Songwriting Club gives Freshman Veronica Sandler the freedom to express emotions she doesn’t always feel comfortable sharing outloud through song lyrics. 

“Songwriting Club has guided me in writing lyrics, whether I’m simply expressing what I want to say, or focusing on emotions like gloom or delight,” Sanders said. “It’s about expressing myself fully, without it feeling heavy or dull.”

Every Wednesday in music teacher Wes Hambright’s classroom, Songwriting Club comes together to write song lyrics. Songwriting Club President Desirae Carns, who is staff writer for the Daniel Pearl Magnet High School student media, collaborates with the members of the Songwriting Club to analyze the tone, vocabulary, chorus or verse of a song. Then, they interpret the meaning of the song to understand how to put their analyses into practice. Finally, the group writes a song together using the knowledge they’ve attained. Some members find that brainstorming song lyrics with others can positively affect their creativity.

“I started getting this passion for writing lyrics,” Matthew Bersudsky said. “When I was 10 years old, I used to see my dad using this app called GarageBand. It is an app in which you can put beats and write lyrics and practice melodies and see what goes best for your song.”

Currently, the club has not participated in any concerts as a club. Yet, Carns is looking forward to having the club perform songs at their high school that they’ve written themselves. Ultimately, the club’s mission is to empower students with an understanding of how song lyrics are written so they can utilize the skills they’ve learned in the club for their own works.

“I feel like it’s good to have creativity because if you have creativity, it’s easier to put your feelings into lyrics,” Carns said. “Instead of hiding it and having a place in which there is no such thing as judgment in that room, just pour your heart out and write it into lyrics.”