Music Makers Lab

During the 2022-23 school year, Music Makers Lab explored a wide range of music and cultures. The curriculum covered various musical concepts such as rhythm, notation, improvisation, and field recording, and also supported work that was going on at Waters Elementary around Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month and Women's History Month. Students were given space to explore and experience many different kinds of music, as a listener, a researcher, and a maker. 

Throughout the fall, we developed a routine that stuck for the remainder of the year. Students began with snack, then played games as a group (sometimes musical and sometimes just fun!), then wrote or drew a journal entry in response to a listening excerpt, and finally did a music making activity. While the content of each of these blocks changed depending on the research area, the consistency of our schedule helped to create a sense of curricular cohesion and a strong group dynamic. 

Our curriculum aligned with larger areas of exploration in students classes centered on Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month, and Women's History Month. During Hispanic Heritage Month, Music Makers explored cumbia music, its basic rhythms, and its movement through South America and beyond. During Black History month, Music Makers learned about jazz, the blues and the great migration. During Women's History month, Music Makers listened to and learned about women musicians in a plethora of genres, from jazz to noise rock to neo-soul. Throughout each of these arcs, students were encouraged to consider how their own identities and heritage might be communicated through stories and music. 

Music Makers also explored more abstract musical concepts, with particular attention given to improvisation, field recording, and (per student interest) rock music. Our culminating project incorporated all of these elements as students split into three groups to create their own bands. Students came up with band names and logos, and each band created and recorded an original song. Students were asked to make expressive decisions: What is your song about? How fast or slow should it go? Is it repetitive, or always changing? How do you want the audience to feel when listening?

The groups wrote, rehearsed, and recorded over the course of two months, finally performing their original songs for family and friends at the Waters Elementary CAPE showcase.