Songwriting Tuition in Sydney

Our Songwriting Tuition course involves a "hands-on" approach, combining the theoretical elements of songwriting with practical ideas which the student brings to the lesson, or which are decided upon by tutor and student, as a starting point to which we add and play with the elements which great songs possess.

Here is a brief rundown of the topics covered in our Songwriting Tuition classes.

Song Structure - Good song structure lays the foundation for a successful track.
- Verses - Choruses - Pre Choruses - Bridges and Breaks
- Control the pace by lyric line structure
- How to structure a song for best musical effect
Melody - Look at the difference between how Rap and Pop treat melody.
- How to improve your own melody writing
- Prosody - How to lock the syntax of the words into the melodic rhythm
Rhythm & Rhyme - Incredibly necessary tools in the songwriter's toolbox
- How to recognise the rhythm of your lyric and let it drive the song
- Internal and external rhyme patterns and how to use them to best effect.
The "Hook" - What you want 'em to be whistling after people have heard your song
- How to recognise hooks
- How to incorporate them into your song
- Subliminal and overt hook types
Music theory
- How to use key and time signature changes to best effect
- Which keys suit different music types
- How to use the "Doh - Re - Mi..." scale to recognise and write your own melodies
Creative Thinking - How to develop a space for imagination
- Finding inspiration when you've "hit the wall".
- We love what's new and yet we're always dealing with the same concepts - how do we do it?
- Is it a hit? Does it have to be?
- Reflecting on other creative fields such as TV/Radio ads, website ideas etc
Recording the song - getting it down
- Getting your ideas across to the musicians who are going to record them
- Developing a "producer's attitude" to your own recording
- Songwriting tools - hardware (voice recorders etc
Co-Writing - You say "tomato" and I say....
- Getting the ground rules laid up front
- Publishing percentages for co-writers
- The difference between a definite co-write and a "Can you help me with a couple of lines..."
- Developing a co-writing relationship
Registration and Publishing
- APRA (The Australasian Performing Right Association) - A songwriter's best friend
- How to register a song when not a member of APRA
- Live performance Returns for APRA members
Songsalive! Australia- A collective of songwriters working together and helping each other
- Songsalive! Australia is an organisation for songwriters, run by songwriters.
  Roxanne and Stephen are the President and Vice President of Songsalive! Australia respectively. For ScoopFX students who are studying songwriting, or add it to an instrument they are having tuition in, Songsalive! Australia becomes a great afilliated tool to help extend what the song means and what it can do....Read more