Writing songs for kids

THE PROCESS OF SONGWRITING
Songwriting is an Art,make no mistake about that.

Whenever I listen to great songs like: "The first time ever I saw your face" A song written by Ewen Mac Call in 1957
popularized by Roberta Flack in 1969 This is a song crafted
with feeling and style. Kids songs should also be written with passion and enthusiasm
to make the children feel good. The best children songs can last forever:

"Itsy Bitsy spider"

" The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout.
Down came the rain, and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun, and dried up all the rain
And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again."

The processes of Songwriting differ. Sometimes the song "comes to you": You are inspired by Someone, Something, or just a Sound, a word, a Phrase even a Smell. Everything can lead to writing a song. Every emotion can trigger a Songwriter to write a song. Songwriting isn't just writing down a few catchy phrases and a chorus. Songwriting is an art that can be mastered by those who really put effort into becoming a great Songwriter. I say a great Songwriter, because anybody can write a song, but the art to touch a "string " when people hear your song,whether they feel glad or sad, a combination of the right words, and melody can make a big difference between a song that is good and one that is great!

RE-CHECK AND RE-WRITE

There is always room for improvement with your song,so when you think your song is ready, do a re-check and re-write it. I learned this the hard way. There are exceptions of course, but in my opinion a one day song will never be as good as a song you took time to craft.

I once submitted a song to be chosen for a representation of Suriname to an international Songwriting competition. I had written the song years before,and thought it was a good song. It was in fact good, but not good enough! I had the highest score but the jury found I had to make the song stronger to represent my country. Now I had to rush the song,with involvement of a jury. I won the nomination, but I didn't win the competition. I was very angry at myself. I could have done a lot better if I had just rewritten the song ,dug deeper and put more time and effort into it. From that day on I decided never to be satisfied with the first draft of whatever song I wrote. With this approach, I started to look at international competitions. In 2006 I wrote a song for the first lo-budget love World songwriting competition. I won the grand prize with the song "Pasensi kado" There were 200 participants from all over the world.

Becoming a Songwriter was really a process of trial and error. for me I always enjoyed writing,whether it was a story to entertain my children, or a song to make them laugh.

I started playing the flute at a young age. I always wanted to play the piano, but a piano was too expensive for my parents to afford,so we decided on a flute,which wasn't too cheap, but my parents insisted that all of their six children had to learn to play a musical instrument. We all had the opportunity to express our musical talents.

MY MUSICAL JOURNEY

My music teacher was the late Surinamese flutist Eddy Snijders,who was also the conductor of the Suriname youth Orchestra. So at the age of fourteen, he taught it was time for me to become a member of the Suriname Youth Orchestra. I played in the youth Orchestra for several years,and when I was about 18 years,my neighbor, Sam who played keyboard,asked me to join a band called: the "Voodoo Gypsies".

The leader of the band Siegfried Vianen was a bit of a controversial figure,who had his own style. He thought we didn't have to practice,so we just played
what came to mind. Everybody in the band was able to express themselves. We really were a jam band and it was fun. In that time it was very rare for a female to play in a band,and with a flute I was really kind of exotic attraction.

Later I joined another band called "Explosion" We changed the name years later into into "Brainwash" Again in this band we played our own music, because the leader of the band : Jerry Themen,was a songwriter too. In those days people didn't really wanted to hear new styles, in Suriname,the case was to be the best fake Otis Redding, James Brown, Rolling Stones, etc. Because of all the stimulation from my bandleaders, I also started writing songs and it became my passion.

In the year 2000 I won a local songwriting competition:"SURIPOP" and the song I wrote for that event was "Yu na mi son" which means :"You are my Sun" This song came to me, when I was looking through my photo album and saw all my three children as babies. I had a very strong feeling of each of them as i memorized the moment they were born, I closed my eyes to experience that wonderful moment again. The moment I held them in my arms for the first time. And it inspired me to start writing the song :'Yu na mi son".

As a songwriter you must not wait for a song to come to you. If it does its wonderful,but it won't happen everyday and a songwriter must write EVERYDAY.
You must go out and search for a song. This is the most productive way.

Search for the song ,dig deep and search. Start to look around you,or search inside of yourself, your family, kids your neighborhood. Read a book, listen to music.Songs are everywhere everyday Because a song is a story, a story told in a few minutes or even seconds, the children song:"Meneer de Kakkerlak " is about 45 seconds, but it's a song, a story about a funny cockroach:

When we write songs for children we must take a different approach then writing for adults. Try to think of yourself as a child. What did you liked? What made you happy? What did you really wanted to know? All these questions and curiosities that are in kids minds, can be told in a pleasant way. In a song. A song for a kid can be funny,or catchy, but never depressing, or sad. Children must feel good when they sing! Here are 7 tips to write songs for children:

SEVEN TIPS TO WRITE SONGS FOR CHILDREN

1. Use rhyme children learn a song faster when it has a good rhyme

2. Use simple melodies:(think:Twinkle twinkle little star)

3. Listen to songs you liked when you were small,and notice what you liked about them. Then try to imitate the song with your own lyrics.

4. Look for a co-writer if you don't play an instrument and he or she does
(but remember even if you don't play an instrument you can still make melodies) Knowledge of music theory is a plus.

5. Personalize songs if you make a song for a child,children like to "be"
in a song.

6.You can teach kids stuff by singing it: brush your teeth, tie your shoes,
make your bed. They'll like it and mostly do it too if you sing it instead of telling them.

7. Practice!