Ed O'Brien and Brian Eno teach in a free songwriting series

Ed O'Brien and Brian Eno are among the musicians in Ear Opener, a free series of video masterclasses on writing music that launched on its YouTube channel on 15 September.

The composer Paul Clark writes and presents the series. It is made for 14- to 20-year-olds but open to anyone, and asks for no music reading or theory. Clark says his team spent 15 years building tools to help young people write the music they want to hear, and that huge cuts to education budgets make sharing them now essential.

O'Brien's advice to young writers is to stop worrying about getting it wrong.

There's no such thing as a bad idea. Sometimes, that idea that doesn't work was necessary to be aired, in order for the next idea that does work to succeed.

Ed O'Brien¹

Many people, he says, feel they should be doing this or that.

there are no ‘shoulds’ with music. By doing something else, maybe you're feeding something that will nourish the music.

Ed O'Brien¹