The Creative Musician: Beginning Songwriting

Have you ever heard a really cool song? Are you inspired to write a song of your own? This is the class for you! During this four meeting class, you will learn about writing lyrics, chords, chord progressions and the layout of pop songs (with verses, a chorus, and a bridge), when and how to rhyme, inexpensive recording apps, and recording your own pop song.

Our first class will be about lyrics, rhymes, and forms of pop songs. You will work on writing your song lyrics, learn about perfect and slant rhymes, and typical song rhyme schemes for verses, choruses, and bridges.

During our second class, you will work on a melody for your song. You will learn how to write memorable, catchy, and easy-to-sing melodies, and how to write down the notes so you can practice singing the melody.

For our third class, you will focus on chords, the difference between major and minor chords, and how to put those into a chord progression. You will learn how songwriters usually make their chord progressions and create your own!

In our fourth class, you will learn about recording, exploring different free mobile apps and computer programs.

You will need to know how to play a musical instrument, blank staff or TAB paper, notebook paper, pencil, eraser, access to YouTube, Spotify, or other similar music streaming service, and access to a free audio recording app. My recommendations are listed, but you may use another source or app if you prefer.