The Method I Like to Use for Songwriting

As a vocal student at LaGuardia High School, songwriting is one of the things I am grateful to be able to do. While I really have no idea if the songs I write would make it to the top 100’s list, I still have my own way of creating them. 

Songwriting is a process that can branch out in any direction possible. Maybe it will begin with the music, and then the lyrics. Maybe your song was originally just a title before you added any lyrics! You will eventually find your own way of making music, and to help you out: this is what I like to do. Additionally, songwriting advice isn’t just for songwriting- it could be incorporated into poetry as well! Songs are just poetry with pitch, after all. 

Be motivated. If you don’t feel like songwriting, then your entire brainstorm will dry out, and that’s not what you need! I find my songwriting to be the strongest when I am very in the mood to do so. You’ll find yourself having a more successful creativity flow if you know for sure what you want to write a song about. 

Free-write sentences. Think of this as free-style poetry. Instead of sticking to a specific lyric, line, or stanza pattern quite yet, just begin by writing out some sentences. I find this method to work the best for me because I’ll know exactly what I want my song to include and I’m not changing the words to make them rhyme or fit a certain scheme. Before thinking technically, think emotionally- what message do you want to carry out? 

Then, piece together your sentences. This is the part that will feel more like poetry, as well as the part where you should know what way you want to organize your lines. You could go for a classic four lines making up one verse, or go your own complete way. With your sentences/lines being first established from step 2, you now just have to piece them together in whatever way you want to. 

If there were to be a step four, it would include the technical and instrumental aspects of making a song, not songwriting. That only goes to show all the talent and effort that is put into making music, and it’s impressive that everyone has the potential to do something like it. But, personally, I could argue that writing is the most crucial part of the process. It’s the message that someone has incorporated from their own life experience. Songwriting has the ability to tell so many stories from people all around the world!