How spirit-lifting it was to walk into Mary Ruth McGinn’s classroom at Stedwick Elementary School and see a circle of third graders with their ukuleles, ready to write songs.
Before my arrival, the teacher and I had already begun to give the students the experience of critique and revision—an essential part of the songwriting process. About a week before the workshop, McGinn emailed me a draft of a collaborative song, I wrote comments, made suggested edits, and emailed it back. She shared that with the students and together they re-wrote one of the verses and talked through why I had made the suggestions I had made.
During the workshop, we set those lyrics to music and practiced it. After that, we wrote an entire new song together. The focus for this workshop was on a trio of elements that are often employed in songwriting: rhythm, repetition, and rhyme. As we wrote, we tested each lyric line to a beat to make sure the rhythm of the words sounded right. Sometimes, we had to make a change, such as substituting a one syllable word for a longer word if the line sounded awkward.
When it was time to write our new song, I taught how I often start by writing down a lot of possible ideas, rather than just one idea for each line. For example, in the first four-line verse, when it came time to write the last line, I asked them for lots of ideas. I wrote them all down so we could pick the one we liked best.
If I built a wall,
I’d build three more
It would be a small house
With a door
(or one of these instead)
With four doors
With sixteen doors
With a floor
With a floor and a door
We ended up liking the humor and the symbolism of sixteen doors.
Next, we worked on the idea of establishing and repeating a pattern. In this case, the pattern for each verse was four lines with the second and fourth line repeating. We also worked on the idea that the chorus of a song can be simple and make use of repetition.
Here’s the whole song:
If I built a wall,
I’d build three more
It would be a small house
With sixteen doors
If I built a window
I’d look outside
I’d say, “Hello World”
To the bright blue sky.
CHORUS:
So many people can come inside.
So many people can come inside.
Come inside!
If I built a roof
I’d make it warm
It would keep us safe
From the big dark storm.
If I built a floor
I’d use it for my band.
Everybody come
And jump and dance.
CHORUS:
So many people can come inside.
So many people can come inside.
Come inside!
Come inside!
Thanks to Carpe Diem Arts, Inc., the non-profit arts organization that organized and funded the experience, to Busy Graham, CDA’s founder, Ms. McGinn, and all her students.
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