do now:

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• tune your ukulele

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• have pen and paper at the ready

in it for a song…

presented by

learning objective:

• to walk out of this workshop with a page of singable lyrics and a technique for approaching the writing of songs in the future

success criteria:

I can:

• brainstorm concrete ideas for a prompt
• investigate potential metaphors, images and other figurative language to make my ideas come alive
• understand the role and relationship of rhythm and rhyme
• apply the adage ‘less is more’ judiciously
• begin to play with the music that may underpin the song

warm in - check in:

• private five-finger vote:  how many songs have you written before?
• private five-finger vote:  how many songs have you shared with others? 
• hands up if you didn’t vote at all…

decision time: music first or lyrics first?

• Awkward Strangers, so far, have always approached songs ‘lyric first’. This is not the only way to begin writing songs.

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• There are many musicians and composers who first begin with the music. Many of the techniques we are applying today could well work for this approach as well.

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• If you already have music and are looking for lyrics, this approach will work just as well as if you were beginning with a blank piece of paper today.

how we will work today:

1. at each step of the workshop, my previously prepared ukulele player (Andrew) will model the process on the board
2. we will brainstorm a prompt to bed down some concrete ideas
3. we will use a (kinda) Venn diagram to find figurative language for our ideas, especially metaphors and imagery
4. we will identify which concrete and abstract ideas belong in our song
5. we will investigate rhythm and rhyme
6. we will edit, edit, edit (if time permits)
7. we will experiment with putting all of the above to music (if time permits)

so… what do you want to write about?

if you haven’t arrived with an idea already, choose from the prompts below:

1. love for a sibling
2. hate for a household appliance
3. anger at hayfever season
4. sorrow for a lost sock
5. hilarity at a pet’s ridiculous behaviour
6. contempt for people who don’t use their indicators
7. the emotion you are most aware you of right now (frustration, anger, anxiety, relaxed calm…)

now create a ‘cheat’s’ version of a Venn diagram:

a page in landscape and three columns:

in the first column describe the prompt

Here you should be super concrete - aim for nouns and verbs

***REMEMBER: this isn’t the song! This is just preparation….

in the second column describe words in the first

Now you can use adjectives to describe the things and adverbs to describe their movement (or lack of it)

in the third column describe another thing (or multiple things) that would use the same adjectives/adverbs as the middle column

This is where you can get super creative. Exaggerate. Get dramatic. Play word association games��Don’t be surprised if your song… changes and turns into something else entirely here…

and now circle or highlight the words / ideas from the second and third columns that ‘speak’ to you, that you can hear yourself singing…

it is in this ‘curating’ that you will find the heart of your song…

now put all of those ideas away for a bit

let’s focus on something else entirely

when I teach poetry, rhythm and rhyme are very, very strongly linked.

In fact, listeners and readers of poetry are more likely to forgive an ‘almost rhyme’ but will not forgive when the rhythm does not align…

Here is what I mean. Take a look at this limerick. This is draft one:

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There once was a ukulele player

Who recently said to Northcote’s Mayor

Your robes are real fine

But get to the back of the line

You are the payer and I am the uke slayer!

Now for draft two:

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There once was a ukulele fancy uke player

Who said to our fine Northcote mayor

Your robes are real fine

But, get to the Back Of the Line!

You’re the payer and I am the uke slayer!

BUT… we are songwriters, not poets!

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We can do all kind of things with our words.

We can:

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• Sloooow, streeeetch and exteeeend a word…
• Rattle-off-a-dozen-within-a-second-and-cram-them-into-a-line (think rap and hip-hop)
• We can fill empty gaps with
• oohs
• and
• ahhhs
• doowooopitydooos
• and wooooooahwooooahs….

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So. So.

Many. Many.

Options… Combinations…

so, let’s get back to our song, which has been incubating nicely in the background….

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Take the time to write four lines (your first verse) and another four lines (your first chorus)...

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As a form you could:�a) base your song on a limerick

OR

b) base your song on an Emily Dickinson poem

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The next slide will show you how that works

two forms you could use:

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the Emily Dickinson meter (common meter) and rhyme scheme:

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the Limerick meter (short meter) and rhyme scheme

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A

A

B B

A

Amazing Grace - traditional A Perfect Indian is He - Sinéad O’Connor

now have a noodle around with any chords you know…

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which chords sit well underneath the words, and suit the narrative or musical journey you want to take your audience on?

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which notes from the chords could become part of a melody? and what notes do you want to use that aren’t from the chord?

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if you are a beginner ukulele player - do not panic at this stage!!! you can find many ‘vibes’ / backing tracks online that you can use while you are still figuring out the melody. then figure out the chords as you get more confident.

useful links for song writing

these are some that we use

You can find ‘vibes’ to put under your song for a little while, while you are figuring out the tune online in places like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_uLM5i0Z4c&list=RDD_uLM5i0Z4c&start_radio=1

There are online rhyming dictionaries which are always useful, such as this one here:

https://www.rhymezone.com/

There are lots of online song-writing resources, many with youtube links. The advice can feel overwhelming after awhile. This pdf is pretty cool, though. Go to the link and find the download: https://www.andreastolpe.com/articles/melody-makes-all-the-difference?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=YTvid-Mar2026-MelodiesMakeDifference&utm_content=melodychecklist

For obscure references, chasing down word associations or connections to your ideas, don’t underestimate Wikipedia, or other encyclopedic references like ‘Brewer’s Phrase and Fable’. Alternatively, find your favourite non-fiction book on the topic. There are words, phrases and concepts everywhere around you, so happy hunting!