Day 1 – introductions & course orientation

• Land Acknowledgment 
• Naming, our intention to honor origin, lineage, societal context, and function of the works we will be engaging with. 
• Introductions: How did we arrive here?  What are we each wishing to build, personally and collectively, through this work/study/creation process? Introduce the beings we asked to be our guides (council).  
• Course Orienting: History of SAL, key learns from previous iterations of  SAL. What constitutes a “song”? What constitutes “wrighting” and “performing”? Review the definitions we will use in our lab.
• Overview of unit nodes: performance, research, council…overview of workgroups and how they support each week’s focus.
• Assigning First Work-groups: for songwright/research teams, our Teaching Fellows/Research Assistants share suggested collaboration teams (to ensure everyone has the opportunity to collaborate with each class-member).
• Final: There is not a final exam per se. The “TA DA” performance at the Music Center will serve as a culminating experience, and as with other aspects of course evaluation, the focus of evaluation will be on participant engagement in the processes that lead to this moment and reflections on the experience shared by the participants. 
• Poetry and Song diet: incorporating a well-rounded poetry and song diet into our song-creation practice. Listen to songs and read poetry as much as you can! (poetry of alllll kinds)
• We may not get this “right”! We will make mistakes. We may even unintentionally cause harm, and we can prepare to respond to that with understanding and grace: we are all learning. 
• Mind/motive-observation practice: I ask each of us to be in practice with some mind/motive-observation practice, or spiritual practice (10 min, 3x week – e.g., meditation, journaling, mindfulness walk, chanting, prayer, walks in nature, etc.). What are some resources we can rely on for regular self-guided check in with our own intention/motive within this work? Continually reminding ourselves that: this work is about serving a power (in the music and exchange with listeners) not about power-over (the listener, or our careers, or statuses, each other).
• SAL playlist(s): throughout the semester we will be growing a playlist (of other people’s songs), for our own studying and sharing. We will also create a semi-public playlist where our council members and co-learners can hear music written during the semester.  
• Abstain from use of phones, and non-essential devices during our lab time together: yeah.
• Questions?

Break

• Discussion: read and reflect on Suzanne’s Hanser’s offering around how we might engage with the concept of music and salutary potential – vs – prospects of music as “healing” and unpacking the complications with the word.
• Download at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W1w6Sz4Aoy5KxQsn2M0llzCGw6YZHnLH22AvReFLd_c/edit?tab=t.0

Home Devotion:

• All: read “View of The Field of Play” by Carolyn Kenny (30 minutes)
• Download at https://voices.no/index.php/voices/article/view/2245/2000
• Add one song to SAL playlist, with a note about how you personally engage with the song, and what you believe may be at work in the song. (20 minutes) 
• Contemplate what you wish you had a song for (10 minutes)

Day 2 songwrighting workshop /best practices for integrating research findings with council

esperanza leads group through a series of short songwrighting exercises, + tools to draw from throughout upcoming  songwrighting processes. Students will briefly engage with these exercises during class, take notes, ask questions, and prepare to utilize these exercises in support of their upcoming writing process.

• Council orients us to the process of studying and culling from various sources. Council shares best practices/guidance on how to distill and translate/integrate research findings into music, applicable elements songwrights can work with. 

Break

• Collaborative discussion: What are we inspired/curious to research and write songs for in the week to come?   We will discuss how the multi-person research teams read and reflect on the work. Each research-songwrighting work group will choose a therapeutic/supportive outcome to study/research,  then create and “administer” new songs in support of these outcomes.

Home Devotion:

Additional listening may be assigned based on in-class discussion.

• songwrights: find 3 examples of songs which embody an aspect of what we intend for our upcoming songs.
  • Include approach of delivery (of music) and identify 3 song-wrighting components to have on hand as reference for the songwrighting in the coming week.  

• researchers: read 3 relevant Cochrane articles (or excerpts/articles referred to by our council).
  • Identify elements which may be utilized and integrated by the songwrights to contribute to the therapeutic potential of their songs.  Add these findings/reviews/elements to SAL database. Be prepared to describe and share these findings in-class along with any relevant findings/components/ discoveries that can support, inform and be building blocks for the songwrights. 
  • Examples:
    • Can music interventions benefit people with cancer? https://www.cochrane.org/CD006911/GYNAECA_can-music-interventions-benefit-people-cancer
    • Can music interventions replace sedatives for reduction of preoperative anxiety? https://www.cochrane.org/CD006908/ANAESTH_can-music-interventions-replace-sedatives-for-reduction-of-preoperative-anxiety

• Can music and vocal interventions benefit preterm infants and their parents? https://www.cochrane.org/CD013472/NEONATAL_can-music-and-vocal-interventions-benefit-preterm-infants-and-their-parents 

Day 3 research shareback

• Researchers present findings from their research and how these  elements, delivery methods, etc.  may be applicable and most useful for the upcoming work of the songwrights. 

• All share their research findings with group, council share insight for how to devise measurement metric: 

Break

• Discussion: 
  • Discuss and explore this week’s readings in relation to our work ahead.
  • How are we tracking and acknowledging in our motive/process/method the fallible, shadow, wounded-aspect, and ego?

Home Devotion:

• songwrights: each songwright compose one 3 -5 minute song (or equivalent) incorporating the findings of their partner researchers. MUST BE UPLOADED TO LISTENING PLATFORM BY 11:59pm Sunday.

• researchers: devise a method for how to evaluate effect/impact of forthcoming song in a manner that is ethical, consensual, and relational (along with any other considerations framed by our council) with all peoples and traditions involved.

• all: 

• • prepare and distill any questions for our visiting council.  
  • add relevant, songs (pre-existing) to class-playlist.