Lyrics | Music | Putting 'em Together 
It Ain't Over 'Till the kid Sings | Workshop Themes and Concepts

A typical workshop starts first thing in the morning. We're working with music students mostly. High school groups are usually from 15 to 30 in number, from grades eight through 12. Teachers pick the students and arrange with their advisers for them to miss one or two days of normal classes, depending on workshop length.

Songwriting can start with words or music, it really doesn't matter. But our studies start with the words because we're interested in the ideas in a song as they relate to our own lives.

 

Starting with the Lyrics

We start with a brief physical warm-up, an exercise that gets us all stretching and loosening the diaphragm, back and neck muscles. Students have been asked beforehand to bring their favorite music for us to listen to, and photocopied sets lyrics for each person in the room. We listen to CDs and read along. Then we read the words aloud without listening to the music, and discuss the meaning of the words. And since the music of a song can change the meaning of the words we listen again to have a fuller experience of the song before we decide what it means. 

In the discussions about lyrics students learn what to look for in a "good" lyric. There are simple rules developed, which are meant to serve as guides to make students aware of certain things. What tense is the song written in? What is the point of view of the singer, where does the story take place (if there is a story), how does the song build, climax, and conclude (if these things apply)? During this time the teacher also sings to the students, examples of things which he wants to emphasize. (The teacher is actually performing for the students now, but keeping it all in the context of the discussions, so they will know the level excellence which he strives for.) 

 

Adding the Music

During this session the teacher, using a guitar, shows the students how the songs under discussion are constructed, and this musical analysis then leads the group into the next session. After two or three of the students' favorite songs have been discussed in this way there's a short break.

The next session will either take an hour or two hours, depending if we have one or two days together. Now we learn "the chords of a major scale." In this basic music lesson we learn what to practice in our later writing sessions. We do not teach the use of common "progressions" to write songs, because that is usually something the music teacher will cover with the students in regular classes. Instead, we memorize a simple pattern: "Major, minor, minor, Major, Major, minor, diminished," and apply it to several key signatures. Students hear how the movement to any of these chords within any key will sound good to their ear. If we have students that play melody instruments they will improvise on the scale while the other students play through these chords randomly. More advanced music students will learn how to move through two key signatures by using chords that are common to both.

And that's all there is to it. 

Now students will break up into several groups or "collaborations" to work on songs together. Locations will be found around the school where they can work in private. During this time the teacher will travel from group to group, asking if they need help. They usually do, and he will remind them of the things they learned in the previous sessions, encouraging them to use this knowledge. Over the next hour or two the groups will write at least part of a song that they are happy with. Some groups finish an entire song in two hours, but this is not encouraged. 

The purpose is to give students special moments in the songwriting process where he/she is delightfully surprised by an inspiration or an insight. To develop a taste for personal creativity and to see that this arises out of knowing a structure and holding to an idea. 

It Ain't Over 'Till the Kid Sings

If it is just a one-day workshop, the above process lasts about two hours. Students will then perform what their group has written for the other groups. If it's a two-day workshop then the second day allows for more practice as well as musical and lyrical analysis. After a two-day workshop, students sometimes give a concert for parents and friends of the songs they've written. This can be done in the context of a fundraising event. The teacher also performs at these concerts, which gives the students an opportunity to study performance technique.