Song-In-A-Day Workshop

1 day
(KS3, KS4 groups of 10-30 students)

Students are asked to bring any instrument they can play. School asked to make available any music equipment they can spare – percussion instruments, microphones, drumkits etc.

This day long workshop begins with an introductory session where everyone gets to know each other, talks about their favourite musical acts and their experiences of playing and writing music. We will often perform a song of ours, and any students who wish to will have the opportunity to play the group one of their own compositions.

We then move on to a discussion of lyrics, form and scansion. Using students’ favourite lines from songs we build a new song on the spot and perform it. Students then break up to have a go at writing lyrics individually. A line will be chosen to form the hookline of our chorus, which we then expand. We divide into subgroups to write verses, then come back together to write a musical structure for the song.

The final session sees the group divide to practise the parts specific to their own instrument, design band logos and album covers and practise singing. Groups tend to vary in how much control they are able to take at this point, but we adapt our role to fit. There have been days when we have been relegated to conductors and others where we have found ourselves the only willing lead singers or drummers!

By day’s end, we will have a song finished and a band ready to perform.