Welcome to the SongMakers VCE Music Resources
About SongMakers
SongMakers links Australia’s internationally successful songwriters and producers, teachers, young people and leading researchers in shared creativity. Through mentoring by industry professionals, the program uses the creation of students’ original work as a springboard to explore issues around the cultural industries – like the importance of being enterprising, collaborative, persistent and resilient.
We support practical contemporary music education in schools, so that, together, we build a stronger songwriting culture in Australia and introduce more young people to global opportunities.
Getting Started
This site is here to help you write your own song. There’s no single “right” way to write a song, but you’ll find some handy tools and suggested structures here to guide your process and spark ideas.
If you choose to work in a group...
Your teacher may help to form groups. That could mean teaming up with people you don’t usually work with. That’s a good thing! Songwriting is all about fresh ideas and meeting new people.
Professionals often write with people they’ve just met — sometimes even remotely — and they often create a working agreement. This sets out things like goals, expectations, and how copyright will be shared. You might like to try making one too.
Suggested Working Agreement
- Respect the ideas of all group members: Listen and respect everyone’s ideas and suggestions. The aim of collaborative songwriting is for everyone to contribute to the song, especially the lyrics.
- Keep it school appropriate: Because this is a school-based activity, ensure the content and language of your song is appropriate, you might like to think of it as PG lyrics.
- Listening is key: Not only is listening to all group members, but listening to music that you and your group like can help to unlock some great ideas. If you are stuck, try to find some musical artists/genres you all connect with.
- Nashville Splits: A ‘Nashville Split’ or ‘The Nashville Rule’ is a term used when an equal percentage of ownership is given to EVERYONE who was in the room during the writing of the song, regardless of how much each person contributed. Think of it as ‘If you were in the room, you’re in the song’.
