Professional Documents
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SONGWRITING PROJECT
Rachel Jun
In the Gemeinschaft songwriting project, students in social work and music
education joined together once a week at the Gemeinschaft home to create songs
with the men. This program is to help educate the broader community about the
issues facing incarcerated individuals and their transition back into society. Each
session would help students grow a closer relationship and help the men share
MY TAKEAWAYS
1. Flexibility is key to becoming a successful teacher. As a musician and a future educator, the
Gemeinschaft songwriting project was an experience to grow as a listener and improviser. Every
moment there was an opportunity to shift gears and focus on a certain topic to complete with the men.
2. Connecting with the students is a crucial step to build a stronger teamwork and to understand the
student’s needs. It is more difficult if the teacher simply commands for a task to be completed. Creating
Learning Environment: establishing a safe/supportive environment, Professional knowledge: understanding and use of standards,
establishing learner trust/teamwork, behavior management, skills/knowledges, and making content relevant to learners.
cultural responsiveness.
Transferring our real-world experiences into lyrics was a big
Working with the men, the students were trained to have an open and
concept for the songwriting project. In the beginning of the
respectful manner toward the men while the students were there. The
semester, Robby (music teacher/therapist of Geminschaft)
session lasted an hour and it was a great opportunity to listen to the men
introduced topics to create songs from. Some were parody pop
while creating compositions right at the spot. Students were divided into
songs, poems, and jingles. To ease the pressure of creating a song,
new groups each week which helped broaden our perspectives and
the men incorporated the knowledge they had about a certain topic
vulnerability with one another. Building a safe learning environment was
crucial for me to adapt because the men feel out of place because of the
and applied it to the songs. Later in the semester, we had numerous
new faces they see each week. When students were in the groups, it was ideas to transfer the topics about how the men feel and create
vital to take the opportunity to support one another to build trust and them into lyrics. After writing numerous songs, I’ve learned that
teamwork. the most successful songs come from the raw emotions people
and help the men end the day right regardless of what they’ve gone
through. Framing the lessons were casual, but it was crucial to begin each
Sample of
session with a conversation. Unlike a school setting, I did not want
songwriting to feel like a task. Instead, I wanted our time together to feel
effortless and creative to bring our ideas together. There were some
song
sessions in which we did complete the entire song, but it best to bring more
ideas the following week. Pacing the session was helpful to get part of the
Songwriting recap