All-girl band video

After watching the video, “Music and Lyrics,” by the students of Spike Highfield School, I was definitely in for a surprise.  The video begins with a description of what the video consists of, “ Inspirational all-girl teenage band lead teachers in a songwriting workshop, to provide insight into how young, informal musicians write their own music.” At first, I was extremely surprised to see that the young girls were holding a workshop for the teachers, which is something I can honestly say I have never personally experienced or seen.   In the beginning minutes of the video, it definitely did not appear that the teachers were very interested in the band, but I think as the workshop progressed, they did appear to understand more of the purpose behind it.

 At the workshop, the teachers were allowed to hear the instrumentals without the lyrics, allowing them to create their own lyrics.  The girls in the band then discussed how they wrote the instrumentals, breaking it down into basic chords and guitar riffs.   The girls then broke down the lyrics by having the teachers sing ‘la la’ to the music.  This was definitely an interesting section of the video, as I have never seen this done.  The teachers were then broken into groups and asked to practice the lyrics they create and sing together with their group to get a feeling for the way lyrics are written in this particular genre.

At this point, two of the girls in the band take the created lyrics from each group and put it together in order to perform each group’s addition in a full piece.   While the girls on working, the teachers get together again and interview the remaining members regarding songwriting and performing.  The first question asked was if the girls had had any formal vocal or instrumental lessons and how much of what they do is related to those lessons.  One of the girls does agree that her music instructor has really influenced her and that she wouldn’t be where she is today without him.  However, she goes on to say that her instructor would stand back and observe, really only stepping in to help when she needed it.  Therefore, she was honestly directing her own learning, allowing her creativity and passion to blossom.    

The video ends with the all-girl band performing a song that consists of every teacher group’s lyrics.   I was definitely impressed with the teacher’s abilities to create the lyrics in a short amount of time.  It appeared that the teachers were proud of themselves for what they had accomplished (which I thought was a lot), and even enjoyed themselves.   I think that at the beginning of the workshop the teachers were almost hesitant to enjoy a genre of music that is usually not as familiar to the typical musical educator. However, by the end, their ability to create something that resulted in a quite passionate moment was a break through for education.   If these teachers can take what they learned from these girls back into their classrooms, think of all the possibilities their students would be introduced to.  Music should be full of joy and passion, and the ability to create something for oneself fosters that. I would definitely recommend this video to my colleagues as a way to introduce a new concept of teaching.

Informal Composing

After reading pages 154-157 of, “ Musical Futures,” I was extremely excited to see Informal Composing broken down into a very easy and informative way for people like me, and you, to understand.

This section begins with a description about what Informal Composing is, which is allowing students to begin creating their own music.  Throughout the year, the students have been learning through listening and copying other musicians in the popular music realm.  In order to truly understand Informal Composing, you have to know the key principles, which are learning music that students choose, like, and identify with, learning with friends, engaging the students in personal, self-directed learning, and integrating listening, performing, improvising, and composing into their skills.

The next section goes into discussing and explaining how the students will compose their music, beginning with the first lesson.  When preparing the students, you must first explain to them that they will be composing their own music, whether through a song or instrumental piece.  The students have the ability to write their own lyrics, or use/change existing lyrics.  It would be beneficial to guide the students on choosing riffs and ideas they previously worked on during the listening and copying exercises to ensure an effective starting point.  As always, it is important for the teacher to stand back and help as needed, and to remind the students to follow the rules of their school, such as not choosing songs that use derogatory language or hate-filled lyrics.

Following the first lesson, “Musical Futures,” recommends that students engage in their own composing/songwriting for two more lessons, with their friendship group, before the teacher provides more structured supervision, such as modeling composing for the students, or providing a lesson on the techniques of songwriting.  In the table on page 157, the author provides a step-by-step guide of each lesson, beginning with the introductions to the task, songwriting techniques, and having the students group themselves into their friendship group, and ending with performances and feedback from the class.  This table is a great resource that would be very beneficial for any musical instructor to use when following the informal composing approach.

As an educator of music myself, I must say that I was truly impressed with this particular section of the book.  The step-by-step instructions provide a layout of what exactly needs to happen for the students to be successful at composing their own music.  Allowing the students to choose their own friendship groups that probably enjoy the same types of music is an innovative way to build on each other’s musical skills, as well as their team skills.  Although I have mentioned in previous discussions that I have allowed my students to break into groups and learn pieces together, I typically do not allow them to choose their own groups, rather, I put them in their sections.  I can see after reading this book that I should have provided them more opportunities to work on music that they enjoyed, especially more popular music.  It is obvious by the articles and videos we have engaged in this summer that the students respond in a very motivational and positive way to being able to direct their own learning.  As an educator, I can admit that I have a hard time giving my control to the students.  I suppose this is mainly due to my desire to practice and perform with perfection.  However, I am planning on integrating composing/songwriting into my curriculum in the fall, especially now that I have a background to follow.