Lately, I’ve been thinking and reading a lot about the process of songwriting because I’m writing a chapter for an upcoming book. Even though I’m reading a lot of materials to reinforce my writing, I keep coming back to the simple fact that in order to really understand songwriting, you need to write songs. These books I’m reading are wonderful; they are well-researched, thoughtful, and giving me wonderful insight into the craft of songwriting as well as insight into my own process and writing. However, at the end of the day, their message is the same—if you want to write songs, if you want to get good at writing songs, then you need to start writing songs.
There is, of course, craft involved in songwriting. Knowledge about form, harmony, melody, prosody, propinquity, rhyme, sectional identity, production, instrumentation, balance, analysis, listening, and lyrics all make the craft easier. A lot of songwriters don’t know all of these terms formally—and they have their own names for a lot of this vocabulary—but at the end of the day, anyone who writes songs has an understanding of ‘what works’. While reading, I started thinking about it being analogous to cooking. Most people know some basic cooking techniques, even if it’s just how long to cook something in the microwave or how to boil water. Let’s say you want to make macaroni and cheese. Sure, you can just buy the box, add milk, put it in the microwave or heat it on the stove—and voila! Mac and cheese. But if you really want to make something memorable and genre-spanning, something like your grandmother passed down, then you really need to learn about the melting properties of different cheeses (and experiment), you need to understand bronze-dye cut pasta versus not, how much to salt the water, how to make a roux, whether to use whole milk or cream, and if you’re catering to gluten free and vegan—well, all the rules change and you have to go back to experimenting again.
Songwriting seems similar to this; sure, you can just do the basics and make a song ‘work’, but to really craft a song that will stand the test of time (and I’m not talking famous, but one that even after the initial emotion and time passes still remains relevant and playable) you need to spend time learning about the craft. Listen to other songwriters. Seek out mentors. Maybe study songwriting in school. Writie a lot of really bad songs; not intentionally, but you will most likely write some doozies, because that’s how you get good at it. It’s how you get good at really anything. You have to fail a lot. Eventually, you’ll start writing more fair to good songs and even a couple great songs that reach people deep down and move them in ways you cannot predict. There is magic in songwriting, but there’s also a lot of craft and skill and practice and patience. So, if you’re interested, put down that fear and just start. Don’t worry about being good—just worry about writing.
If you’re interested in learning more about the craft of songwriting, here are the books I’ve read and am currently reading that I’d recommend; whether you’re a novice songwriter or an expert, there’s always something to learn. Some books are about songwriting specifically, others are about just dealing with the art of creativity, which is something I think all songwriters can use.
Big Magic – Elizabeth Gilbert
Chord Progressions for Songwriters – Richard J Scott
Songwriting for Dummies – Dave Austin
Songwriting Without Boundaries – Pat Pattison
Successful Lyric Writing – Shelia Davis
The Art of Songwriting – Andrew West
The Singer-Songwriter Handbook – Justin A Williams & Katherine Williams
Tunesmith – Jimmy Webb
Wired to Create – Scott Barry Kaufman & Carolyn Gregoire
Writing Better Lyrics – Pat Pattison
Additionally, The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music Education, The Bloomsbury Handbook on Popular Music Education, and The Journal of Popular Music Education all have chapters and articles on songwriting that I highly recommend.
Happy songwriting!
Kat Reinhert is a songwriter, vocalist, educator and scholar in the realms of popular music and contemporary voice. She currently resides in New York City where she is pursuing her artistic and songwriting career. www.katreinhert.com