16 Things You Can Do for Your Songwriting Craft

The other day, I had coffee with a music educator who is developing a songwriting curriculum for middle school general music students and we were discussing the importance of doing your own work as a songwriter. At SFME, we encourage everyone who wants to teach songwriting to write songs. That doesn't mean your identity changes to being a songwriter (maybe it will though...) but it means that you add songwriting into your list of skills as a musician. 

We spoke about how this person has difficulty finding the time to even make things when they're so busy helping other people make theirs. Before I get into some ideas to overcome this, I feel it's important to share that in all transparency, I don't have this issue.

I came into education through the back door, as it were. I never intended to be an educator. I intended to be a performer, an improviser, an artist - and eventually found my truest calling: songwriter. Teaching came out of a necessity to pay my bills and eat - and I found I liked it and wasn't terrible at it :) So, for me, sitting down to practice my craft, work on my skills (instruments, voice & production) and simply do the thing always comes first. Every single day that I have the opportunity, I spend at least 1-2 hours working on my craft.  And when I walk into a room, the identity I carry loudest is artist - then professor. 

I'm not sharing this to turn you off from continuing to read, but rather to share some insights that this friend of mine and I spoke about that I just look at as second nature, but that were eye-opening and helpful to them - and perhaps they will be for you as well if you're also struggling to find time to work on your craft. One of the things that we identified was a bit of a lack of skill and therefore feeling like they couldn't write - and we talked about some skill building songwriting things that they could do. These are things I do, things I've done, and things I share with my students and things that might help you show up for yourself. Beyond the first point, you could do these in the order I've laid out, or just hop around to the ones that feel most useful and connected. 

1. You are worth spending time on. This is honestly the most important. To believe that you and your craft are worth spending time on. It has to start here. With you. And your craft. Because if you don't believe this, how can your students believe this about their work? It is worth your time to set aside time to work on your craft. Trust me here. (builds the muscle of believing in yourself & your work)

2. Take 5 minutes. Give yourself a small goal. Try this: Do something related to songwriting for 5 minutes every day for a week. Really. 5 minutes. Set a timer. Whatever that looks like. It could be listening to a song and analyzing it for the form. It could be reading a lyric and figuring out what POV it's in and why that matters. It could be reading or watching something about songwriting. It could be sitting down and playing through some chord progressions. It could be humming random melody ideas into your phone. It could be doing an object write. Anything goes. But the deal here is you can only work for 5 minutes. When the timer goes off, you walk away.  (builds the skill of habit)

3. Add time. Once you've done this for a week, your brain will have established more of a habit towards songwriting work. So, now, add time. Maybe 10 minutes? 15? Whatever you have time for - but remember you can always just do 5 minutes and it will be enough.  (builds the skill of showing up)

4. Analyze a song. Choose a song you love. There are no guilty pleasures here. Just pleasure. Now, deeply analyzing the song. What is the form? What shape does the melody move within each section of the song? And within the section, each line? What beat does each phrase start on? What note does each section/phrase start and end on? What is the rhythmic speed of the lyric in each section? How do they vary? What is the harmonic progression? What is the harmonic accompaniment? What is the harmonic rhythm? What is the rhyme scheme? What kinds of rhymes are being used (there are over 10 different kinds of rhymes)? What kind of language is the song using? What about prosody? What production elements support the message of the song? What is the message of the song? This exercise will take many listens through the song and probably about 30 - 60 minutes if you're really digging super deep (it's also a great in class exercise for students - you could even make a worksheet - like a scavenger hunt - for all of these!).  (builds song craft skill and awareness)

5. Using the song you analyzed as a template, now create a new song. Have it mirror the shape of the melody, the harmonic progression, the relative speed of the lyric and melody in each section....etc. See what you can come up with!  (builds song craft skills)

6. Write a parody. Take a song you love and craft new lyrics to the existing melody - keeping in mind that the best parodies keep the rhyme scheme and often the sound of the rhymes intact - it's a fun exercise in toplining! (builds lyric writing skills and rhyming awareness)

7. Write a hook. Craft a short couple lines of lyric. Maybe one or two. Now, set that lyric to 5 different melodies - trying to make each one more hooky than the rest. Try not to use harmony when you do this exercise, as often we rely on harmony - but this is all about crafting melodies that feel sticky. (builds melodic craft skills)

8. Write a verse and a chorus lyric only. Then, analyze what you wrote and figure out what Point of View the song is in (1st, 2nd, 3rd or Direct Address). Now, rewrite the lyric in each POV and notice what happens to the feeling of the song.  (builds lyric crafting skills)

9. Make a copy-cat/transcription of a song's production. Find a song you like that has production that you feel you could replicate. If you're a beginner, this might look like simply putting in all the instruments where they are within the song. If your skills are intermediate, it looks like that, but also finding all the little quirky sounds and starting to EQ/mix and find sounds that actually sound like the original reference. If you're advanced, you're making a sound-alike: a close as you can get replica of the original. Instruments, production, mixing... etc.  (builds listening and production skill)

10. Create a track in a DAW. Use loops. Use Splice. Make something. Anything. See if you can make a full song track that adheres to a particular form, whatever you choose. Depending on your skill level, give yourself specific goals that build your skills (builds production skills). 

11. Look up chord progressions for songs you love and learn them in a few different keys. This will expand your knowledge and give you harmonic bases for many songs to write in the future. Figure out some grooves you like and play the progressions to the grooves. (builds harmonic/theory skills)

12. Write a bad song. Seriously. Try to write a really bad song. I dare you. (builds resiliance)

13. "Refrigerator Magnet" Song. Find a few poems centered around the same theme. Print them out double spaced and in at least 16 pt font. Cut all the words up. Mix them up. Now, put them together again into a workable lyric - where you can't reuse any words except prepositions and articles. Voila! New song!  (builds lyric craft skills)

14. Do a three page object or destination write where you focus on all the sensory details you can find. Go on and on and on until you have exhausted the idea. This should be juicy, filled with imagery and metaphor and senses and quite possibly meander a bit.  (builds creative muscle skills)

15. Take that object/destination write, mine it for really cool phrases and ideas and start crafting a lyric. Then take that lyric and set it to a melody. Then add harmony.  (builds song craft)

16. Go on a 30-minute walk. Think of songwriting. See what you notice on your walk that might be an idea for a song - challenge yourself and see if you can find at least 10 things that might make for a good song.  (builds songwriter mindset skills)

You CAN do this. Really. It does take some dedication to yourself and to the craft of songwriting. But, I promise that if you start down this road, your students will notice. They will be more inspired by your journey, and they will trust in their process more, too. And - each one of these is usable with your students - I bet you can even create amazing lesson plans around all of these ideas. And if some of these concepts or ideas aren't familiar to you, I suggest either reading our book here or purchasing one of our courses - they'll guide you through even more creative work! 

Or just reach out to us - we're always happy to engage and offer ideas for wherever you personally get stuck!

Happy Songwriting! 

Kat