Earlier this term, we had a number of children working with Francine Werry, writing songs that were submitted to the MENZA songwriting competition. The group had to face a number of challenges along the way. During Auckland’s two lockdowns earlier this term, they had to hold zoom meetings so they could work on their songs remotely, but they still found the tight time frame challenging, and most were writing original songs for the first time. It pushed them to find more effective ways to work together.
The group used a design thinking approach, which the students found helped them in a number of ways. Firstly, they learned how to identify their audience and define their song’s message. They say that recording ‘works in progress’ and getting feedback helped them to prototype and test their songs, so that by the time they recorded their final versions, they’d had a lot of opportunities to re-work and practice their lyrical and rhythmic ideas. Persevering through technical and creative challenges by working well as a team was one of the main benefits cited by students. Says one, “You can’t just sing, write and play, you have to communicate with each other.” Most rated their MENZA HLSA songwriting experience as
something they would love to do ‘all day long’.
CPDS entered the most songs, along with one other school (12 entries) which is something we should be proud of. So well done to all those involved. From those songs we submitted the following children have been recognised.
Sascha Rm 18 was highly commended for melody line: “Get Back Up Again” while Yara and Hayley (both from Rm 6) were highly commended for hook: “Manaakitanga- Aotearoa”
Well done girls for a great result and thank you to Francine for overseeing this project again this year.
