Sample Past Assignments/Summer Course Assignment Possibilities
Book Store Meet-Cute/Admired Lyric – Parts 1 and 2
(Relationships)
Students will be asked to craft a lyric concerning the premise of a meet-cute between two characters of their choosing, familiar from contemporary or classic fiction.
Students will then craft a lyric of this couple parting ways.
Discussion:
How did the authors treat the journey of experience of a relationship that is only a week old in their minds? What ground has been covered, how much time has passed between them? What are the differences in crafting voices of strangers meeting versus strangers who now have life experience together?
Café Incarnate
(Relationship Growth and Change)
Students will be asked to put seven reincarnated historic or popular figures in a contemporary café. They will then write a lyric based upon a created relationship between two or more of them.
Discussion:
Would the contemporary incarnation of George Washington pull up a chair next to Lady Godiva, Richard Nixon, or Bea Arthur? How does the reincarnated Jim Morrison feel about the impending birth of his first son? What if Eve is meeting Gloria Steinem for coffee and she’s late? What is the journey that these characters have taken, how would their traits change in a contemporary setting, and how would we as authors give voice to all of this?
Cows Don’t Snap their Fingers, but Technically Don’t Sing Either
(Animating the Inanimate)
Students will be asked to imbue an inanimate object or non-human with human traits and make them sing. How would polar bears articulate distress over their melted home? How does a lion prepare for a first date, and how would a blank piece of paper react to an impending hole punch?
Discussion:
In the process of animating heretofore inanimate objects, what human traits were conjured, and why? What rules were set up using reality and fantasy? What were the guidelines of acceptable behavior for what characters can and cannot do, and were they consistently applied? General discussion, if time allows, on the process and issues concerning writing for cartoons, puppets, and animation.
My Brother Joe
(Secondary Relationships – Environment)
During the class, students will be given 15-30 minutes to create a character based A-A-B-A lyric on the fly of their choosing. Their homework will then be to imagine a family for that character, and write a song based on their character’s brother Joe.
Discussion:
Until this assignment, we all have had collective knowledge based upon most characters discussed. Now we will discuss completely original characters and relationships. As every play creates a family, discussion will center around not only relationships between central characters, but secondary relationships that fuel the colors of characters created and voiced.
Let’s Get Specific
(Specificity, Expanded Points of View, Dexterity and Depth)
Students will be given a host of title possibilities, and then asked to go on as wild a tangent as they can, using what they have learned based upon my push for specifics. Hey will then be asked to create a lyric from the OPPOSITE point of view.
Discussion:
What surprised you about your own point of view? How does the effectiveness of writing against what you are feeling compare with writing an on the nose demonstration of feeling?
Song Placement
(Architecture, Environment, Storybuilding)
How does the verb affect the noun in character writing? Given the specific responsibilities of a lyric in a dramatic context, how do actions (I DO) affect state of being (I AM)? Is the song moment the I DO, I AM…or is it actually the I DO…AND THUS WHAT? A deeper discussion of song moments and proper placement will be had.
Friends with Words
(Collaboration)
Homework Discussion:
Students will be asked to collaborate on either an in-class or homework assignment. How was the random collaborative experience? How did adding a voice to your lyric writing affect your creative and productive process? In-class discussion will cover collaboration pitfalls, challenges and joys.