Social-Emotional Learning and Middle School Songwriting

Kevin Rorke

Intro-A bit about myself...

• Kevin “Teach” Rorke
• Classically trained percussionist, Colorado State graduate
• Self-taught on Guitar, Bass, Voice, Song-writing
• 23 years a teacher, started as a band director; I’ve taught

Modern Band for 5 years

• I did not fit the band director mold

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A bit about my program…�

• Timberview Middle School, Academy District 20, Colorado Springs
• Exploratories rotate every quarter in 6^th & 7^th grade; Counseling office

randomly places students

• In the 8^th grade, Exploratories rotate every semester, students get to

choose

• Next year, I will have a brand new YEAR LONG 8^th grade class, like

the Band program!

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A little bit more…�

• I designed “Levels” in my classes to accommodate multiple ability levels at once

Each level equals one quarter of study

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• Level 1: 6^th grade (or 1^st time in my class)—basic cowboy chords, 2-3 fingers, major or minor
• Level 2: 7^th grade (or 2^nd time in my class)—4-finger chords, extensions, 2 moveable shapes, slash chords
• Level 3: 8^th grade (1^st quarter)—power chords (this starts the process of fretboard memorizing)
• Level 4: 8^th grade (2^nd quarter)—pentatonic and blues scale, Pattern 1
• Level 5: 8^th grade (3^rd quarter)—pentatonic scale, Pattern 4; Four basic barre chord shapes
• Level 6: 8^th grade (4^th quarter)---pentatonic scale, Patterns 2, 5, and 3, then add the blues notes
• During all levels of study, students are dabbling in other rock band instruments

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Let’s start by playing a song written by a 6^th grade class of mine:�

• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xHj_2Y8u6S42aOdJXkka8MllfptmCyvE/view?usp=sharing

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What is S.E.L.?�

• Social–emotional learning is an educational method that aims to foster social and emotional skills within school curricula. 

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Mood Meter (RULER)

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• Divided into quadrants; low and high pleasantness; low and high energy

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nF3IXNg4VWRP8Grv5IksVL99e9YkPnZ1/view?usp=drive_link

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What are some tools we use to express emotions in music?

• Melody
• Chords (Harmony)
• Rhythmic Changes
• Dynamic Contrasts

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• Anything else?

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What about emotional extremes? How do we express those?

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Let’s play Hero by Enrique Iglesias�

• https://youtu.be/z_B-cMnkCgE

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Let’s plot Hero’s emotional state on the Mood Meter�

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Let’s play Hurt by Johnny Cash�

• https://youtu.be/HEm1V_I0l7Y

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Let’s plot Hurt’s emotional state on the Mood Meter�

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Next: We’re going to write a song!

• This is the process I use in my class
• Do this process in 15 minute chunks every day to avoid boredom and disengagement – don’t take up the entire class period with it
• My way takes about eight 15-minute sessions, but take as many as you need to finish the song with your class!

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• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NwkCoYf7deqDSDgT9gmnb1GjzsQ94jxW31hHe1viYQ/edit?usp=drive_link

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Day 1

• Pick a topic. Use a fair process that you are comfortable with. Here’s mine:

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Day 2

• What emotional state do we want to go for with this topic?

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Day 2 (Continued)

• Explain the standard form of a modern-day rock song:

(Sometimes this form varies, but we’ll use this one!)

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• Verse 1: Part 1 of your story; details
• Chorus: The repeated part; very general
• Verse 2: Part 2 of your story; details
• Chorus: Copy and paste the first one!
• Bridge: The climax of the story; wrap it up!
• Final Chorus: Copy and paste it again! (sometimes it’s repeated)

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Day 3

• Brainstorm ideas about the topic, make a long list with plenty of ideas

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• Expect that there will be leftovers-you want more ideas than you can use

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Day 4

• Write the lyrics to Verse 1; 4 lines, 8 lines, whatever feels organic

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• Assign chords through trial and error and their emotional sound

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• Keep it simple-2, 4, or 8 beats per chord

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Day 5

• Write the lyrics to the Chorus

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• Assign chords the same way you did in Verse 1, but don’t make them the same

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• ***Day 4 and 5 will be the hardest, but…***

…once these are written, the rest of the process goes quickly!

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Day 6

• Write the lyrics to verse 2, copy and paste the chords from V1, then copy

and paste entire chorus

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• Play through what you have so far!

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Day 7

• Write the lyrics to the Bridge, assign the chords

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• Copy and paste Chorus

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• Do you want to repeat the final Chorus? How many times?

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Day 8

• The finishing touches!

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• Decide on your intro, outro, tempo, and title

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• Now play the whole thing!

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Revisit the Mood Meter—Did you stay true to the emotion you chose?�

• Yes? Good job!
• No? Who cares? Identify the new one!
• All that matters is…They wrote a song! …and…Do they like the song?

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Play it often!!

• Include it with your cover repertoire; It’s THEIRS!

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• They will take pride in the ownership!

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• If you can, RECORD IT! (And share it with your administrators)�

• Experiment with genres! (Not everyone likes Rock music)
• I have done Country, Reggae, and Rap in my classroom

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Questions?

• Contact me at kevin.rorke@asd20.org or kevinrorkejr@gmail.com

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• Please Like my Celtic Rock band, The McDeviants, on Facebook! 😊

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