NORWICH – Bob Halligan, Jr., the founder and leader of Celtic pop/rock group Ceili Rain, will be leading four days of songwriting workshops at The Place, Monday-Thursday Dec. 10-13 from 3-5 p.m.

These free workshops are designed for ages high school through adult and will be appropriate for beginning through advanced musicians. They are being sponsored by the Chenango County Council of the Arts with funding provided by the New York State Music Fund.

Singer-songwriter Bob Halligan, Jr. has seen his tunes rack up sales of 30 million units since his first hit in 1980. Among the artists who’ve covered his songs are: Cher, KISS, Michael Bolton, Judas Priest, Kathy Mattea, Rebecca St. James, Joan Jett and dozens of others. Films include “Iron Eagle” and “Wayne’s World”.

Halligan brings his 20 plus years of hit making experience to this exciting, interactive workshop that is a comfortable fit for beginners and advanced students alike. Rather than copious ivory tower “speechifying”, he focuses on the needs and the talents of the individuals present, and shows them “one person’s opinions” about where they’re going wrong – and Right! Technically, Halligan addresses issues like prosody (the sound of the music matching the sound of the words) and melodic construction. Philosophically, he touches on things like “purity of purpose” and “writing what you know.”