Have you thought about incorporating songwriting into your students’ piano lessons but just don’t know how or where to start? 

Lisa Donovan Lukas, author of The Young Musician’s guide to Songwriting shares valuable lessons from her book on her process to encourage both teachers and students to use their creativity and explore songwriting.

Aside from being a composer, lyricist and lifelong pianist, Lisa maintains an active piano studio where she enjoys teaching piano, music composition and songwriting. Listen and learn tips for teaching songwriting to your budding composers.

Today’s Free Download

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Transcript

If you’d like to download a PDF transcript of this episode, please click below.

In this episode, you’ll learn

* [07:29] – Lisa’s background.

* [08:20] – Lisa’s journey as a student and teacher.

* [12:31] – The importance of creativity in her lessons and teaching.

* [13:44] – Getting space and using the world around you to get inspiration.

* [15:27] – Why teachers should consider unpacking songwriting with their students.

* [16:38] – How songwriters have stronger skills in lyrics, melody or chords than others and how you can build where you are weaker.

* [18:43] – Lisa’s reason for writing her book: The Young Musician’s Guide to Songwriting.

* [19:55] – Who can benefit from the lessons in the book?

* [20:49] – Can students who work through Lisa’s process be all-rounders and create songs from scratch?

* [21:40] – A peek at how Lisa conducts her lessons.

* [22:55] – Beginning the process of songwriting with students.

* [26:43] – Using progressions in songwriting and how the 4 Chord Composing can work with this.

* [29:48] – Encouraging students to sing their compositions.

* [31:12] – Working with scales in melodies.

* [32:10] – Lisa shows and demonstrates an example of a student’s free-writing.

* [37:44] – Is it important for students to notate the final composition?

* [38:36] – Using Garageband when working on songwriting with students.

* [39:37] – Do teachers need to be good and experienced singers or songwriters to teach this to their students?

* [40:16] – More information on the free download: Lyrics and Rythm

* [42:49] – Tips from Lisa on Songwriting.

Links Mentioned

* 4 Chord Composing Framework

Lisa Donovan Lukas Website

Amazon: The Young Musician’s Guide to Songwriting 

Barnes and Noble: The Young Musician’s Guide to Songwriting

The Young Musician’s Guide to Songwriting Facebook Page

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