There are students here at City College who crave the opportunity and the knowledge necessary to write their own lyrics from the heart of their inspiration.

Dr. John Clark, the head of the music department, teaches a songwriting class which allows students to learn how to write songs that feel complete and satisfying to both listener and performer.

On October 7 about 70 people filled the BC Forum building to listen to these student performers deliver their compositions in concert and the crowd showed generous applause after every song. Ten students performed and sang songs they wrote in class, some performed duets, others solos, and some performed on piano while others on guitar. Some songs were about love, and others discussed hope.

“John Clark is really good at acknowledging a students inspiration and creativity, and then giving us the technical knowledge to take that creativity to the next level,” said Susanne Tufan, a music student at City College. The class, Music 128, starts out with students performing their own songs, and then the teacher and other students critique the songs. This helps the performer learn what is good and what needs work. This is their homework, to finish their on-going song.

“The best part is that students can play and then be advised by other students to make the song even more better,” said Dr. Clark.

The professor then helps the students break the songwriting into parts, looking at lyrics, chords, melody and structure, and then they spend weeks working on their song. Sometimes Dr. Clark gives the students lyrics and chords and students will come up with their own melody.

The students find their inspiration from various things. Some track their inspiration from events in their life, experiences, observations, locations, or people. Susanne Tufan, a music major, gets her inspiration not from a specific location but from within herself, her emotions, thinking and observations. Another student enrolled in Music 128 Songwriting found inspiration in a surf spot, Big Sur. This student, Lauren Barth, wrote a whole song about what she calls the most beautiful place in the world.

Future fame? No, according to students they just want to be better their own songwriting and expression of emotions, experiences and observations. “I want to learn how to write songs, and if that makes me famous one day, then good,” said Ella Rodriguez, a songwriting student.