You Can Write a Song!

Yes you can! Your brain was designed to make music - it's part of being human.

Sometimes people lose their music from not using it, but you are young, and you love music - I know because you're on my fan list!!

So you can write a song!!

Look at my daughter, Evalyn. When she was only one year old she started writing songs! Her first one went "Mmmm ba mmmm" over and over.

OK, so you're thinking "Mmmm ba mmmm" isn't exactly a million seller, and you're right. But Evalyn's song was a big hit around here. She loved singing it, and her mom and dad loved hearing it. And what better reason is there to sing your own songs than for the pure fun of it?

Am I saying that any old sound you make is a song? Well, no...

Songs have two parts, words and music. Music can be any sort of "organized sound." Usually music has rhythm and melody.

If you aren't sure what rhythm and melody are exactly, don't worry. They are both in you and they come out naturally when you sing.

So if you sing a few words, does that mean you wrote a song? Almost...

If you write down what you sing, record it, or remember it in your head so that you can sing it pretty much the same way every time, then congratulations, you wrote a song!

Songs can be short or long; they can repeat the same thing over and over and over or never repeat at all; they can be nonsense or they can tell a story. But all songs tell something - even if it's just a feeling.

Do you need a guitar or piano to write a song? No! Your voice is an instrument, so use it!

Do you need to be able to read or write music notation? No! Written music is just one way to remember how a song goes. Get a tape recorder and sing into it. That's what I do, and it's an easy way to remember your song!

When Evalyn sang "Mmmm ba mmmm," even though her "words" were nonsense, they were the same every time. They had a particular rhythm and melody. And she was telling us something with the way she sang it - she ways saying "I feel calm and happy." Her song was as sweet to my ears as anything I've heard on the radio!

If a one-year-old baby can do it, so can you!

So next time you feel happy, sad, angry, or silly, let the world know with your very own song!