Getting started with songwriting

I believe that songwriting should be an essential part of classroom music. Dr Steven Berryman, composer and former president of the Chartered College of Teaching, wrote that ‘fostering confidence in behaving like a composer should take priority in the classroom’. This not only means knowing the methods or building blocks of a song but carving the time to hone and develop the musical ideas that spring forth.

I started songwriting when I was 15 years old and knew immediately that it was my calling. Being able to stand in front of an audience and communicate a story or idea (while hopefully getting a positive response) became an obvious career path and an incredible journey. It started because a youth worker gifted me a guitar; it continued because a music teacher, despite being classically trained, created opportunities within the school day that encouraged songwriting and band performance. The teacher arranged lunchtime concerts, set aside practice rooms, and entered our band for the Rockschool competition (and drove the minibus!). We came second in the northern heats and made the local paper (which was quite an achievement at the time) – all of this from a very traditional music teacher who admitted to not liking or understanding the pop music of the time.