Elevate Your Songwriting
The Singer's Blueprint to Unlocking Creativity in Songwriting
In this course, you will go from feeling a creative-block when staring at a blank page, to unlocking your inspiration with a motivating blueprint on how to express yourself through music and lyrics.
This course is for you if:
- You love music, and have always wanted to write your own songs!
- You have written songs before, but still feel like you haven't reached your full potential!
- You don't play an instrument and feel like that will stop you writing!
- You have a lot of life stories you'd love to write about, but don't know how to put them to words!
- You get stuck at the blank page, and that creative block stops you from filling it!
- You're tired of waiting for inspiration to strike, you want to write NOW!
Whether you..
Have never written, and are too afraid to start.
Have written hundreds of songs, but are afraid of running out of ideas.
...then this course is for you
Creative blocks are not just for beginners, we all encounter them at different points in our lives and careers. This course will teach you how to unlock your creativity again, and again, and again. Elevate Your Songwriting is perfect for beginners, amateurs, and even professionals as there is something here for everyone. Be it essential skills you need to have as a songwriter, or beneficial exercises to help you put your voice into words.
BOOK TODAYBy the end of this 6 week course, you will:
- Have built your own personal 'taste palette', so that you understand exactly what music you need to write to feel empowered.
- Have developed healthy writing habits that will help you with lyrics, melody, and beyond.
- Understand the fundamentals to songwriting..
- Have explored a variety of songwriting styles and what makes them work.
- Know some of the fundamental songwriters that you can continue to learn from.
- Learned the benefits of mind-mapping, and how full of ideas you already are.
- Know the process of lyric writing, and melody writing.
- Know how to identify and analyse different songs.
- Know your worth and skill as a writer, and know that you CAN do it!
What’s great about this course is it is suitable for everybody. I have dabbled in songwriting for many years but hadn’t written anything for months. Nikki’s course gave me a whole new set of tools to inspire creativity. I am no longer stuck and am writing regularly and have gone back and finished old songs I had hit an impasse with. I’ve learned that there are many different ways to approach the creative process and some of the new tools can be applied to other creative pursuits - the possibilities are endless.
Bairbre Diamond
This was the most immersive songwriting experience I've had. We were taught to express ourselves in a new way under fantastic guidance. The assignments were very beneficial and got us thinking outside the box. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience and would highly recommend it to everyone!!
Eoin Turner
Nikki is bubbly and a perfect teacher who wants her students to learn but also enjoy the process, the modules start out with really interesting and varied topics and makes you really think about songs, songwriting, language and the creative process.
Sharon Keohane
This course is amazing, whether you're completely new to songwriting, or experienced and looking to brush up on creative techniques, there is something in it for you. Nikki is incredibly kind and helpful throughout the process, and I highly recommend this course for anyone interested in writing songs!
Nim O'Connell
What's inside Elevate Your Songwriting?
The course is delivered in a series of six modules, with one module being released to you each week. Within each module there will be between 3-6 lessons in a video format for you to watch and complete. There will be accompanying .PDF worksheets for you to fill out, as well as some downloadable backing tracks which will all be available at the beginning of each module.
Module 1 - Bye Bye Blank Page!
In the very first module you will be building your own 'Taste Palette' in a questionnaire exercise. This will allow you to build a profile of what you enjoy in the music you listen to, and will help show us some key focuses that will be important when it comes to loving the songs that you write. This module will teach you all of the important steps into basic song analysis and research.
You will also be taking your first look at some of the psychology behind the creative process, and gain insight on how to let yourself work freely and without judgement through our first writing exercise.
Module Highlights
Researching your own favourite songs to find what music truly inspires you, which will help you to write music you can be proud of.
Knowledge on the integral points you need to know for song analysis from a lyrical standpoint.
Understanding the psychological approach to writing, and how to disarm that 'inner critic' in a mind-mapping exercise.
Module 2- A Picture Paints...
Colour theory is vital to understand, even in something as black and white as song writing! The world around us is filled with so many things that we can be inspired by. We will be learning how the great art critics discern artwork, and how as songwriters we can apply these skills and add art, and the visual world around us, to our influences. If we can write about what we see, we'll never wrong out of things to write about once we keep our eyes open!
We will also look at a songwriters most powerful tool, a good song title. Learning about how important it can be from the way it's written, and where it's placed in a song with examples ranging from Michael Jackson to the Beatles. Once we understand what a good title consists of, we will build our own with our second mind-mapping exercise.
Module Highlights
Learning the science and psychology of colour theory, and comparing it to our own instincts.
Writing freely on a series of visually-impactful prompts that will be sure to drum up some great inspiration.
Understanding the power of a song title, and how the great songwriters of history have utilised it.
Making our own powerful titles through an association exercise.
Module 3... A Thousand Words!
Now that we can visualise, here's how to put it to words. Discover some of songwriter's greatest tricks in how to find the perfect (but not obvious or cheesy!) rhyme. This module delivers rhyming through a simplified lense that I believe is vital for both beginners, and professionals to see through. We will also further our song analysis skills even farther as we learn how to analyse rhyme structures, and how to spot them in our favourite songs. This will mean that we can really start to take inspiration and skill from the songwriters we valued in module one.
Our final task of this module will be to use an already established song as a template for you to write off. This task will teach you to use your analysis skills to create a map for you to follow, which will lead to a fun writing exercise where you can perfect your lyrics, before we venture into melody next week!
Module Highlights
Eye vs. Ear rhymes will simplify how you look at rhyming, while also broadening your horizons to not getting tied up in a rhyme scheme when we write!
Learn how to spot a rhyme scheme, and how to utilise it as your own in song analysis.
Write your own version of an already established song, giving you the chance of just focusing on your lyrics and not having to worry about writing a melody or music!
Module 4 - The Catchy Tune!
Module four begins our journey with melody writing, don't be frightened! There is no need to be able to read or write music here. The art of a great melody is that it's simple, it's catchy, and it's easy to sing along to! Though with melody writing, we can run into the same creative block we do as lyrics. Now is the time for us to apply some creative hacks to finding a tune, no matter how uninspired we feel!
Also, we will at the end of this module understand exactly where to place our melodies as we learn song form. Understanding what a verse functions as, what a chorus needs to do to be a success, and when to use a bridge will mean our songs will start to flow and really make sense to our listeners!
Module Highlights
The 'Pincode Melody Hack' is a brilliant tool to have in your songwriting belt. It's a musical version of our mind-mapping skill. Which is simple to follow, even for the people who have never played an instrument in their lives.
You will have full understanding of song form and be able to both identify, and utilise it. Knowing the function of a verse, chorus, and bridge is vital to having finding a flow in your song.
To test our melody writing skill, you will learn how to improvise freely over a fun blues' track. Writing some lyrics, and a simple but catchy riff while learning all about the history of the blues.
Module 5 - How To Love Your Song
The true fulfillment of writing a song doesn't happen when you finish writing it, it happens when you finish writing something you LOVE. A song can feel unfinished until you find the winning formula of writing what we want to sing, or a story we don't mind having told.
Another problem writers run into, is writing a song that's too personal to be performed. Some lyrics can feel like secrets that we don't want to the world to know, so learning how to write in metaphors is essential. We will take some inspiration from the art of impressionism, and learn how to keep our songs delicate, and our secrets protected while still writing honestly.
Module Highlights
Learning what a metaphor is, and how best to use it as a skill to hide the personal details we don't want telling.
Learning how to write impersonally, and behind characters is an important skill to fully unlocking our creative abilities.
Syllabic emphasis and how important it is to consider, we learn how changing our syllabic emphasis can completely change the song we are singing and can help unlock problems in writing.
Introduction to a new and exciting tool that can be used to boost your songwriting, your improvisation and show you how to accompany you.
Module 6 - Where To Go Next
Reaching the end of a course can feel like taking the safety-wheels off your bike, but this module will prepare you to keep going beyond! Module 6 will give you all the tools to continue your songwriting journey and research. We will recap all of the new skills we have learned with a quiz, as well as give you tasks to keep yourself motivated and accountable as a writer going forward.
We will look through the history of how some of the world's greatest songs were written, and how their writers like to work. Knowing these writers and their methods will further inspire us and may give you new ideas, new inspiration, and new wishes for the next steps in your songwriting career.
Module Highlights
We will learn about co-writing, and how to find co-writers or writing groups near you.
Finding other creative outlets that will further boost your songwriting productivity.
An insight on what to do next when you've written a collection of songs and recording them seems like you're next step!
How the world's greatest songwriters kept writing through their lifetimes. We will find some creative hacks to help us continue our writing career above and beyond, and stay inspired.
Building healthy habits to keep yourself proactive, writing, and furthering this amazing skill of self-expression you now have access to! Songwriting doesn't stop here, we will teach you how to keep going.
When you enrol by April 28th, 23:59 you'll get:
6 modules over 6 weeks, with EVERYTHING you need to unlock your creativity, and let it soar!
A great understanding of the songwriting process, with all of the KEY analysis components you need to continue to succeed!
A full BLUEPRINT of written exercises, prompts and questionnaires to help build your own vision as an independent songwriter.
Lifetime access to EVERY LESSON in EVERY MODULE to revisit again and again!
What you will overcome:
You will overcome the
- Fear of not knowing where to begin
- Fear ever running into a creative block in the future
- Fear of feeling like you don't have the ability to write
- Fear of not understanding how to make the songs you write become the songs you LOVE
Elevate Your Songwriting
will free you from your fears, and give you the tools to succeed, and the confidence to know you WILL succeed!
COURSE GUARANTEE
I have spent the past six years working on my skills as a songwriter through college, masterclasses and beyond. I know the struggles of starting, and that feeling of impending doom that one day you'll run out of ideas! Everything I have put into this course has been tried and tested by me, and dozens of my students. I truly believe that you will finish this course and feel more confident, more inspired, and more enpowered to write than ever. I also know that this course has everything a true beginner needs to know in digestible steps that will start you off on a great songwriting journey. Therefore, I am delighted to be able to offer a 7 day money back guarantee. If after 7 days of this course you are not convinced that your investment is going to benefit you in the way that I know it can, then I will happily return your fee and wish you every continued success.
FAQS
How much time does the course take?
I can't play an instrument or read music, will I need to learn?
Do I need anything to do the course?
How does this course work?
I've never written anything before, do I need to have written a song already to do this course?
Will I have direct access to you during the course?
Will I have access to the course forever?
Your Big WHY
My entire life has been spent in music, whether it's in performance, in teaching or in writing, I've never once had a 'normal job'! Above all, the most fulfilling thing I've ever done for myself is start songwriting. Despite the fact I've been in music classes since I was three, it took me till I was nineteen to be brave enough to even try it!
I understand completely how scary it can be to start, and how the journey stays scary because you keep thinking inspiration is fleeting and the path will eventually come to an end. But it won't! Keeping inspired and productive is difficult, but so many great writers have done it before us, so why can't we?
My journey with songwriting was rocky at first. I enrolled myself in a songwriting module in college, and it was only the WEEK before my final semester exam that I finally felt brave enough to start my course work! It is daunting, it is scary, but once you get past the initial creative-block, it is AMAZING the things you can accomplish! How many great songs has the world lost to creative blocks? Let's not add anymore to that list.
I was finally brave enough to perform some of my original songs for the first time during my Masters in music, and it still is the favourite performance of my lifetime. All of my hard work finally had paid off, and finally letting myself sing the lyrics and the stories I had written felt like therapy. I have been coaching singers in Voiceworks now for six years, and have had amazing moments with students who finally trusted themselves to write, and have even gone on to record their own music and release. My students stories are what compelled me to make this course, and I am so proud of it because I just know it can help you blossom!
Songwriting is one of the best acts of self-care you can give yourself. Let yourself be heard, and let yourself be proud to sing the words you always wanted to say!
Nikki is a fantastic teacher and guides you through songwriting with emphasis on creating a totally solid foundation and the course is packed full of great writing prompts. I ended up writing a lot more than I expected to! Love it
