Students brainstormed on issues that were important to them and identified their most pressing problem as the negative ways in which they were speaking to each other. Our expert song-smiths then helped students use the problem's impact and potential solutions to create singable lyrics. Students used classroom instruments (and chairs) to lay down a beat and their personal musical preferences to generate ideas for background riffs, interludes, and melodies.
The kids had a fantastic time--huddled around the microphone when our music room was transformed into a recording studio, composing lyrics while sitting on the playground, and watching Chris make magic out of the recordings with Pro Tools and his synthesizer.
The song premiered at Reflections Night, but took some time afterwards to make it into a shareable file. I am now so pleased and proud to present for your downloading and listening pleasure:
Kindness
We've got a problem with the way we talk,
Insult each other, we just can't stop,
Talking just so we can hear our own voice,
In the end, it's all just noise.
Kindness, loyalty, respect
Bullying and fighting happens every day,
This air pollution makes you want to run away.
It takes some patience now to change this mess,
We've got to learn to lay our words to rest.
Kindness, loyalty, respect
We can fix this, it's within our reach,
If we can listen first before we speak.
We can be the ones to take the first step,
We can start a revolution of kindness.
Kindness, loyalty, respect
