We’re lifelong friends, musical collaborators, and songwriting educators — and we’re obsessed with helping songwriters do more (and better) of what they love.
How To Write Songs exists because we’ve seen, again and again, what actually helps writers improve:
Writing in company, getting thoughtful feedback, iterating on real work, and being held accountable by people who care about your progress.
Practical, personal, supportive songwriting — done properly, and together.
Here’s Why We Created HTWS
Songwriting works better in company
Most songwriters don’t struggle because they lack ideas or talent. They struggle because they’re writing in isolation. At HTWS, songwriting happens in company:
with attentive listeners
with specific, actionable feedback
with space to revise, refine, and try again
with an audience that wants you to get better
This belief sits at the centre of everything we do.
Why HTWS exists
Between us, we’ve spent decades writing songs, teaching songwriting, and mentoring emerging writers inside some of the world’s most respected music institutions.
And we noticed a pattern.
There are a lot of capable, committed songwriters who:
know the basics
write regularly (or want to)
take their work seriously
… but feel stuck.
HTWS was created to fill that gap — to offer a structured, human, deeply practical way for songwriters to keep developing long after the “beginner” phase is over.
What we believe
A few core ideas shape everything we teach:
Songwriting is a learnable craft, not a mystery.
Progress comes from decisions, not waiting for lightning.
Finished songs matter more than perfect ideas.
Feedback should be specific, kind, and useful.
Consistency beats intensity.
Creativity has a profound value that transcends any money its outcomes do or don’t make.
These aren’t slogans for us. They’re principles we’ve tested over decades of writing, teaching, and learning ourselves.
Who HTWS is for (and who it’s not)
HTWS is for you if:
You already write songs, but want to do it with more clarity and confidence
You’re a serious hobbyist (or quietly ambitious) and feel a bit stuck
You want structure, accountability, and real feedback
You care about the craft, not shortcuts
HTWS is probably not for you if:
You already write songs, but want to do it with more clarity and confidence
You’re a serious hobbyist (or quietly ambitious) and feel a bit stuck
You want structure, accountability, and real feedback
You care about the craft, not shortcuts
Our experience, in brief
We’ve been teaching songwriting for over 15 years in world-class music institutions, including Berklee College of Music, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the Australian Institute of Music, JMC Academy, TAFE NSW, and more.
Teaching has never been a “Plan B” for either of us. It’s something we actively chose — and continue to choose — because being in the room (physical or virtual) with songwriters doing meaningful work still feels like a privilege.
Our YouTube channel, How To Write Songs, has grown to over 180,000 subscribers and more than 10 million views in its first 5 years— largely because we care deeply about translating theory into practice, with clarity, humour, and respect for the work.
Meet Keppie
Starting out
I started out studying Law and Politics in Sydney — which tells you either that I was keeping my options open, or that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. (It was the second one.)
I graduated with a degree in Politics and International Relations, but the whole time I was gigging and recording on the side — and slowly, undeniably, music kept winning.
2005–2007
In 2005, I packed up and moved to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music. I graduated in 2007, and liked it so much I just… stayed.
I joined Berklee’s Office for Cultural Diversity, running training programs for students, staff, and faculty around inclusion and access — work that taught me a lot about how people learn, and what gets in the way.
A surreal moment
Then in 2008, something genuinely surreal happened: I was invited into a small group of young songwriters to be mentored for a week by John Mayer. At the end of it, he selected three songs to produce in the Berklee studios. One of them was mine. I’m still not fully over it.
2010
In 2010, at 26, I joined Berklee’s Songwriting Department as an Assistant Professor — and that’s when I discovered something I hadn’t expected: I loved teaching. Really loved it. Being in the room with motivated writers, chasing meaningful work together, watching someone crack something open in a lyric they didn’t think they could write. That feeling never got old.
2013 onwards
I moved back to Sydney in 2013, and kept going — teaching songwriting and lyric writing at the Australian Institute of Music while somehow also completing a Psychology degree (I clearly have a problem with stopping). Over the next decade I taught for Berklee Online, the Sydney Conservatorium’s Open Academy, JMC Academy, and the Australian College of the Arts.
Building something bigger
In 2021, Benny and I launched How To Write Songs on YouTube. In 2024, we opened the HTWS membership community — a natural extension of everything we’d already been doing, just with a proper home for it.
Now
I live in Sydney with my husband Fionn, our two kids, and our dog, who is completely ridiculous and we love him anyway.
You can hear Keppie’s music and collaborations here.
Keppie’s original and co-written songs have been streamed over 10 million times in the past three years alone. Her work has been commissioned by Penguin Random House, and she was a featured artist on the Grammy-nominated album Aaaaah by Andrew & Polly.
I began my working life studying Industrial Design, dreaming of building a career in furniture design and manufacture (with vague plans of living in Milan). It didn’t take long to realise I wasn’t suited to the realities of that industry, and I walked away.
2002 – 2014
I worked as a Performance Analyst for Cricket NSW — capturing and analysing roughly 50,000 deliveries a year. It involved extensive travel, strategy sessions, touring with national teams, and a front-row seat to elite performance culture. I loved it.
Turning point
Early in my friendship with Keppie, we met a guy called Brian. One night, he told me I should go to the Montreal Jazz Festival.
On a whim, I spent all my savings on a round-the-world ticket, met Keppie in New York, went to the festival — and realised in those two weeks that I wanted to be a musician more than anything else.
2014
I came home, enrolled in music school, and never looked back.
I completed a Post-Graduate Diploma at AFTRS — 10 hours a day, five days a week, for a full year. It was the most demanding and rewarding educational experience of my life.
Now
Alongside songwriting and education, my work expanded into coaching, podcast production, and leadership roles in creative and entrepreneurial spaces.
I live 90 minutes north of Sydney in a slightly ramshackle treehouse with my wife Jasmine, our two spirited children, and a few cats.
You can find Benny’s music here.
Benny is a founding member of internationally touring bluegrass band The Green Mohair Suits, and has been commissioned for major composition projects by Adobe, Cathay Pacific, and Audible.
The story of us
We met late one night in 2002, when a mutual friend, Ed, introduced us before promptly passing out on the couch.
Benny, meet Keppie. Keppie, meet Benny. You both make music.”
We hit it off immediately—talking about songwriting, guitar playing, psychology, art—and more than twenty years later, we’re still having those same conversations.
Over the years, we gigged, recorded, toured, studied, and taught—often in parallel, sometimes side-by-side.
The duo today
By the time we launched our YouTube channel in 2021, we’d already spent more than a decade designing and delivering songwriting and composition units inside tertiary institutions.
Starting HTWS wasn’t a leap. It was the natural next step.
Practising what we teach
After more than twenty years of friendship and collaboration, there was one glaring gap: we’d never actually written songs together.
So in 2024, we fixed that.
Names of Birds is our band
a place where we channel our own creative energy, write and record regularly, and stay honest about what the work really asks of you.
This matters to us.
Because our teaching doesn’t come from theory alone. It comes from being in the trenches — writing, revising, finishing songs — just like the writers we work with.
Whether you’re writing your very first song, or you’ve been playing and writing for 30 years and want to deepen specific parts of your craft,
there’s a place for you here.
How To Write Songs offers different ways in — from foundational skills to focused upskilling and ongoing development — so you can choose what supports you best at this point in your writing life.
Spots are limited. Enrol now to begin your songwriting journey.
Don’t miss this chance to join our songwriting class. Learn how to express yourself through music and connect with others through your words.
Check out our courses
Accelerator Program — Independent
The Songwriting Accelerator—Independent is a self-paced online course for motivated songwriters wanting to write their best songs, with consistency and…
Intermediate – Advanced
Self-paced Online + Live Support
Structured songwriting and guided practice
Complete six song projects with structured guidance and receive personalized feedback from expert mentors over six months.
know the basics
know the basics
Listen Now
