Are you interested in using music as a tool to connect and build community? Do you want to elevate your songwriting, and bring community stories to life?

Become a DocSong teaching artist!

DocSong partners with musicians and communities to transform stories into songs that heal, empower, and inspire.

In this training, participants will learn the Documentary Songwriting Method: a clear, step-by-step approach to collaborative songwriting that lets anyone—regardless of musical experience—turn a real, personal story into an original song. Documentary Songwriting has been used around the world to build connection and understanding—helping people share their lived experiences through music.

Teaching artists trained in this method have led projects such as:

• writing songs with immigrant communities to share stories of migration and belonging

• collaborating with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people to turn personal narratives into choral and recorded songs

• facilitating songwriting with survivors of domestic violence and #MeToo stories, using music as a tool for resilience, voice, and advocacy

• creating songs that express peace and shared humanity across cultures in conflict

In the training you’ll learn how to guide story-based conversations, shape spoken stories into lyrics and melodies, and facilitate sessions that center deep listening, ethical collaboration, and musical accessibility. This approach is adaptable for classrooms, community programs, workshops, and performances—so you can bring the method into your own teaching artist work right away.

To learn more about the program, check out the Teaching Artist Training Program Overview

Applications open now.