Workshop with Arca (March 2026)

The live sessions for this class have ended, but you can still sign up to access all recordings and materials.

We’re extremely pleased to announce that Arca will be teaching a workshop with School of Song, starting on Sunday, March 8th. Across her genre-bending solo releases and singular production work for FKA twigs, Björk, Lil Uzi Vert, and Blood Orange, Arca has developed an unmistakable approach to sound. Her commitment to experimental music-making has inspired a generation of songwriters and producers worldwide.

In this course, we’ll cover a range of topics, including:

Process as a Pendulum

Structure vs. chaos, experimental vs. pop, discipline vs. play – the pendulum is always in motion. In search of balance between these forces, the center lies not in a fixed position but in an ever-evolving attunement to your present state. Arca will share her journey in navigating this pendulum swing over the course of her career and share the insights that help her remain grounded while sustaining creative momentum.

Inducing Trance Through Modulation

Arca will share practical ways to shape attention and intensity through modulation and to treat sound as something you can feel as well as hear. We’ll explore detuning and micro-variation, LFO-driven automation of pitch and timbre, and interval choices that create different kinds of tension. We’ll also look at how distortion and saturation can bring out buzzing, humming, ringing, and vocal-like overtones — and how to steer these textures intentionally in a DAW.

Experimentation in Practice

How can we prioritize experimentation as a value and learn to explore new sound worlds with a playful eye for beauty? We’ll unpack the ideas of constellating opposites, avoiding formulas, resisting comfort zones, and maintaining an open space of possibility, all while applying this framework to a DAW-based, production-oriented workflow.

From Noise to Music

Sometimes we crave challenging sounds to engage the full spectrum of our faculties. At other times, we want an ambient sonic landscape within which our minds can meditate with open-endedness. Arca will guide us in traversing the space from noise to music to help unlock music’s main therapeutic potential: reminding ourselves about our full emotional range.

Here are a few words from Arca:

"making music has always been a lifesaving experience, and for as long as i can remember it has been a way to connect with others, find my tribe, resonate on shared aesthetic sensibilities all while bringing people together into communities based on an appreciation of the intentional, careful crafting of energy and sound, and music is always there, existing in so many ways: both as a shared rhythm to dance to with others in nightclubs, and in headphones in cathartic moments of solitude and introversion, and every space in between.

and even at my most experimental - perhaps in some ways particularly at my most experimental - i feel like making music is a kind of reaching out, even if the person for whom you make music for is yourself, an idea of a person or a blend of people in your mind, whoever you write for becomes the hypothetical recipient of a gesture of communicating and expressing- in this sense i see every song as a kind of love letter to the collective, to that which unites us through sound art

you could say each songwriter is a unique synthesis of all the influences that shape them throughout the course of their explorations so formats become a shorthand that conveys the archetypal, that which we recognize intuitively - and recurring patterns in music, models of how to structure songs, form aesthetics that morph and synthesize into amalgamations each day. fusions between styles/synthesis, alchemy, exploration, play and discipline are some of the technologies we have as artists to help us create those mysterious and magical representations of modes of relating and feeling: songs."

Signing up with a friend + Gifting

Sign up with a friend to receive a 20% discount by clicking here. 

If you'd like to buy the workshop for yourself and gift it to a friend, just add 1 to your cart with "This is a gift" checked and their info, and 1 to your cart normally -- the discount will be applied automatically. Note: no refunds on discounted orders.

FAQ:

Q: What musical experience should I have?

A: People across all musical levels will be able to gain something from the course. There are no specific DAW requirements, though familiarity with a recording medium of your choice will be helpful for some of the assignments (e.g. sampling based songs). 

Q: What if I've never written a song before? Can I still participate in this workshop?

A: Yes! As with any new skill, just starting is usually the hardest part. The songs are optional and this workshop will provide the structure and accountability we all need to get started and follow through, for beginners and old guard writers alike.

Q: Is there an enrollment cap?

A: Nope! This is a lecture-style class with open enrollment. The song shares will be optional with breakout rooms of 3-4 people.

Q: Will Arca give me feedback on my songs?

A: Due to the class size, we cannot guarantee that you'll get Arca's feedback on your songs. However, our teachers are active on our song sharing platform and may leave comments on students' submissions.

Q: I can't make the lecture times for some (or all) of the classes. Can I still participate?

A: Yes! We send out the recordings of lectures at the end of each class day, so you can watch the lectures on your own time.

Questions? Email us at hi@schoolofsong.org.

If after the first class you feel the course is not a good fit for any reason, you are welcome to a refund on the rest of the course classes. We are unable to process refunds after the second class.