Charles,

If they are not in fact "budding songwriters," but rather, "budding prompt
engineers," then by all means send them to an "AI song generator."

But if you want to serve them properly in their desire to actually become
songwriters, you're going to have to figure out where they are in their
journey and guide them accordingly. They'll need some mix of the following
skills. Each of these has their own host of resources online. I'm only
going to drop in recommendations that I know off hand:

- How to compose a melody: A lot of people just muddle through making up
their own. If they want to do All the Music Theory first, move down this
list...
- How to compose an arrangement: What instruments do they want? What chord
progressions, rhythmic accompaniment? Vocals? Much of this is decisions
they'll have to make on their own, but again, music theory can help. I'm
sure there's a lot  for that.
- How to write down their arrangement: Music notation software. I suggest
MuseScore (https://musescore.org)
- How to record from a computer/phone/tablet using virtual instruments
- How to play an instrument: Lots of online options
- How to record to a computer/phone/tablet using "real" instruments:
GarageBand, Reaper (https://www.reaper.fm)
- How to start getting paid or find work by writing songs...I got nothing,
but I'm sure there are opinions, maybe some real guidance, online somewhere.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

-Gabe

On Thu, May 15, 2025 at 12:54 PM charles meyer <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> My esteemed listmates,
>
> We have "budding songwriters" visit our library at times.
>
> One asked if there was good, reliable, budget-friendly (free!) software
> that's effective for turning lyrics into a song.
>
> Just Googling I found .... https://lyricsintosong.com/ ... but I've no
> experience with that.
>
> Anyone take a break from coding and write songs?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Charles.
>
> Charlotte County Public Library
>


-- 
Gabe Ormsby
Web Application Developer
University of Minnesota Libraries
612-872-7283
612-626-3424 (Unattended office line; Voicemail will be forwarded)