Guide To Songwriting

A complete teacher's guide to leading successful songwriting projects - from first ideas to final performance, with practical tips.

"You wind up creating from silence, like painting a picture on a blank canvas that could bring tears to somebody's eyes. As songwriters, our blank canvas is silence. Then we write a song from an idea that can change somebody's life. Songwriting is the closest thing to magic that we could ever experience. That's why I love songwriting" - Rodney Atkins

Introduction

Songwriting can be an excellent way of enabling students to express themselves about topics that are important to them, and in musical styles and genres with which they are familiar. This guide suggests some processes, techniques and ideas for encouraging students to write their own songs, without suggesting actual musical or lyrical content – this should come from the students themselves.

All songwriters, whether individuals or groups, write best in their own way, in the order which suits them and their songs, and very often dealing with more than one aspect of the writing at a time – for example, coming up with words and music together. Furthermore, they may well write different songs in different ways. So there is no one way to teach songwriting.

Consequently, there isn’t one set way of using this guide. We have suggested a skeleton structure for how you might incorporate this guidance into a six-week project. However, this guide could also be used in a much less formal way, to support students working on composing/ songwriting using informal learning approaches. 

Downloads

• Prompt Sheet 1: Adding to our song 
• Prompt Sheet 2: Finishing your song 
• Prompt Sheet 3: If you just can’t get started 

Writing a song

Getting started

• Either ask students to bring songs to the lesson (for the comparison exercises) or have a number of popular songs of different structures/styles prepared that students can draw upon for discussion and inspiration
• Photocopy the student prompt sheets, if required

• Practice spaces, one per small group
• Range of instruments – ideally a typical ‘band’ set up (drums, guitar, bass, keyboards, microphones), and/or acoustic instruments, classroom percussion
• Ideally, access to computers with music sequencing/sampling software for students who want to compose electronically
• Flipchart paper and pens, and if possible audio recording equipment, for students to record their ideas
• Copies of the student prompt sheets, if required

Project snapshot

Teaching Advice
 
The following set of activities provides a step-by-step guide for how students might start, continue and finish a song. This is not a prescription of how students must write songs, but a series of suggestions and exercises for things they could do, especially if they get stuck.

It is important to stress to students that, when they express themselves in a song, no-one can say that something is right or wrong. However, it is beyond doubt that some songs are better than others and the care used when choosing notes, lyrics, chords, etc, can make the difference between a satisfactory school exercise and a song which is really exceptional.

In this project, we use the word ‘write’ for making up or creating words and music. This does not necessarily imply writing on paper – and it refers both to the mental activity of creation and the recording of the song. Though some students may prefer to write songs on their own, the material here is written for groups of students writing collaboratively. 

Listening to other songs

We make specific suggestions for linking listening with songwriting throughout this guide, to encourage students to listen to as many songs as possible. 

Students are likely to prefer writing the sorts of songs they enjoy listening to, but encourage them to challenge themselves and write other types of songs as well. Not only will this expand the range of possibilities, but it should improve their overall songwriting style. It also could lead them to discover some new music which they would never have chosen to listen to. 

Recording and reviewing
 
Recording and reviewing work is a critical part of the creative process.

It can be particularly frustrating for students if they forget an idea developed in a previous lesson. Flipchart pads and pens should be made available for jotting down ideas and lyrics in progress in whatever way the students choose, and also audio recording devices to record their ideas. These ongoing notes/recordings should be available every lesson.

Recording (either audio or video) is also a crucial way of tracking student progress, both for the teacher and students. It can be very beneficial for each group of students to have a means of jotting down ideas aurally. This could be on their mobile phones (depending on school policy), or other available recording equipment.

Copyright

It is useful to remind students that, if they are using other artists’ words, music or recordings in their songs, they may not be able to play their songs in public or record them for distribution because the material will be protected by copyright.

Songwriting activities

Students often ask whether the words or the music are written first in a song. It may be either, or both together. However, it can be useful to decide before starting what the song is going to be about, which may or may not actually be mentioned in the song. 

Students using lyrics as a starting point should work through Exercises A1–A3, and students using music as a starting point should go straight to Exercises B1/B2. If students are beginning with fragments of words and music together (lines for a song) they may use aspects of both methods simultaneously.

Songs don’t need to be written in the order in which they are sung/performed when they are finished. In practice, songwriting usually happens as a non-linear process, therefore students should follow the exercises in the order most appropriate to them, and be able to revisit the exercises and refine their work as and when necessary.

Starting Point: Words

EXERCISE A1: SONG TOPIC IDEAS

• Students start by establishing the theme/topic that their song will be based on.
• Ask students to divide into friendship groups, or to work on their own
• Each group should choose a topic on which to write a song and discuss it, writing down or recording any interesting ideas that could be used to inspire their song and its lyrics 
• Some of the words and phrases chosen may later be used in the song. But, at this point, encourage students to concentrate on the topic and what arises from it, rather than thinking about the song 
• Students should make a note of all of their ideas, and then go through them and decide which ones to use 
• It is possible that their ideas will be a mixture of words and music or even simply bits of tunes or chord progressions. If the ideas include music, see the B section (page 107). 
• As part of this exercise, ask students to choose one of their favourite songs, listen to it and discuss what the song is about, for example: 
• How many of the lyrics refer to the central theme/topic?
• Do they tell you everything at once or build up a story?
• Is anything else brought in from a different topic; if so, why? 

EXERCISE A2: LYRIC IDEAS

• Where there are verbal phrases, encourage students to find a good rhythmic way of expressing them 
• If there are some strong words or phrases, encourage students to search for more words about the topic which rhyme with them and make a list of useful rhyming words 
• Students should work on this until they have a few useful sentences and phrases 
• As part of this exercise ask students to choose one of their favourite songs and select examples of short phrases – words and music – where these two elements work particularly well together

• Why are these so good? Are there any places where the words and music don’t fit together well? Does this spoil the song? 

• How are rhymes used – on any words, or on words important to the message? Do the rhymes fit with the rhythmic stresses in any way? 
• Are the words easy to sing: which vowels work well on long notes; which consonants get lost when one word follows another?
• Encourage students to make a phrase of their own modelled on one of these phrases, either by adding their own ideas to what the original song is about, or by choosing another topic for their phrase

EXERCISE A3: DEVELOPING LYRICS AND BRINGING IN MUSIC

• Students should spend some time saying aloud, in rhythm, the words they already have written. They should then work on these, adding and taking away words, until they have two lines which work well together as lyrics for a song
• Next, using exactly the same rhyme scheme and rhythm, write another two lines 
• If the meaning is not complete, students should continue the pattern (or choose another pattern) to grow the four lines into a longer section 
• Students can start to think about how their lyrics might fit to music. If there is no music with the words yet, encourage them to say their phrases in different ‘sing-song’ ways, gradually singing lines to a new tune 
• The second of the two-line groups will usually have new words, but could have the same music as the first two lines. However, students could change the music at the end to make a slightly different second half of the fourth line 

• Is that structure then repeated immediately afterwards?
• If so, is it changed at all? Is it used again later in the song? How do other two-line phrases – different ones in the same song – relate to the one they chose?
• Why are things so often expressed in two-line phrases?
• Encourage students to create a verse or a chorus modelled on the best of these examples, either by adding their own ideas to what the original verse is about, or by choosing another topic

Starting Point: Music

EXERCISE B1: IMPROVISING A BACKING

• Ask students to divide into friendship groups, or to work on their own 
• Using instruments and/or voices they should jam around a chord-sequence and rhythm with which they are familiar 
• Encourage students to keep looping their musical ideas until they flow well 
• If students already have an idea for a melody (with or without words), the chords of the backing should fit with it 

• Play along with the basic accompaniment a few times, and then play their version of the backing without the recording
• Encourage students to try a few slight changes, for example the order of the chords, the bass line or the feel of the drum beat 
• Practise the new music and continue as above 

EXERCISE B2: ADDING A VOCAL AND BRINGING IN WORDS 

• When students have part of a tune which fits the chord progression, they can try putting words or phrases to it
• Encourage them to go round this sequence, trying new ideas which work with the backing – they may be able to get more than a single line this way 
• Once the improvisations bring up some useful lyric ideas consider referring to Exercise A3 

Putting it together

EXERCISE C1: REVIEWING THE MATERIAL

• If the ideas don’t really fit together as part of the same song, students could consider which elements could be put aside or changed
• As well as coming up with new lyrics ideas, students could try using different words and word orderings to improve the effect of the words that they already have written 
• As well as practising the music and improving the performance of it, students should be alerted to how small changes can have a powerful effect, and try out different chords and rhythms

• Explore how ideas are repeated, developed or replaced in the song
• Consider whether any parts of the song don’t fit well with the rest of it. Try to write some new words and music which develop these ideas 

EXERCISE C2: MOVING ON

• Try splitting it up into different sections, identifying verse(s) and chorus(es)
• Listen to what is ‘said’ in each part of the song. Do the words in a verse have a different message from another verse, and from the chorus?
• Is the music different in the introduction? 

EXERCISE C3: COMPLETING A CHORUS 

• If they already have part of a chorus but don’t know how to finish it, encourage them to analyse what they have already got
• Is there anything that still needs to be ‘said’ in their chorus? Does the music feel complete in itself or is there something missing? 

• Repeat one or two lines in the chorus, or repeat a line with a very slight change (perhaps in the harmony)
• Include a line from the verse in the chorus
• Check that the students are sure that what they actually have is a chorus. Might it be a different section? 

• How long is it, related to the verses?
• Is it in the same key as the verses?
• Does it end with the home key or lead to that?  
• Does the rhythmic feel change in it?
• Does it ‘represent’ the song? 

EXERCISE C4: COMPLETING VERSES

• If students already have part of a verse, encourage them to try finishing it off as described in Exercise A3
• When students have finished one verse, they should write a second and perhaps third verse, using the same music and rhyme scheme as the first, but with new words. As far as possible, encourage them to keep the number of syllables in the lines the same, and to be careful where the stresses in the words and sentences fall
• Encourage students to try to move the ‘story’ of the song on and not simply say the same things again. Students might do this in various ways, for example by telling the next thing that has happened or that they want to happen, or by explaining the first verse further 
• If while working on Verse 2 they decide that they want to change the order of the lines or the verses around, that is fine; just because they wrote one verse first, it doesn’t mean that it needs to be sung first 

• Analyse the rhyme scheme in the verse, and the structure of the verse as couplets (two-line bits)
• Find out if any rhymes then come back later in the verse, if so what effect does that have? 
• Analyse what is taken forward by each new verse of the song. Is anything revealed that was hidden before? 
• Encourage students to base their verses on the same model 

Finishing the song

By now, students should have a song structured Verse 1, Chorus , Verse 2. (There may be more or fewer than two verses.) In a six-week project, students may only get as far as this, and it is a good achievement if they do. But if they have the opportunity, they could now extend and refine what they have already written. The student prompt sheets are designed to provide some questions and ideas students might consider if they are unsure about how to finish their song. 

Performing and recording the song

Performance opportunities can provide motivation for students to finish their songs, and also a sense of achievement when performing music of their own creation to others. Therefore, we would strongly recommend building in some form of performance at the end of any songwriting project – either recording student work and uploading it shared online spaces within school guidelines, students performing to their classmates, or performing in a school or local concert. 

General

• As an end assessment for the unit, give each student a sheet with basic levelling criteria on and ask them to mark every group’s songs. They should be asked to find positive things to say as well as questions they would like to ask the writers about anything they felt didn’t work as well
• Ensure that students with Special Educational Needs receive the right sort of support – either focused teacher support or older students working alongside students
• Stretch Gifted and Talented students by asking them to compose in a style which is unfamiliar to them, or setting a challenging topic for the song 
• Encourage students to make use of music technology (for example creating beats/backing tracks to rap over) where appropriate
• Consider developing a cross-curricular project with the English department, with lyric-writing forming part of a creative writing course 

FAQs

The following provides some guidance on questions that may come up when running a songwriting project. Click the downward arrow to read the answer

Copyright information

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