Words and Music: Exploring Lyric Writing in the Music Classroom

Lyrics are an integral part of the music students love, but do music educators do enough to embrace the “words” part of words and music? Although lyrics, as texts, might seem more literary than musical, lyric writing involves a number of musical considerations; in fact, lyric writing arguably involves its own kind of musicianship. Learning about lyric writing is not only useful for composition or songwriting classes but also can be a way of deepening singers’ connection to texts and even strengthening instrumentalists’ musicianship. In this article, I explore the musicianship of lyric writing; examine its place in the music curriculum; offer ideas about how lyric writing can be useful in a variety of music classroom settings, including performing ensembles; and suggest activities for helping students explore and refine their skills as lyric-writing musicians.