is a gifted teacher), and her team offer, is unique. I know she’s not the only one doing this, but her formula, her program, is a winner. The learning and creative process will certainly continue after the program finishes.
I’d go again in the blink of a blink.

An overall amazing experience. We spent time in a group of people from all over the globe. Each their own process, tastes, talents, ideas and quirks. This made for an inspiring mix. Andrea and her team were so warm, inclusive and professional.
For one week we all felt what it would be like to be the Kelly Family (remember them? Haa!)
Highly recommend the retreat if you are open to learning more and zooming in on the details if you are experienced or finding a good, big well of inspiration and drive if you are a starter.

Everyone at the retreat was super welcoming and the structure and information was wonderful. The co-writing sessions were super fun and we wrote some great songs! I know I'll use the tools I took away from this retreat and improve on my craft!

Had a wonderful time and learned so much! Andrea is an amazing instructor. If you are looking for a place to improve your work, reconnect with yourself and with others - all through songwriting...this is the place!

This was an amazing experience to grow as a songwriter. Great teachings from Andrea and it was an awesome experience being surrounded by other songwriters to learn from for a week.

Had the time of my life. Andrea is Brilliant! She has a special way of identifying pieces of song structure and explaining their function like noone else i have heard before. Insightful and amazing! And my fellow retreaters were all so kind and gracious. it was a wonderful experience.