A few months ago, I was browsing job postings, thinking about picking up some adjunct teaching work again. I’ve taught creative writing in an MFA program, young adult literature at Moravian University, and English 101 at Northampton Community College. Honestly, the community college course was probably the one I enjoyed the most. The students were fun and funny and there were some really great writers in the group.
While looking at opportunities, I noticed that NCC was hiring not an English professor, but a guitar instructor. I thought that could be a fun way to make a few bucks. I’m no guitar guru, but I’ve played for a million years and could definitely teach beginners. So I applied. I got word back that the opening was already filled because the person planning to leave ended up staying. Bummer. But the Program Manager for Community Education asked if I’d like to teach something different! They were considering offering a course less about guitar basics and more about creating songs, putting a band together, that sort of thing. She knew I played in bands (because it’s a small town not because I’m famous). She knew I had written songs, and I could be the man for the job. I thought, “Why not?” and had the fun experience of submitting an mp3 as a resume. They offered me the job. So, I put together a four-week community education class called Write One Song, inspired by Jeff Tweedy’s book. I though it was an achievable goal, to get students to write one song, no matter their experience level.
I had taught songwriting a little bit before – to middle school kids at a summer camp a few years back. I have lots of experience running one-day writing workshops for kids as part of my author visits, but I hadn’t worked much with adults. I was a little nervous, not gonna lie.
The class ended up with just three students: two retired guys from New York and a woman my age from Bethlehem. I started off with exercises I’d used with kids: poetry-building, free writing, games to wordsmith unusual words and phrases and generate the stuff of song. The students … well it didn’t flop exactly, but it didn’t really click either. The first class wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t humming the way I wanted. They made their word piles and lists of wrong-meaning but right feelings, but couldn’t quite pull it together into songs. After week one I looked at my syllabus and realized it was geared towards people who already were writers. The stuff I used with kids wasn’t connecting either — kids are used to creating all the time as assignments or for fun — and it didn’t quite work. Was there a way I could make it accessible? I brainstormed.
The breakthrough came in week two. I had them tell personal stories one by one to the group about emotional life events while the rest of us listened for interesting words and phrases that could go into a song. I asked them just to tell the story and we’d find lyrics. Joe told the story of meeting his wife and said, “Back in the ’70s, I was a big rock and roll guy, and my wife loved disco.” We smiled and all agreed “My Wife Loved Disco” would be a great song. He wrote constantly over the next few weeks, filling notebooks with songs. He told me that he had promised to write his wife a song 40 years ago, but hadn’t delivered. He was a good guitar player, but didn’t trust his ability to put the words down.
Chris shared her first day at a new job as a group facilitator in a mental health facility. We picked out lines like, “I had my own difficulties,” “I gave good advice,” “I found that if I could help someone, I could help myself,” and shaped them into lyrics. Mark, the other student, had been in a band decades ago but had sold all his gear to start a career and a family. Recently retired after a heart attack, he wanted to cram as much music as possible into his retirement. His song, Picking Up Where I Left Off, was really moving. It included lines like:
I had my band
I had the connections
I had the songs
I had intentions…
We also covered some practical tools like song structure, common chord progressions, and melody creation. I emphasized that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel: let the chords guide you, listen, and see what comes up. Listen to a chord progression over and over again and start to hum. That’s your melody! I brought in a synth and a guitar and we used some digital tools to create melodies, and it worked beautifully. I put together a booklet of “#BerkTips” and weekly PowerPoints with exercises.
By the end of the four weeks, everyone had more than one song. They had many! Joe told me that he felt his mind open up and couldn’t stop writing. Chris said literally said “you’re blowing my mind right now.” Mark quietly said “thank you,” and he meant it. I thanked him back! Because I ended up learning (#classtips) that songwriting doesn’t need flowery language or poetry. For these students, songs grew out of their spoken speech, the stories they’d been living and remembering (or not). A little nudge, a little guidance, and suddenly they were writing songs that were honest, moving, and uniquely theirs. I can’t wait to do it again!