COMMOTION Workshops

COMMOTION 2023 Workshops. 2025 Workshop offerings will be similar. Keep tuned for updates.

Music Creation

Songwriting

Bring your song ideas and instrument to this workshop to work with our awesome artist/mentors to refine your ideas and improve your songwriting skills. Learn some songwriting rules and then how to break them. Learn about song structure and the purpose of a verse, chorus and bridge.

Songwriting - Waiata Reo & World Music

Looking to use other languages and rhythms in your music? This workshop is for you. Whether you want to explore your roots or incorporate sound and language from other cultures, your tutors Rei and Huia Hamon will share their experience and tips.

Songwriting - Lyric Writing

Everyone knows how important lyrics are to successful songs and this is an opportunity for songwriters to take a deep dive into writing great lyrics, including finding inspiration with new and creative ideas for lyrical content.

Hip Hop

Want to learn the basics of hip hop lyric writing and flow, rhyme and cadence, so you can incorporate it into your own music? Mazbou Q is known as The Rap Scientist and has a large following on Tik Tok, where he breaks down the rhythm fundamentals, music theory, and musicality of hit rap songs.

Music Performance

Learn to DJ!

Who doesn't want to learn to DJ? In this workshop you'll learn the in's and out's of DJing with DJ Shan from the Aotearoa DJ Academy.
Depending upon attendee experience, this workshop may be offered twice at a beginner and an advanced level.

Sound Awesome Live

Perfect for both aspiring and experienced performers, this workshop is facilitated by an experienced sound engineer. You'll learn answers to the following questions:

What is all this gear?
What is the engineers vs. performers role in achieving a great live sound?
How do you communicate what you need (or want)?
How to be prepared so it goes your way?

Vocals Dojo

For Singers who wish to learn to harmonise, improve their mic technique, and learn how to take care of their voice.

Guitar Tone Mastery

An electric guitar workshop where you'll learn about guitars, amps and effects pedals to explore the possibilities within reverb, delay, distortion, fuzz, echo, chorus, boost, and compression.

Keys - Expand Your Sound

A must-do workshop for keyboardists. This workshop focuses on using a keyboard in live performance; accompanying a vocalist; and layering keyboards in an arrangement.

All Things Drums

This workshop is for drummers wishing to improve their live performance game. Workshop content will include incorporating electronic drum pads and playing to in-ear click tracks.

Own the Stage!

Learn tips to improve your stage presence and connect with your audience. Perfect for future Popstar contestants and Rockquest participants looking to improve their stage presence.

Jam Space

Running throughout COMMOTION is a dedicated jam-space and some workshop rounds will have jams facilitated by some of our tutors. Come along and join in.

Bands Workshop

This workshop is a must for bands that have come to COMMOTION. Bands will each take a turn playing one of their songs on stage and getting feedback on your song arrangements and stage presence to help take you to the next level.

Live Sound - Write a Tech Rider

If you’re playing live - you NEED a technical rider. A tech rider is a short document that you can hand over to any festival, booking agent or sound engineer, so they can immediately understand what you need for your set. This session covers which details you should include and exclude, look at some professional examples, and workshop these concepts around your own line-up - basically, we’re going write your tech rider!

Music Production

Intro to Beatmaking & Production

The beauty of Electronic Music is that when you’re making music in this style, you’re also playing in the realm of designing sound itself - perhaps more-so than any other style of music. It’s actually really easy and fun to create the incredible sounds you’ve heard in your favourite tracks. In this workshop you’ll learn how to program your own beats, learn about synthesisers and sampling, using virtual instruments, recording your own vocals/instrument and more, as Paddy shows you through the whole production process in Ableton Live.

Record a Demo

If you or your band have a song you'd like to record, you can get a demo recorded at the NMIT recording studio by professional producers. All attendees will be emailed in advance of COMMOTION to see who wants to pre-book this.

Home Recording

Learn how to record yourself and why this is a vital part of being a musician in 2023. This workshop will cover things you need to know about recording your own music (vocals and instruments) and will cover software (DAW’s and plugins), audio interfaces and microphones.

Advanced Beatmaking & Production

If you create or record your own music on a computer, this workshop is for you. Bring your laptop, share your music, and get feedback and insights from our producer tutors.

Producer Breakdowns

Our amazing producer/tutors break down some of their tracks to gove you insight into the creative process and music production techniques.

Mixing & Mastering

An introduction to the intricacies of sculpting sound. You'll learn just what goes into turning a flat recording into a releasable song.

Music Industry

Getting Your Music Out There

In this workshop you'll learn how to go about getting your music out there. From working with a producer; getting your music released onto streaming platforms; licencing to TV and Film; making music videos; and promoting your music.

Being an Artist on Social Media

Essential for anyone wanting to pursue a career as an artist, where it is thought that the music is 20% of the work and marketing and networking comprise 80% of the effort. In this workshop you’ll learn how to promote yourself on Tik Tok and Instagram and avoid mistakes.

Soundshare Panel

Get feedback on your demo or recorded song by a panel of artist/mentors. Be one of a small number of attendees/bands to get constructive feedback on your work. All attendees will be emailed in advance of COMMOTION to see who wants to pre-book this.

Music & Money

Learn about royalties, rights, licensing, distribution, labels and the role of music industry bodies, including NZ Music Commission, APRA, Recorded Music NZ etc. An opportunity to learn what they are, what they do and why they are important for making money from your music.

Artist/Tutor Q&A Panel

A fun Q&A session with artist/mentors. Put your questions into a box and the artists will draw questions and try their best to answer them.