Songwriting Courses

This course will introduce the craft of songwriting in connection with the music industry and the songwriting major at Berklee College of Music. Students will explore a comprehensive overview of the core foundations intertwined in the songwriting major: song craft, song production, performance, and business. Through in-class discussions, exercises, and assignments, students will be encouraged to experiment with their individual development as music makers. The course is supplemented by a bi-weekly seminar that brings the cohort together for community development, collaboration opportunities, and learning about the available resources for songwriters at Berklee.

Designed to give an overview of the subject to the student contemplating a career as a songwriter or a career in music in which songwriting plays a major role. Topics include the importance of the song in the music industry, making a living as a songwriter, the relationship of words to music, song structure, and song demo production. This course should help some students decide whether songwriting is the right major for them and also help MB/M majors and MP&E majors understand how to listen critically to songs as well as help prepare them to be more knowledgeable in music publishing, A&R, and other song-related fields.

This course provides composers and songwriters with basic yet strong abilities on the keyboard by using grooving and inspiring musical exercises. Students will have an opportunity to learn the piano by choosing different alternative rhythmic grooves used as play-along as part of the material provided by the instructor. Students will create/compose their own melodic material, which they will then use in class and in assignments by either singing or playing it with the right hand in order to learn and practice different chord progressions. 

This class is not based on scales, two staff reading, or western European classical repertoire. Instead of introducing the piano as an instrument that must be learned by all non-pianists, students will have the opportunity to discover—through fun and musical material—why this instrument is one of the greatest and most powerful songwriting companions any composer will ever have during their career.

This is a blended course. It will take place online and in the classroom. For every lesson you will have online reading, instructional videos, and playalong tracks to aid your practicing. We will meet in person at our regularly scheduled weekly class time.

This class introduces guitar technique, harmonic concepts, and rhythmic concepts supported by guitar performance specifically tailored to the working processes of songwriters. The class uses shape-based exploration of the guitar fingerboard to present concepts of theory and harmony and as a way to discover and generate surprising, novel musical material as sources of inspiration for songwriting. Each module advances specific guitar skills and techniques with attention to ease of movement, clean execution, efficient left-hand fingerings, and right-hand finger- and flat-picking patterns. This work is integrated with progressive introduction of harmonic concepts such as voice-led diatonic and modal progressions. Technical work is interweaved with the student's creative work, which is presented in short composition exercises for a song section, performed and evaluated in class, and culminates in several full songs utilizing voice-led progressions.

This core technology course in Songwriting introduces students to the tools and techniques of producing original songs using a Digital Audio Workstation. Through a hands-on approach, students will develop efficient workflows for composition and demo production. Students will explore a diverse range of recording techniques including audio and MIDI, studio setups, signal flow, use of tracks and channels, beats, loops and sounds as a generative impetus. This course is segmented into modules with projects having a focus on vocals, genre-writing, collaboration, and a final mix. 

This core technology course in Songwriting introduces students to the tools and techniques of producing original songs using a Digital Audio Workstation. Through a hands-on approach, students will develop efficient workflows for composition and demo production. Students will explore a diverse range of recording techniques including audio and MIDI, studio setups, signal flow, use of tracks and channels, beats, loops and sounds as a generative impetus. This course is segmented into modules with projects having a focus on vocals, genre-writing, collaboration, and a final mix. 

This core technology course in Songwriting introduces students to the tools and techniques of producing original songs using a Digital Audio Workstation. Through a hands-on approach, students will develop efficient workflows for composition and demo production. Students will explore a diverse range of recording techniques including audio and MIDI, studio setups, signal flow, use of tracks and channels, beats, loops and sounds as a generative impetus. This course is segmented into modules with projects having a focus on vocals, genre-writing, collaboration, and a final mix. 

This course is designed to introduce students to the tools and techniques of songwriting. Throughout the course, students will explore various aspects of melodic design and development, including the placement of lyrics with melody, the emotional life of chords, prosody in relation to melodic placement, title formats, song sections, and structure. Moreover, the course will focus on developing the skills necessary to identify and formulate emotional expression in songwriting. Emphasis will be placed on the compositional decisions and choices available to the songwriter through weekly assignments, enabling students to apply their knowledge and refine their skills.

This course must be taken concurrently with SW-221 Lyric Writing 1.

This course extends the introduction of foundational knowledge and skills developed in SW-211 Songwriting 1. Its purpose is to provide students with an opportunity to expand their expertise in songwriting through an exploration of hybrid song structures and form, advanced melodic development, modes and modulations, and the proper integration of lyrics and melody. During the course, students will be expected to compose, notate, and record both partial and full songs in response to specific parameters and prompts. Furthermore, the development of critical thinking and communication skills will be emphasized, as students will give aural and written peer feedback. The ability to interpret peer and teacher feedback, as well as synthesize ideas for revisions, will also be honed.

This course must be taken concurrently with SW-222 Lyric Writing 2.

This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamental tools and techniques of lyric writing. Through the course, students will explore the different aspects of generating lyrical concepts and ideas such as prosody in relation to rhythm, rhymes, and lines, literary devices, and the shape of language. Furthermore, the course will focus on developing the skills necessary to identify and formulate emotional expression in lyric writing. Emphasis will be placed on the compositional decisions and choices available to the lyricist through weekly assignments, allowing students to apply their knowledge and hone their skills.

This course must be taken concurrently with SW-211 Songwriting 1.

This course extends the introduction of fundamental knowledge and skills introduced in SW-221 Lyric Writing 1. Its primary objective is to provide students with an opportunity to explore various song forms, story development, lyrical content implications, advanced rhyme, point of view, and current trends in lyric writing. Through these elements, students will be able to identify and formulate emotional expression in their lyric writing. Emphasis will be placed on the compositional decisions and choices available to the lyricist through weekly assignments. Furthermore, the development of critical thinking and communication skills will be emphasized, as students will give aural and written peer feedback. The ability to interpret peer and teacher feedback, as well as synthesize ideas for revisions, will also be honed.

This course must be taken concurrently with SW-212 Songwriting 2.

This course is designed to enrich the students understanding of composition as it pertains to hip-hop. Students will learn how to write effective hip-hop songs by studying the social and cultural background of hip-hop as well as studying the lyrical and compositional elements involved. Students will be asked to write hip-hop lyrics and music, learn how to conceive of lyrics for other artists and to produce a fully conceived hip-hop song.