The Musical Side of Lyric Writing
Because great lyrics don't just say it — they sing it!
Three weeks · One session per week · All levels
Sept. 21, 28 & Oct. 5
About This Course
Words aren't just ideas. They're ideas built on sound. Every line you write is made of vowels that stretch and resonate, consonants that click and drive, and syllables that either land with the melody or fight it. When you learn to hear that, your lyrics stop sitting on the page and start singing off of it. You start writing songs that artists want to record and audiences love to sing.
Over three weeks, The Musical Side of Lyric Writing teaches you to treat your words as musical material — to make lines flow, to build sound patterns that hook a listener, and to choose vowels and consonants that a singer can actually sing. The result: hookier songs, melodies that are easier to sing, deeper emotional connection, and lyrics people keep singing long after the record stops.
What You'll Learn
- How to hear your lyric as sound - shift from reading your lyric to feeling it
- How to diagnose a line that doesn't sing - the "does it scan?" check you'll use on everything you write
- How to match your most important words with melodic hotspots.
- Sound patterns that turn a lyric into a hook - the subtle glue behind lines that stick.
- Vowel Sounds specific to male and female voices.
How The Course Works
• Three weeks, one session per week.
Each session builds on the last: Week 1 gives you the ear and the diagnostic, Week 2 gives you the patterns, Week 3 gives you the singer's palette and a capstone that pulls it all together.
• You learn it, then you use it.
Every week comes with hands-on assignments on your own songs — not exercises in a vacuum. You'll be rewriting real lyrics from your own catalog from the first week on.
• All levels. No music theory required. If you write words, you can do this.
• Replays and Support.
Access full class replays and direct email support from Clay for any questions.
Course Schedule:
* Class 1: Monday, Sept. 21st @ 7PM CT
* Class 2: Monday, Sept. 28th @ 7PM CT
* Class 3: Monday, Oct. 5th @ 7PM CT
Grab Your Spot Now!
Price:
Members: FREE (Included with Membership)
*SongTown Members: You MUST sign into your SongTown account first before clicking the button to get this course for FREE!
Non-Members: $279
(includes a month of full-access membership). Better deal: Join SongTown(opens in new tab) for $240/year — less than this course alone — and get this course FREE!
**Tuition is non-refundable once class begins
What Songwriters Are Saying About SongTown's CrashCourses:
Why Musical Lyrics Matter
Music is a way of organizing sound to move us emotionally. Lyrics can deepen that emotion — but only if you treat them as sound, not just meaning.
Here's what happens when you don't:
- The line is true, but the singer stumbles over it.
- The chorus says the right thing, but nobody remembers it an hour later.
- The demo sounds fine, but the song never quite moves the listener.
- An artist passes on recording it, and nobody can tell you exactly why.
Those are almost never idea problems. They're emotional sound problems — a stressed syllable landing on the wrong beat, a short vowel stuck on a held note, four syllables doing the work of two.
The good news: sound problems are fixable, and they're fixable with technique. That's the whole point of this course.
Meet Your Instructor
Multi #1 Writer/Publisher
Mississippi Delta native Clay Mills’ list of accolades is quite impressive. He's a 12-time ASCAP award winning songwriter/producer, penning #1 hits for Darius Rucker (“Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It”), Diamond Rio (“Beautiful Mess”), and Kimberley Locke (“Fall”). Along the way he's collected Grammy Nominations for “Beautiful Mess” and Trisha Yearwood’s “Heaven Heartache and the Power of Love”. Clay has had over 150 songs recorded by major recording artists. In 2022 Clay was inducted into the Mississippi Songwriters Hall of Fame.
About Clay Mills
Course Outline:
Week 1 — Words Are Sound: The Foundation of Flow
- Learn to hear words as pure sound — and rewrite what doesn't scan.
Week 2 — Sound Patterns and Hooks: Making It Sing
- Use inner rhyme, assonance, and alliteration to turn lyrics into hooks.
Week 3 — Vowels and Consonants: The Singer's Palette
- Match vowels and consonants to emotion and melody, then write a lyric using the gibberish method.
What You'll Walk Away With
• A working ear for sound:
You'll hear vowels, consonants, and stress in your lyrics the way you currently hear rhyme.
• A diagnostic you'll use forever:
"Does this line scan?" becomes an automatic check on everything you write.
• A repeatable fix-it process:
The musicality pass: scan check, vowel and consonant choices, line endings, sound patterns.
• A toolkit of sound techniques:
Inner rhyme, assonance, alliteration, and vowel/consonant matching, ready to deploy on demand.
• A method for writing to melody:
The gibberish/humming approach, so a track or a co-writer's melody stops being intimidating.
• Rewritten versions of your own songs:
You leave with real work done, not just notes.
• Lyrics that are easier to sing:
Which makes them easier to demo, easier to pitch, and easier for an artist to say yes to.
Price:
Members: FREE (Included with Membership)
*SongTown Members: You MUST sign into your SongTown account first before clicking the button to get this course for FREE!
Non-Members: $279
(includes a month of full-access membership). Better deal: Join SongTown(opens in new tab) for $240/year — less than this course alone — and get this course FREE!
**Tuition is non-refundable once class begins
Additional Details & Pricing
For This Songwriting CrashCourse
Classes are easy to view and participate in from your computer, laptop, or smartphone.
All classes are available to watch on replay if you miss it live. We keep the video up for 3 weeks after your class to review at your leisure.
Post your assignments in the SongTown.com forum and discuss with your classmates.
Course includes 1-month trial membership to SongTown for non-members who sign up!
Class Schedule
First class: Monday, Sept. 21st
Individual Class Dates: Sept. 21, 28, Oct. 5
Class Time: 7–8 PM CT
Location: Online on your computer or smart device
Price:
Members: FREE
(Included with Membership)
Non-Members: $279
(includes a month of full-access membership). Better deal: Join SongTown(opens in new tab) for $240/year — less than this course alone — and get this course FREE!
**Tuition is non-refundable once class begins
FAQ
Q: What if I can't make it live?
A: Every session is recorded, and the replay is posted for you to watch on your own schedule — you won't miss a thing.
Q: Do I need to read music or play an instrument?
A: No. This course is about the sound of words, not music theory. If you write lyrics, you have everything you need.
Q: I'm not a singer. Can I still do the exercises?
A: Absolutely — and you should. Nobody's grading your voice. Speaking and singing your lines out loud is how you find the stumbles. Some of the most useful exercises in the course are just you, your phone's voice recorder, and a lyric.
Q: Is this for beginners or advanced writers?
A: Both. It's built for all levels. Beginners get a foundation most writers never learn at all; experienced writers usually find this is the exact blind spot they've been working around for years.
Q: What if I only write lyrics, not melodies?
A: Then this course is especially for you. Week 3 covers writing lyrics to existing melodies directly — it's exactly like co-writing with a melody person, and there's real technique to doing it well.
Q: Do I need my own songs to work on?
A: It helps a lot. Bring a couple of finished or half-finished lyrics you'd like to improve — most of the assignments apply the week's techniques to your own material.
Make Every Line Sing
Most writers spend almost all of their time on what their words mean — and almost none on how their words sound. That's the gap this course closes.
This Course Is For You If:
• You write strong lyrics that somehow don't sing as well as they read.
• Singers keep tripping over the same spots in your lines — and you're not sure why.
• You've been told your lyrics are "a mouthful" or "hard to phrase."
• You write to tracks or to a co-writer's melody and want your words to fit the music instead of fighting it.
• You want hookier choruses without resorting to gimmicks.
• You've never thought much about vowels and consonants — and you're starting to suspect that's costing you.
• You're a lyricist who wants to think more like a melody writer.
All levels welcome. You don't need to read music, play an instrument, or be able to sing well to do this work.
Don't Miss Out – Sign Up Today
Price:
Members: FREE (Included with Membership)
*SongTown Members: You MUST sign into your SongTown account first before clicking the button to get this course for FREE!
Non-Members: $279
(includes a month of full-access membership). Better deal: Join SongTown(opens in new tab) for $240/year — less than this course alone — and get this course FREE!
**Tuition is non-refundable once class begins
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