Music teacher John Churchville has again collaborated with students to create original songs for every classroom in at Pittsfield Elementary.
“When you give students ownership over the creative process, they become much more invested in the music,” says Churchville, who also teaches at Pattengill Elementary, and has been creating songs with students since 2006.
The project began when fellow teachers suggested he create a song with their classes for a fundraising event. That initial project blossomed into an entire album, setting the stage for what would become a musical tradition.
Over the past several years, Churchville has helped students create more than 150 original songs. The collaborative process is comprehensive: Students develop the themes, lyrics, melodies, and overall feeling of each piece.
Churchville’s role involves recording the brainstorming sessions, organizing ideas, and laying down instrumental tracks on drums, guitar, and bass guitar, all while students observe the process.
The recording experience itself mirrors a professional studio setting.
“I do all the recording in class in front of them,” Churchville explains. “Once the instruments are recorded, the students come up and record vocals. They put on headphones and sing into a nice studio microphone. It is meant to emulate a real-life recording experience.”
When the songs are done, he adds them to his AAPS YouTube channel so the students can share them with friends and family. There are also songs from Pattengill and King elementary schools on the channel.
Recently, after releasing a new collection of songs, Churchville arrived at Pittsfield to hear the students’ music playing over the building’s speakers.
“The students have been listening to the song that other classes have created and over the course of a day, it has brought the whole community closer,” says Churchville.
The project’s success is supported by the school district’s investment in technology. Using Soundtrap.com, an online Digital Audio Workstation provided by Ann Arbor Public Schools, students can extend their musicianship beyond the classroom.
This year alone, students from grades 1-5 have submitted more than 1,000 individual music-making projects.
“As a teacher, these songs give me a way to talk about music in a way that really resonates,” says Churchville. “Lessons about song structure, melody, harmony, rhythm, tempo, and so on take on a deeper meaning when it is put in the context of music created by the students themselves.”
Be the first to comment