CREATE - Performance

Music and Lyrics

Students in our college’s very first song writing specialism, Music & Lyrics, have been learning how to express meaning through writing lyrics and using compositional devices and creative processes. I am very proud to share some student examples of written analysis detailing their approach to writing a song. Our talented students demonstrate passion and dedication to the arts and are developing skills for a lifetime of engagement in music. Watch this space for samples from the team’s song catalogue!

I personally really enjoy the lyrics of a song just as much as I enjoy the melody, and the stories that come from other artists’ lyrics is something I have always wanted to replicate in my own way. I worked very hard on trying to make my lyrics have a deeper meaning and story that others can follow from me. I believe that writing from personal experience is the best way to write, as it creates a more personal song that others can relate to and learn from. Therefore, most of the lyrics I attempt to write do come from personal experience. In this project [I listened to the feel of the backing track] and knew that I could create something that would fit. As well as that, as I heard the repeating riff and sound, I knew I wanted to write a few lines that could repeat throughout the song, to have a lot of power that people will remember. I also wanted the opportunity to be able to slightly change these few lines as they repeat to give variety, changing the meaning of them with slight word differences. I wanted the lyrics that I sang to match with the backing track in a way that when sung they are easily heard and the story is easy to follow, so people can get the meaning out of the story. The overall feel of my song with the backing track is slow, sad and, above all, deep, and I really hope I can portray that well.     

Emma Oliver-Taylor (Year 9)

My backing track has a medium tempo with a great build. I had lots of different avenues I could go down with this song as the medium tempo could easily be paired beautifully with fast or slow lyrics, with a great build in the middle. I decided that I would try to incorporate both, start off slow and [increase the intensity leading into the build]. I decided to make my song sad, especially when it was slow, and then as it got faster it would be more of a realisation. When I listened to it for the first time, I could feel myself swaying slowly and closing my eyes, so I could really tune into the music and I linked this [feeling] to what I do when I hear sad songs by artists like Lewis Capaldi and James Arthur, so I took inspiration from the two of them.                                                      

Edie Whitehead (Year 9)

When I first heard the 'slow minor guitar' I immediately thought about it having a sad and sombre sound to it. The intro helps set the tone for the whole song before any words are sung…I wanted to tell a story, not only inspired by the music I'm listening to at the moment, but also the dramatic and solemn minor key and chords played in the backing track. The verses sounded quite sad, so I matched that with lyrics by making the words sound hopeless and lonely. But when it reaches the chorus the instrumental lifts a bit more and sounds brighter, so I made the chorus happier but still with that sense of sadness. The speed of the song is an important aspect to the story telling. If it were any faster it wouldn't be so gloomy, it would be cheery and up-beat, but that's why I went with the story line I did. The minor key helps this piece so much, because it emphasises and compliments the emotions in the lyrics. This song follows the structure of intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, and chorus. Having this structure also helps tell the story because it breaks up the character’s emotions and feelings throughout her mind. It shows her journey of feeling lost and hurt, to her thinking about all of the good times she could have if she had another life or maybe in the future when she can escape. The song doesn't have an outro, it just has a sudden end, which I feel was needed after the note was held because it felt like the accumulation of her emotions were being let down with the lowering of the note, and didn't need the backing track to continue.

Cassie Lafferty (Year 9)

Ms Melanie Atma Gertler 

Foundation Teacher

CREATE – Performance

Instrumental Music Coordinator

Performing Arts Extracurricular   

GOAL Mentor