IMPACT
Press
This page presents a compendium of coverage and content related to DocSong and documentary songwriting practice in regional and national media outlets.
NAfME CONVERENCE | May 21, 2021
Live Documentary Songwriting Session
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION for MUSIC EDUCATION | DocSong board members Drs. Jody Kerchner and Malcolm Brooks recorded this documentary songwriting session for their talk at the February 2021 conference of the National Association for Music Education. This video helped illustrate the documentary songwriting process to a national audience of music educators.
IDEASTREAM | October 21, 2019
Sharing #MeToo Stories Through Songs
CLEVELAND | Feelings about sexual harassment and assault often go unspoken, but Nora Willauer thought music could get people talking. The master’s student in cello performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music decided to embark on a documentary songwriting project sharing people’s #MeToo stories.
INSTAGRAM FEED
The Latest from @DocumentarySongwriters
We are excited to the partnering with @icc04848 this summer to bring documentary songwriting to young people on the island through weekly songwriting sessions with @hazelmae.music !
Students will spend the next four weeks writing a collective song about their favorite island spots.
A community workshop is open to the public Wednesdays from 11 to 12 at the ICC!
It’s hard to believe how close you can get with a group of people in one short week.
The teaching training program is a weeklong workshop in the art of documentary songwriting. Veteran teaching artists @khalid.a.taylor and @willyfoote36 and executive director Caroline Rex-Waller were lucky to spend this past week learning connecting and playing music with these incredible musicians.
We’re excited to keep these collaborations going with Michelle, Raph, and Hazel!
#welcometotheteam
#family #makemusictogether #levelup #growing #learning #gratitude #documentarysongwriting #docsong
This is what one documentary songwriting session can do—shift your self perception and help you recognize what you’re capable of.
Your story matters.
#Transformation #courage #yourstory #documentarysongwriting #docsong
In the midst of fear, worry, and heartache, it can be hard to remember the best parts of this world.
Over and over we hear from our storytellers about the beauty of documentary songwriting— the gift of sitting with another person and telling your story and being listened to with someone’s full love and attention.
and so, in those moments when you feel overwhelmed, remember all these small moments of connection that are happening every day, and how much they matter.
#itsthelittlethings #dailyinspiration #music #storytelling #documentarysongwriting #docsong
DocSong’s annual Teaching Artist Training is going on this week! This program brings together so many incredible musicians, facilitators, and community organizers from around the world, and we are so grateful to have the opportunity to collaborate and learn with them.
Looking forward to sharing profiles of our newest teaching artists next week.
#staytuned #thismagiciscontagious #documentarysongwriting #docsong #songwriters
Today was the first day of a new collaboration with the Islesboro Community Center @icc04848! Veteran teaching artist @hazel.mae12 is working with youth on the island to introduce the key elements of storytelling and songwriting through scaffolded documentary songwriting! Today they started with collaborative storytelling. Which song would you want to hear?
ADDITIONAL HEADLINES
Documentary Songwriting in the News
WERU | Maine
Documentary Songwriters on WERU Radio Hour
APRIL 1, 2016
The "WERU Family Radio Hour" with Belfast's Scot Cannon features Chloë Isis, Will Foote, and Malcolm Brooks. The broadcast includes documentary songs by Clio Berta, Chloë Isis, Rohan Edwards, and the Push Farther Project. The program also features a demonstration in which Chloë Isis and Will Foote compose a song live in the studio.
FRESHWATER CLEVELAND
DocSong Virtual Concert to Benefit Rape Crisis Center
AUGUST 6, 2020
More than three years ago cellist Nora Willauer took an interest in documentary songwriting. She was intrigued by how therapeutic the art could be, especially after she started talking to women who are victims of sexual misconduct or domestic violence. So, in 2018, she resolved to help tell these women’s stories through Documentary Songwriting.
Young Artists in Quarantine: Caleb Edwards
JUNE 23, 2020 | This is part of a series highlighting the stories of young artists in quarantine. The period of free time that many people are experiencing has led many students to find a new independence in art when they have the ability to create just for themselves. This features Caleb Edwards, who will be a senior at Watershed School in Camden in the fall.
Lyric Writing with Malcolm Brooks
AUGUST 21, 2019 | Malcolm Brooks, a composer, performer and teacher and has created a program for writers, musicians, and ordinary citizens to express their feelings through lyrical song writing. During a week-long writing workshop with teens at Maine Media, he and his student Khalid Taylor used this method to help us turn a prose piece into a song. He said, "We don’t have enough songs that talk about our emotions,” and our song was full of such emotion and surprise.
Documentary Songwriting at Sweetland School
DECEMBER 14, 2017 | In small groups the Explorers and Innovators met once a week for 6 weeks with visiting artists Malcolm Brooks and Alex Wilder. The children shared ideas and created original songs. Each week children recorded their voices and songs and listened back to reflect on their sound and ideas. At our Solstice celebration children shared original songs with families. We noticed a high level of commitment and ownership of ideas.