The Art of Teaching a Child to Write Songs

Can a kid be a songwriter?

(TL:DR — Anyone can write a song!)

Did you watch the Grammy Awards this week? It’s incredible that music and songwriting are such a huge part of our collective consciousness. People love music. Full stop! When it comes to making your own music though, suddenly the walls go up and people get self conscious and nervous. It can take a lot for someone to feel “good enough” to write a song. Many seasoned professionals have even been known to suffer from the occasional imposter’s syndrome.

A common misconception about songwriting is that a musician has to be advanced on their instrument before writing a song. Anyone can write a song! It doesn’t have to be complicated. Take a couple notes or a couple chords and form a melody. Take a poem and set it over music and you have a song. Some of the best songs are the most simple!

What are the best ways to teach music?

Trick question! The ways one can teach or learn music are truly infinite. We all learn very differently, and discovering your own unique approach will go a long way!

In the classical tradition, it typically takes many years after starting an instrument, before feeling comfortable with improvisation or composition. This has been the predominant form of music education for many years. Over time, many students burn out, they feel torn between their creative impulses and the need to practice endlessly to excel at what’s on the page. 

For some students, this is inspiring, motivating and just the structure they need to progress! There’s no one way to teach music, and we think that’s beautiful. Whether a teacher is approaching songwriting and music through a classical, modern, or somewhere-in-between lens, we encourage teachers to discover what excites their students. What drives their curiosities? The best way to teach music is through the eyes of our students, so that they have the most tailored and productive experience possible!

Why songwriting?

Children are born with an innate love of music. As educators, if we can tap into that natural love, we can encourage a life-long passion for learning. Kids have very big, very REAL emotions and don’t often know how to express them,. This gives them some tools to write their own songs from day one, as well as an outlet to express themselves and channel their creativity.

Kids also have a natural, raw creativity that we, as adults, have learned to filter and suppress. So the real question is, why NOT take advantage of having more wonderful songs in the world?

How do teachers include songwriting in their lessons?

If you ask a professional songwriter what happens first in their songwriting process, music or lyrics, you’ll likely struggle to find a consistent answer! How a student writes a song with their teacher in lessons is no different. There are so many ways to help a student discover their own songs and styles. Music games are one of many excellent learning tools for understanding chords, theory, rhythms, and ear training.

While structure can be important, we feel that If students are bound by a rigid curriculum, students can miss out on valuable opportunities to learn from their passionate teachers — we love to think of these lessons as more of a collaboration.

And fun fact… as crazy as it sounds, the learning goes both ways! The students are often also inspiring their teachers with their songwriting!

What age should a child start music lessons?

Children are curious and playful! While they may progress at different speeds depending on their ages, immersing them at ANY age in a positive atmosphere, surrounded by music in any way is a wonderful start. We recommend having musical instruments around your home. Have a guitar out on a stand, a ukulele leaning in a corner, a small keyboard set up, perhaps a xylophone and harmonica in your toy chest. It’s important for music to be as accessible as possible for children. Kids will naturally gravitate towards making up their own songs if the instruments are lying around. Play and learn with your child!

Who knows, you may even have the next family band!