MU:Cn11.0.T.1A: Demonstrate understanding of relationships between music and the other arts, other disciplines, varied contexts and daily life.

Writing Song Lyrics

This lesson is part one of a unit study about creating a song from start to final production. This lesson introduces the students to writing lyrics for songs. The lesson begins with a discussion to answer the question: Why do people write songs? This is followed by listening to and analyzing the lyrics from several song examples. Students then work collaboratively in groups to decide on the topic/message of their song. brainstorm content ideas for the topics and then writing rhyming pairs of sentences to create the verses, chorus and bridge of the song. The premium level lesson plan includes step by step instructions which includes links to a copy of sample lyrics to use for analysis along with annotated instructional points for the lyrics and a Song Writing Worksheet that students will use to create a rough draft and final draft of their lyrics. Week two of this unit covers a lesson to create music tracks to accompany the lyrics, week three has the students recording the vocal performance of the lyrics with the music and week four concludes the unit with a lesson on editing, mixing and adding effects to the vocals.