Winter 2011: Together Make it More

Do you know a friend who would like Songwriting for Kids?  
Please send them a link to this newsletter!

Save the Date: Summer Songwriting and Fiction Writing Programs
I Wrote a Hit Song! Contest Winner
SFK Bookclub
Winter Songwriting Challenge
Poll: Togetherness!


  Save the Date: 2011 Summer Programs


I'm excited to announce the dates for the 2011 summer SFK workshops. Please mark your calendars for July 18-22. We'll offer the original Songwriting for Kids Vol. 1 (K-3) session in the morning and Fiction Writing for Kids (3rd-5th grade) in the afternoon. 3rd graders who sign up for both programs are welcome to bring a lunch and stay all day. I can't wait!

I Wrote a Hit Song! Contest Winner

Congratulations to Charlotte, age 12...Charlotte wrote a hit song!

Charlotte, from Lombard, Illinois, wrote a song called "Together Make it More" and I thought the title was so great, I named the whole Winter newsletter after it! You can hear Charlotte play and sing her song at the I Wrote a Hit Song! webpage. Please stop by and leave a comment for Charlotte to let her know how much you enjoyed her song.


 SFK Bookclub

Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don't You Grow Weary
by Elizabeth Patridge

Our hit songwriter Charlotte is right: truly amazing and historic things can happen when individuals work together. In this book, Elizabeth Partridge writes about one of the great moments in American history: the Civil Rights movement. She tells the true story of the children who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. These individuals were brave enough to band together and stand up for what they believed in, and because of their courage, laws were passed that allowed African Americans the right to vote. Read more about this book to find out how music helped them on their journey...


Songwriting Challenge: Many Parts Make a Whole

You'll notice that the latest I Wrote a Hit Song! contest winner wrote a song that lists examples of things that work together to make something bigger: notes make a chord, you and I make "we." Lots of songwriters use this technique. Listing specific examples helps the listener know exactly what you are talking about.

Some songs take this even farther. The whole song can become a list of examples, and we call it a List Song. A list song usually gives a list of examples in each verse, followed by a line that sums it all up.

Famous Example: My Favorite Things by Rogers & Hammerstein. Each verse is a list of the songwriter's favorite things, ending in a sum-up line:

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens;
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens;
Brown paper packages tied up with strings;
These are a few of my favorite things.

  

Listen to the PS22 Chorus sing the whole song here:

Winter '11 Songwriting Challenge:
Can you write a List Song?

Here are some things to think about:

1. Think of one sentence or phrase that sums up what you want to say. Famous examples: These are a few of my favorite things, Let's fall in love, These foolish things remind me of you, It's the end of the world as we know it
2. How many things can you think of that fit with your sum-up sentence? See if you can fill a whole page with examples.
3. Pick the best ones and arrange them in verses.
   
4. Do you want it to rhyme?
5. Do you want to have a chorus? A bridge?
   
6. Have fun!
   

Poll: Togetherness!



If you can't see the poll, just click here. (Once you vote, you'll be able to see other people's answers, too.)