Category: Song Writing

Posted on

Kumbaya Songwriting

Folk songs provide a unique opportunity for students to experience the art of songwriting.  The simple, repetitive nature of folk music makes it the perfect platform to explore.

Kumbaya is a song that originated in the Congo and the word ‘kumbaya‘ means ‘come by here‘ or ‘come over here‘.  Think of it as what a friend might say when they are inviting you over for a play date.  The rest of the song is different based on who is singing it and what they are singing about.

Some example lyrics are as follows:

Kumbaya, ya Kumbaya (3x)
Ah, ah, Kumbaya

We can play here, Kumbaya (3x)
Ah, ah, Kumbaya

We’ll have fun now, Kumbaya (3x)
Ah, ah, Kumbaya

Sing a song with me, Kumbaya (3x)
Ah, ah, Kumbaya

As you can see, there is a pattern to the verses.  Simply follow it, and you can write your own version of this classic folk song.  All you have to do is pick a topic, and think of some things to sing about that topic.  In my example, my topic could have been Things To Do During A Playdate.

Use the player below to sing along with!

Use this worksheet to organize your thoughts.  You don’t need to fill the whole thing up, either.  Just use your imagination and have fun!  For extra excitement, change the speed and style of the song.  It doesn’t have to be slow and simple.  You could rock it out, or recite it as poetry or rap or strum a ukulele, or any number of other possibilities.  Be creative!

thumbnail of Kumbaya Song Writing Sheet

Posted on

Song Writing Project

Using the Song Writing Worksheet, which you can download below, use the I, IV, V, and vi chords to develop a chord progression pattern for your song.

Here are the steps:

  • Choose a key in which the I, IV, V and vi chords are comfortable for you to play on your chosen instrument.
    • Don’t be too worried about the key, since you can change it at a later time using the chart, just make sure you’re comfortable enough with it to be able to play the chords without too much effort.
  • Decide upon a main idea for your song.
    • This can be a topic for which you will write words/lyrics or a melody.
  • Once you have a main idea, start forming verses.
    • Think in terms of forming sections like verse, chorus, bridge.
  • Decide which order you want to put the chords in.
    • You can try out different patterns and combinations without even having an instrument using a website called drumbot.
    • You may have to try it several times by rearranging the chords to make sure that they sound good with the melody and words that you came up with.
    • Don’t forget that you are expressing not only an idea but a feeling, so the chords and harmony are what really get the feeling across.  Most of the time the words are getting the idea across so work on it until it sounds right.
  • Put it together!
    • Play the song and sing the words or play the melody to finalize your composition as a whole.
    • Remember that you will be composing your song finally, in GarageBand.  That means that you will be able to play more than one instrument at a time because you will be able to layer the sounds on top of each other.

Here are some materials that will be useful for you for this project.

[pdf https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17823174/Music%20Resources/Song%20Writing%20Worksheet.pdf 450 600]

[pdf https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17823174/Music%20Resources/Key%20Transposition%20Poster.pdf 450 300]