Today's song is very special! It is the result of a collaboration I had with a group of 8th grade students. The students chose to take part in a songwriting workshop I instructed back in May of this year, as part of an enrichment activity for an 8th grade English Language Arts class at a public school in my hometown. When we first began circulating ideas for the song, several topics were shared among our group. We ultimately decided on the topic of "Summer", because it was front and center on everyone's mind in the group, as the workshop took place on the day before school was dismissed for the summer break. So let's just say it was easy to get everyone engaged in the topic.
I began by prompting the students with the line, "Summer's golden call awaits me..." From that point, the first verse soon came to fruition, with the students discovering the importance of syllable patterns and structure as it pertains to the flow and phrasing of a song. Once the first verse was complete, we discussed how the second verse would probably need to match, line by line in terms of syllables. I explained to the students that following a matching syllable pattern helps keep the flow, phrasing and allows for melodic continuity in a more rhythmically consistent manner among the verses. It was also explained that by no means is this the only way to craft a song, and that for some genres of music or poetry, interlocking syllables are not necessary.
However, it was decided that this tune would be a country song. So it made sense to keep things tidy as far as syllable structures. The melody and structure format were mine as well as "sweet Ohio", but the students wrote every other lyric to the song. I was very proud of them.
https://soundcloud.com/morganwasham/summer
I hope you enjoy. See you tomorrow.
Morgan Washam is a singer songwriter, producer and educator from the Appalachian hills of Ohio. He has performed in many music projects throughout the years including Peach Melba and Blood Moon. His most recent project is a folk music collective called Wildwood Franklin http://wildwoodfranklin.com . The group's mission is to build a community of passionate and compassionate individuals that work to redefine the essence and mystique of the americana sound while staying true to the roots flavorings that have encapsulated the genres. http://morganwasham.com morganwashammusic@gmail.com