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The first thing I'm going to say here is that ANYBODY can write a song. That's right you heard me correctly. ANYBODY can write a song. You don't have to be a musician. You don't have to be able to read staff/stave music or understand tonic solfa notations. As long as you can hum a melody, you can write a song.
Now whether it's a good song or not is an entirely different matter. You also do not have to be a superstar or megastar, you don't have to be a recording artiste, release an album or single or be "called" into music ministry to write a song. All you need is a desire and an interest.
Hmmm....... I just used a couple of terms that you may or may not know the meaning of. So let me explain.
Tonic Solfa: Do you remember the classic movie "Sound of Music"? When Maria was teaching the von Trapp children how to sing she said "d0 - a deer a female deer, re - a drop of golden sun, mi - a name I call myself, fa - a longer way to run, so - I need a pulley train, la - a note to follow so, ti - I drink with jam and bread, that will bring us back to do, do, do, do". Simply put, do re mi fa so la ti do are syllables that represent the relationship between the tones of a key. Your Dictionary online defines it as "a system of musical notation based on the relationship between the tones of a key, using the syllables of solmization (do, re, mi, etc.) instead of the usual staff symbols: used in teaching singing".
Staff/Stave Music: Otherwise known as sheet music. When you watch all these classical orchestras, you will notice that each musician/instrument has a sheet of paper in front of them from which they play. This sheet of music is covered with symbols and lines. Therefore, the Encyclopaedia Brittanica defines it thus: "Staff, also spelled stave, in the notation of Western music, five parallel horizontal lines that, with a clef, indicate the pitch of musical notes". Below is an example:
Some people say or think "but I'm not a singer" or "I'm not good enough" or "It's only meant for special people" or "I can't play an instrument" or "I don't know where to start" or "I don't know what genre or style". All these 'obstacles' are completely irrelevant to song writing. There are only 2 fundamental things required to put a song together:
1) A melody i.e the tune
2) The lyrics i.e the words that make up the song
Every other thing like the instrument music, part harmonies, backing vocals etc are all what I would call "accessories" to the song. Let me use an analogy that everyone should be able to relate to. If you think of a black dress (evening gown) as the melody and lyrics, then the necklace, earrings, brooch, bracelet, shoes etc are the music, backing vocals and part harmonies.
