Did you know we teach songwriting? Songwriting is a specific creative endeavor in the musical field that often includes the storytelling aspect with words (lyrics). While conflict and movement can be done with instruments alone, many of our popular songs today have a range of styles that include words and instruments. A Capella is a style with singing alone covering both the lyrics and the instrumental portions of the song. Many orchestra pieces have only the instruments and no lyrics at all.
But while we focus on the popular song styles, because it is good to learn all of the pieces of songwriting before exploring any one in detail, we cover the basic parts of a song and build them one at a time to help understand each of them: refrain/chorus, verses, intro, outro, bridge, instrumental interlude, and pre-chorus. We cover rhythm, melody, harmony, time signatures, chord progression, and the hook.
If you’re starting to feel that itch about wanting to be creative, to let out some of those ideas that pop into your head, grab a notebook or your nearest digital notetaking device, and also head to this October NaNoWriMo Prep Challenge. Never heard of NaNoWriMo? It’s National Novel Writing Month, and you don’t actually have to try that. (It’s difficult, trust me, because I’ve tried it.) But the beauty of the Challenge is to allow your ideas to take shape, whether they end up in a story, a poem, a song, or another medium. Don’t be afraid to allow your creativity to guide you!
Actually, this post makes me want to write a song now… How about you?