Lyrics and Songwriting
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- Lyrics and Songwriting
- Available Residencies
Lyrics and Songwriting
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Minas
Patricia King and Orlando Haddad work with students on the creative process of songwriting. By writing their own lyrics and setting these to music, students explore poetic meters and how these relate to musical pulse and rhythm as well as how compositional forms relate to poetic forms, finding commonalities between musical and poetic structures. By looking at great examples from many genres (Beatles, jazz classics, Brazilian songs and more), the class identifies the components of an effective song, and learns about simple, universal forms (such as A - B - A). Through writing their own lyrics, students have a chance to express their own ideas, choosing subjects that are deeply meaningful to them. Older students study more complex structures, both musically and in terms of lyrics.
Vocal performance is an integral part of this residency throughout. Students learn to incorporate improvisation into their own work through engaging exercises where they improvise vocally within a set musical structure. Students internalize a stronger sense of form through the melodic, rhythmic and lyric content that bubbles up in a spontaneous, improvisatory setting. Through performing their own songs, students begin to develop their voices as expressive instruments that can be used to interpret songs in many different ways.
The residency concludes with students performing their own original compositions, accompanied by Orlando and Patricia. Students emerge with newfound self-confidence through learning to write lyrics, compose songs and perform their own works.
This residency is best suited to students from third grade through high school. With its strong literacy component, all twelve standards of the National Council of Teachers of English are covered, in addition to the standards that are met in music.