Words & Music, Teen Songwriting

We believe that songwriting is the highest form of writing. In barely three minutes, a song can tell a story like a novel, or play images in our heads like a movie. A song can evoke as beautifully as a poem or as forcefully as a picket sign. It can feel as personal as a journal entry or a letter to a best friend. It can gather the rest of us like an inspired speech or a rally cry. Songs move us to our core—to dance, to cheer, to shout, to sing, to weep, to hope, to believe, to remember, to move.

To learn to write songs, then, is to develop remarkable life skills of perception, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, problem solving, and self-expression. Novelist, screenwriter, poet, scribe: Songwriters learn to be the best noticers—and they report what they notice back to the tribe. This class is devoted to kindling that passion to notice, the ability to express, and the means to create finished work.

In this TEEN ONLY section, we will build a deep toolbox to start, structure, finish, and revise original songs. Class will mix hands-on exercises, thoughtful lesson presentation, group and individual work, and out of class assignments to help students develop their unique voice and style as songwriters.

We will write lyrics and music. A student does not need to play an instrument to write songs, though many do and will. For the student who does not (a writer, a singer) this peer setting might give them the hunger or clarity to learn piano, guitar, ukulele, etc. For the student who does, we will make use of and build on those existing skills in writing songs.