EduCon 2024

Despite its prevalence across society, songwriting is rarely taught as a fundamental form of communication in the school curriculum. We listen to songs, and we sing songs. But when it comes time to write in school, we tend to focus on essays, reports, short stories, and poems. They are the types of writing that "everybody" is supposed to know how to do — while songwriting is just something that musicians need to know about. Well, let's flip that script and imagine a world in which all learners are expected to understand how to listen to songs and how to write them. Let's have a conversation and write a few songs while we're at it. In this session, we'll listen to key examples of song-form from the American folk and blues traditions. Then we'll write new songs modeled on those forms. Extra points for bringing a guitar or banjo.