Songwriting with ukuleles

In another blog post, I wrote about the top five reasons to try songwriting with children. Writing their own songs enables children to be creative whilst also furthering their understanding of music theory – a great combination for any music lesson activity.

Recently, I ran a ukulele and songwriting course for my younger piano pupils. I decided that this would be a great way to teach them how they might write a song whilst introducing them to a new, fun instrument at the same time (I have also previously written about the many reasons to love the ukulele – it’s a fantastic instrument for children). I ran the course in a series of six steps that covered beginner ukulele playing, song structures, lyrics and more. By the end of the course, we had co-written our very own song. I’m pleased to say that the course was a great success, and our finished song – titled ‘Travelled Through Galaxies’ (about a time travelling singer) – was an instant hit! Follow the steps below to give it a try with your own pupils.

Step 1: Ukulele basics

Start by explaining how to hold the ukulele correctly. Explain that the four strings are called A, E, C and G (with the A string being closest to the player’s leg when they are holding the instrument).

Next, demonstrate how to strum the strings with the index finger.

Try some different strumming patterns. Start with this simple rhythm made up of four crotchet ‘down’ strums:

Practise playing the strumming pattern four times (four bars).

Next, try a new strumming pattern that includes some quavers.

For a pair of quavers, strum ‘down-up’. So the following pattern would be:

‘down, down-up, down, down’.

Practise playing this strumming pattern four times (four bars).

Step 2: Playing chords

Once your pupils have practised their strumming patterns, it’s time to try playing some chords.

First, demonstrate how to play a C major chord. You could use a ukulele chord diagram to help. Here is the C major chord:

Next, try an A minor chord:

Next, try an F major chord:

Finally, try a G major chord. This is a little bit trickier as it uses three fingers:

Try playing each chord with the two different strumming patterns.

Step 3: Song structures and chord progressions

Next, decide on an overall structure for your song.

‘Verse – chorus – verse – chorus’ always works well.

Once you have chosen a song structure, write a four bar chord progression for your verse and a slightly different four bar chord progression for your chorus. Explain that a chord progression is a sequence of chords.

One idea for a chord progression is this:

4/4 C C C C – Am Am Am Am – F F F F – C C C C

You may have to repeat each chord progression a few times.

Practise your verse and chorus chord progressions until your pupils can change between the different chords fluently. You could play a different strumming pattern for each one. Explain that the chord progressions will form the musical accompaniment in your song.

Step 4: Writing the lyrics

This is the stage where you can really get creative! You can also have a little break from ukulele playing.

It can be difficult making a start with lyrics, so it’s useful to have some handy sources of inspiration to help. Try making some inspiration cards. Print out some cards, each showing a different image, word or idea, then shuffle them to come up with some initial ideas for lyrics. Here are a few inspiration card ideas to get you started:

• Animals and creatures

• The seasons

• Events (Halloween, birthday celebrations etc.)

• Different scenes (the sea, mountains, countryside etc.)

• Emotions

Once the group have generated some ideas, decide on the main theme of the song and start by writing the chorus. This will be repeated throughout the song. You could take turns writing a line each. Once you have completed your chorus, move onto the verses.

It’s useful to have a whiteboard handy for this step, as it makes it easy to get everybody’s ideas down. Your pupils should generate some very creative ideas!

Step 5: Writing the melody

Once you have written your lyrics, pick up your ukuleles and play through your chorus chord progression accompaniment whilst saying the chorus lyrics at the same time. This will give you a sense of how the rhythm might go. It will also give you some ideas for the melody.

Once you have refined the rhythm, try singing a line at a time to compose your chorus melody.

Finally, do the same with the lyrics for your verses.

At this stage, it can be useful for each pupil to have a go at singing each line in their own way, then you can combine everybody’s different ideas together. Make sure your chorus melody and verse melody are different!

Step 6: Putting it all together

Once you have composed your melody, you simply need to put everything together. Practise playing the ukulele accompaniment a couple of times so that your pupils feel confident playing the chords. Once the group feels ready, sing your finished song!

Your pupils will have a fantastic sense of achievement that not only have they created their own song, but they can also perform it using the ukulele to play the accompaniment.

You could then try writing your song down by writing the lyrics with the corresponding chord symbols above. If you have access to any recording equipment, try making a recording of the group playing the song. Children love having a recording as a memento of their creation.

Have fun!