Just A Song Sunday: Starting the Idea of Songwriting

I am spending time with some of my adolescents, teaching them about writing songs. We've started in all different places - some already write poems, so songwriting is an easy transfer for those clients. Others are completely intimidated with the idea of writing a song. There are just too many things to think about in the process.

I've learned to break things down into really small steps to help ease folks into the idea of writing music.

For some of my students, the key into writing songs is exploring the keyboard to find beats and tones that they like. For others, it's sitting alone with the recording software, just singing something. For yet others, it's using the cool pencils while writing stories.

We are now getting to the point where everyone has something about ready to be fixed into a set format. We're going to talk about specific ways to fix our music this next week during music therapy sessions. This should make everyone move a bit towards the end goal of offering songwriting as a coping skill and/or life-long leisure skill.

One of the things that fascinates me as a music therapist is how people get into the various things that we do as therapists. I am interested in how my clients get interested in different things - playing the drums, using the guitar, writing songs. I am also interested in how we, as music therapists, do the same types of things.

I tend to write songs in a couple of different ways. Sometimes songs come into my head fully formed - music, rhythm, lyrics - everything in one neat package. (I like it when that happens - it's almost too easy!) Most of the time, though, I am one who starts with lyrics. Words come pretty easily to me, so I base almost all of my songwriting on the way the words arrive. The rhythm of the words makes it into the rhythm of the melody and the accompaniment pattern. I say the words over and over until a melody starts to form in my head. Then, I set the song down in a fixed manner.

I am thankful that I was always encouraged to write songs for my clients. Interestingly, I don't write other songs, but I do write the occasional poem. Hm. Maybe it's time to start writing music to accompany those poems.

It's been some time since I've written down any songs - I've been mostly improvising in recent sessions. I have a project due in about 12 days, so I need to get going on my songwriting goal. It's time.

I will start the way I usually start - brainstorming topics to support my theme of Spring. I will look through my list of therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) to see what I've already started. I will start writing down ideas, and then I will go to the keyboard (that's the instrument that I use to compose - it's easier to determine melodies on that instrument than on the guitar). Once the melody is set, the accompaniment comes pretty easily to me - my ear is well-trained - thank you, theory Professors Shumway and Hahn! Then, it's off to the music writing software. I am currently learning how to use Finale PrintMusic (new software that I received for Christmas). It's just enough different that it's a bit confusing to me, but I WILL master it!

Apparently, I can earn CMTEs for all the songs I've written in the past 18 months. That's good to know, but I don't ever look for CMTEs. I usually have plenty (I should probably check to see what my status is this cycle though). Today's goal? Writing three new TMEs based on my sing about song topic for this quarter - Spring!

I think I'll record the process this time around in an effort to use it in an upcoming CMTE series that I am designing right now. Keep an eye out for an announcement in the next couple of months about it. The application is almost finished and the money is there, so I don't think there will much in the way of becoming a preapproved provider through CBMT - I just need to generate some content.

Time to start generating that content.

Have a wonderful, music therapy moment filled week!