I was thrilled with the results of that first session, but it was hard work. Even though the framework was set beforehand, I still left a lot of room for creative decisions to be made by the class. Of course, that meant whenever the class was stuck for a brilliant idea, I had to come up with one, and fast. I have to say that between explaining rhythm patterns and rhyme schemes, keeping track of story ideas from 25 kids, and trying to stay on top of both Verse groups, I broke a sweat before the class was finished. H aving followed this scenario and used the process in several classes since, I can offer a few fundamental guidelines to keep in mind when planning your own class.
T here are no wrong answers or bad ideas.
As anyone who's been involved in any kind of creative process knows, the journey is at least as important as the arrival at your final destination. I stress to my classes the wide range of things we need to talk about in order to find the lyrics we ultimately like. A dmittedly, some ideas are just not appropriate in a particular context. However, I make a point of telling kids that it doesn't mean their idea wouldn't work as part of another song at another time. I keep a notebook full of just such ideas that haven't found the right home yet.