Songwriting can be a solitary exercise. It can be a collaboration. Or it can be what the popular Kansas City pop-jazz duo Victor & Penny (Jeff Freling and Erin McGrane) make it: a community experience.

For part one of a two-day Songwriter in You activity, the musicians will visit the Central Library, setting up their SongLab in Kirk Hall over a long lunch hour. During this time, Victor & Penny invite patrons to drop in and submit ideas and words to fold into verse, either in-person or via social media. From those contributions, Victor & Penny will craft an original song.

Then on Thursday, June 21, at 6:30 p.m. at the Library’s Plaza Branch, the musicians will take part in a public conversation featuring a few live musical performances. Their discussion will explore the process of songwriting -- inspiration, production, refining and editing, execution -- plus they will share their experiences working as professional musicians, touching on topics such as traveling to and from gigs, managing the business side of art, and keeping creative through it all. They will also debut a new song created using ideas offered by the public during Tuesday's SongLab.

The two-pronged event is part of the Library’s 2018 Adult Summer Reading Program, Rock & Read.

SongLab Submissions

How does SongLab work?

• Victor & Penny will be actively working on ideas for music and lyrics for a new song in the Central Library's Kirk Hall from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
• Patrons can stop by the Central Library any time during this period to write down ideas for songs on slips of paper.
• Submissions should be simple - a single word or a short phrase. These contributions serve as inspiration points, not entire lyrics or full songs. (See below for examples from past SongLab sessions.)
• Possible song topic starting points to consider: an experience,  a person/relationship, a feeling/sensation, a place,  a memory or moment, something you saw, heard, or read.
• Victor & Penny will collect and consider the SongLab submissions, looking for seeds of ideas that could lead to a song concept.

The public is also invited to offer song ideas on social media in advance of the SongLab. Share ideas, words, or phrases on Twitter using the hashtag #VPsongLab, and those submissions will be added into the mix. Tag the Library at @kclibrary, and Victor & Penny at @VictorAndPenny.  Share your ideas through Tuesday, June 19.