The Art of Songwriting, Andrew West (2016)

The author reviews The Art of Songwriting, written by veteran songwriter Andrew West, who oversees a postgraduate course at Leeds College of Music. The book benefits greatly from the author’s encyclopaedic knowledge of songs and songwriters, and a rich variety of examples permeates the book. As a result, the book is not a simple ‘how-to’ volume, but rather captures the rich diversity of approaches and techniques professional songwriters employ. A different, tighter organizational scheme might help the book’s wisdom be digestible for the reader to consolidate and retain all the knowledge the book has to offer. Still, the book is a welcome contribution to an understudied field, especially as music education scholars seek to diversify the musics that define school music teaching and learning.