Songwriting Skills
Learn to write songs that sound like you — honest, structured, and ready to share. This beginner-friendly course will guide you through the fundamentals of songwriting, from lyrical storytelling and melody to harmony and arrangement. With hands-on collaboration, personal feedback, and studio practice, you’ll finish with a small portfolio of original songs and the skills to keep writing with clarity and confidence.
Duration
3 months
Start
Oct 2025
Difficulty
Beginner
Award
Certificate of completion
Course overview
This Songwriting Intensive is designed for aspiring lyricists, singer-songwriters, and artists who want to write songs with emotional clarity and lyrical precision. Through a structured and practical journey, you'll learn how songs work, how to craft compelling stories, apply rhythm and rhyme, and how to build lyrics that fit melody and genre. You’ll engage in individual and group writing exercises, guided analysis, and peer reviews.
How will you learn
Study and analyze iconic songs
Practice lyric writing using specific techniques and creative constraints
Develop full song lyrics from concept to chorus
Apply prosody, rhyme schemes, rhythm, and structure
Receive weekly exercises and detailed feedback
Build a songwriting portfolio
Learning outcomes
- Write lyrics with strong emotional and conceptual clarity
- Apply prosody to match words with musical phrasing
- Use rhyme types and schemes to create lyrical movement
- Build dynamic song structures using storytelling and spotlight techniques
- Analyze and revise your own and others’ lyrics with confidence
- Create a checklist to evaluate and improve any song draft
Upon successful completion, you will receive a Certificate of Completion, verifying your professional skillset.
Course structure
Learn the basic building blocks of a song: verse, chorus, bridge, hook. Explore how structure varies across styles and how lyrics and melody carry equal weight.
Understand how stressed syllables match strong beats. Practice aligning lyrical phrasing with melody using tools like alliteration, rhythm, and dynamic flow.
Learn narrative voice, perspective, and intention. Apply 5W+H questions (Who, What, When, Where, Why, How) and object writing to generate emotional depth.
Develop story arcs, emotional progression, and narrative contrasts. Use metaphor and idea-box methods to create momentum in your lyrics.
Explore lyrical balance using variables like rhyme type, line length, and meter. Learn how imbalance can create tension and movement.
Discover how lyrical contrast enhances impact. Learn to identify spotlight positions in a song and place your strongest ideas where they’ll be heard.
Learn ideal rhymes, family rhymes, and repetition techniques. Practice matching phonetics to emotional tone and clarity.
Work with assonance and consonance to create tension, looseness, or subtle lyric movement.
Master rhyme patterns (AA, AB, ABAB, etc.) and learn how structure reinforces or subverts listener expectations.
Use line length to shape pacing and emotional emphasis. Learn how short or long lines affect meaning and momentum.
Explore how odd/even line counts affect lyric flow and section contrast. Place lyrical messages in strong or unstable positions intentionally.
Build your own songwriting checklist. Analyze your song for structure, rhyme, prosody, and emotion. Final peer feedback and lyric portfolio submission.
Requirements
Beginner Friendly. No prior songwriting experience required
Curiosity, openness to collaboration, and dedication to writing
Basic music knowledge recommended
Fees & scholarships
Academic Year 2025–2026
| Registration fee | AED 2,200 |
| Resources fee | AED 3,900 |
| Tuition fee | AED 22,000 |
| Total cost | AED 28,100 |
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All prices listed are exclusive of VAT.
From time to time, we offer individual scholarships to newly admitted students. These scholarships are awarded through a competitive application process and may cover either partial or full tuition fees.
How to apply
Step-by-step process
Ready to apply? Here’s how the process works:
- Complete the online application form below.
- Pay the course fees upfront to reserve your spot. You’ll then receive a confirmation email with your schedule and all the necessary instructions.
- Attend your first class!