So your piano student wants to write their own music. How can you help them?
(Psst! Scroll down to the end for the free download of the TopMusicMag: Songwriting Special)
Knowing how to teach songwriting to your piano students can be a head-scratching task.
✔ You understand music theory
✔ You’re comfortable with chords
✔ You’ve listened to songs (albeit songs from your era – but you know of Taylor Swift, and you think you’ve heard a student talk about someone called Olivia Rodrigo…)
But how do you go about writing a song?
Table of Contents:
If students want to write their own songs, the first step is knowing how to play existing pop songs.
This will help them
These articles and podcast episodes demonstrate different areas of teaching and learning pop songs on the piano:
How to Choose the Right Pop Song to Teach Your Students
How to Create a Piano Lead Sheet from Any Song
How to Build Essential Musicianship with Pop Songs Students Love
CPTP107: How to Simplify and Teach a Pop Song by Ear
What’s the difference between a composer and a songwriter?
A composer writes music, and a songwriter writes music and lyrics.
To start students off on their songwriting journey, introduce them to composing.
Once they’ve grasped composition, you can ease them into the next step of songwriting.
These articles and podcast episodes will inspire you to develop a plan for helping your piano students learn the art of composing:
How to Get Your Beginner Piano Students Composing Music
The Power of 4 Chord Composing
Composition Kickstarters: 5 Ways to Inspire Your Students to Write Music
8 Simple Steps to Create a Group Piano Composition
From Improvisation to Composition: How to Nurture Your Students’ Creativity
TC209: Christopher Oill Teaches Tim Composing *LIVE*
Your students have mastered playing pop songs.
They’ve dabbled with composition.
Now, they want to move on to songwriting and add lyrics to their melodies.
There are three fantastic podcast episodes for you to listen to:
305: How to Teach Songwriting to Music Students with Simon Rushby
CPTP171: How to Teach Piano Songwriting with Lisa Donovan Lukas
TC198: Broadway Composer Andrew Gerle on the Art of Songwriting
To help you help your piano students write their own songs, we’ve collated articles, tips, ideas, and interviews into a songwriting special edition of the TopMusicMag
Download your free copy: