GEMEINSCHAFT

SONGWRITING PROJECT
Rachel Jun
In the Gemeinschaft songwriting project, students in social work and music

education joined together once a week at the Gemeinschaft home to create songs

with the men. This program is to help educate the broader community about the

issues facing incarcerated individuals and their transition back into society. Each

session would help students grow a closer relationship and help the men share

their stories through songwriting.

MY TAKEAWAYS 

1. Flexibility is key to becoming a successful teacher. As a musician and a future educator, the

Gemeinschaft songwriting project was an experience to grow as a listener and improviser. Every

moment there was an opportunity to shift gears and focus on a certain topic to complete with the men.

2. Connecting with the students is a crucial step to build a stronger teamwork and to understand the

student’s needs. It is more difficult if the teacher simply commands for a task to be completed. Creating

a safe environment for students is a great way to open their hearts.

Learning Environment: establishing a safe/supportive environment, Professional knowledge: understanding and use of standards,
establishing learner trust/teamwork, behavior management, skills/knowledges, and making content relevant to learners.
cultural responsiveness.
Transferring our real-world experiences into lyrics was a big
Working with the men, the students were trained to have an open and
concept for the songwriting project. In the beginning of the
respectful manner toward the men while the students were there. The
semester, Robby (music teacher/therapist of Geminschaft)
session lasted an hour and it was a great opportunity to listen to the men
introduced topics to create songs from. Some were parody pop
while creating compositions right at the spot. Students were divided into
songs, poems, and jingles. To ease the pressure of creating a song,
new groups each week which helped broaden our perspectives and
the men incorporated the knowledge they had about a certain topic
vulnerability with one another. Building a safe learning environment was

crucial for me to adapt because the men feel out of place because of the
and applied it to the songs. Later in the semester, we had numerous

new faces they see each week. When students were in the groups, it was ideas to transfer the topics about how the men feel and create

vital to take the opportunity to support one another to build trust and them into lyrics. After writing numerous songs, I’ve learned that

teamwork. the most successful songs come from the raw emotions people

have, and their stories to tell within those events.

Instructional Planning: use of learner’s context to frame learning,

planned differentiation based on learner needs and differences, use

of appropriate strategies, use of instructional technology, essential

Leadership Project
content planning, and realistic pacing.

Every men in the Geminschaft home comes from a different background.

It was important for the JMU students to understand their backgrounds

and help the men end the day right regardless of what they’ve gone

through. Framing the lessons were casual, but it was crucial to begin each
Sample of
session with a conversation. Unlike a school setting, I did not want

songwriting to feel like a task. Instead, I wanted our time together to feel

effortless and creative to bring our ideas together. There were some
song
sessions in which we did complete the entire song, but it best to bring more

ideas the following week. Pacing the session was helpful to get part of the

work done to complete for the next session.

Songwriting recap