Pat has developed five online lyric writing courses offered through Berkleemusic.com. These courses allow you to learn songwriting, poetry or creative writing online from anywhere, with a schedule that fits your life.
Creative Writing: Finding Your Voice
Creative Writing: Finding Your Voice is designed to help you write clearly and strongly in your own unique voice, bringing your full self to your writing process every time you write. This course will guide you through the first and most essential part of finding your writing voice: how to bring your senses and sense memories to the forefront and channel them into your writing. No one has ever seen the world from your perspective before, in the order, time, and context you’ve experienced it. Your sense memories stimulate your readers’ imagination, forcing them to respond with their own sense memories, filling your words with their stuff.
Register for Creative Writing: Finding Your Voice
Creative Writing: Poetry
Creative Writing: Poetry is a course for writers, songwriters, poets, and anyone who wants to write more effectively. The course will give you specific tools to help you craft and control your writing. You will be taken through a step-by-step process, each step handing you another tool to give what you say more power. You'll learn how to enhance your ideas through arranging lines into odd or even numbered line groups and creating either a feeling of tension or resolution with the composition itself, independent of the poem's meaning. You'll learn placement, timing, focus, and especially how to use rhythm in language expressively.
Register for Creative Writing: Poetry
Lyric Writing: Tools and Strategies
In Tools and Strategies, you'll sharpen your songwriting skills with tools and techniques that have helped Pat's students win Grammys and write number one songs. You'll learn how to generate better ideas, find the right words to express those ideas, and organize rhythms and rhymes into compelling verses, choruses and bridges.
Register for Tools and Strategies
Register for Tools and Strategies
Lyric Writing: Writing From the Title
In Writing From the Title, you will learn how the professionals approach the construction of songs: by writing from a central idea (the title). Starting with a powerful and effective song title, you'll learn to build complete lyrics from that title, explore how to set the title to the appropriate rhythm and tempo, and to place that title in the song's different sections to create the most powerful impact.
Register for Writing From the Title
Register for Writing From the Title
Lyric Writing: Writing Lyrics to Music
In Writing Lyrics to Music, you'll analyze a variety of song forms to learn about key lyrical and melodic components: stressed and unstressed beats, rhyme positions, melodic sections, and tone. You'll work through different musical feels and time signatures, and discover how the natural shapes of the words follow the shape of the melody, ultimately creating a much more expressive composition.
Register for Writing Lyrics to Music
Register for Writing Lyrics to Music
Berklee Certificate Programs
If you are interested in more in-depth learning, Pat's courses can be taken as part of one of these Certificate Programs. Focus your studies and become a better musician with a Master, Professional or Specialist Certificate Program.
Master Certificate in Songwriting
Master Certificate in Songwriting and Guitar
Master Certificate in Songwriting and Music Business
Professional Certificate in Songwriting
Specialist Certificate in Lyric Writing
Master Certificate in Songwriting
Master Certificate in Songwriting and Guitar
Master Certificate in Songwriting and Music Business
Professional Certificate in Songwriting
Specialist Certificate in Lyric Writing
Try Berklee online for free...
Wondering what a Berklee online course is like? Try a sample course for free. You'll see:
Click here to register for a free demo course.
Or try a free sample lesson at Berklee Shares. These are free music lessons that you can download, share and trade with your friends and fellow musicians.
- Berklee's award-winning course content
- Animated features
- Discussion boards
- Instructional video on note fingerings
- Audio recordings in posted assignments
- Real feedback on student work
Click here to register for a free demo course.
Or try a free sample lesson at Berklee Shares. These are free music lessons that you can download, share and trade with your friends and fellow musicians.
Video Tutorials
For a taste of Pat's classes, check out these video clips...
Melodic Rhythm and Lyric Rhythm
Pat talks about the relationship between lyric rhythm and melodic rhythm: "I can't find you now. You're hiding in a big rain cloud."
Stressed Notes as Spotlights
Pat talks about the importance of keeping smaller grammatical functions in the background, and making sure the right words are lighted by the melodic rhythm.
Preserving the Natural Shape of the Language
Pat talks about the benefits of preserving the natural shape of the language for the performer's emotional connection to the song.
Melodic Phrases and Lyric Phrases
Pat talks about the relationship between lyric phrases and melodic phrases: another aspect of preserving the natural shape of the language.
Melodic Rhythm and Lyric Rhythm
Pat talks about the relationship between lyric rhythm and melodic rhythm: "I can't find you now. You're hiding in a big rain cloud."
Stressed Notes as Spotlights
Pat talks about the importance of keeping smaller grammatical functions in the background, and making sure the right words are lighted by the melodic rhythm.
Preserving the Natural Shape of the Language
Pat talks about the benefits of preserving the natural shape of the language for the performer's emotional connection to the song.
Melodic Phrases and Lyric Phrases
Pat talks about the relationship between lyric phrases and melodic phrases: another aspect of preserving the natural shape of the language.
