This course will be a participatory seminar in songwriting, with emphasis on the forms and styles of songwriting from 1900 to the present: simple 12-bar blues, songs with verses and refrains, AABA form, and freeform songs. The course will begin with a brief survey of European art songs of the 19th century, but the primary emphasis will be on Broadway and movie songs, folksong writers of the mid-20th century and beyond: Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and many others. The goal of the course is to produce recordings of student-written songs utilizing our recording studio. Ideally, the songwriters will be able to accompany themselves on guitar or piano, and may also enlist other student musicians on drums, bass, and other instruments as desired.