Personal Musicianship Project

For the remainder of the school year, you are going to be working on a music project. The
purpose of this project is to explore your musical interests. There are so many different ways to
engage with music, whether it’s singing, dancing, composing, arranging, critiquing… and more!
Select one of the projects below that interests you and submit your selection to me via email or
Google Classroom by ​Friday, April 17th.

★ Write an ​original​ song

○ This includes lyrics, an original tune, and at least 3 verses with a chorus between
them.
○ If you already know how to play an instrument to accompany your song, such as
piano, guitar, or ukulele, include chords
○ You will need to record yourself singing this song
★ Create an ​original​ instrument
○ It cannot be an instrument that already exists
○ It must produce pitches, not just sounds (no maracas! Get creative!)
○ You will need to record yourself performing on your instrument
★ Write a song parody
○ This means changing ALL the lyrics of a song to be about something else,
typically for the purpose of humor. (Write a song about coronavirus)
○ You will need to record yourself singing your song along with a karaoke backing
track
★ Perform an arrangement of a song on an instrument
○ This must be a NEW song, not one you learned a year ago
○ It needs to be the ​entire​ song, not just a small section of Havana
○ You have to already have this instrument in your house
○ You will need to record yourself performing this song
★ Create a soundtrack of your life
○ Make a list of moments in your life that have shaped who you are, what you
believe, or how you view the world. (The day you were born, winning an
important competition, or a vacation you took)
○ Choose your favorite 8 events and list them in chronological order (year order).
○ Assign each event a song that relates to the event. Could be about how you felt,
or just about the activity itself.
○ Write a paragraph explaining your song choices and how they represent your
life.
○ Design an album cover for your playlist and list the songs on the back.
★ Critique an album
○ Listen to an album of your choosing.
○ Write or record yourself talking about your favorite & least favorite songs. Why
didn’t you like them? Why did you enjoy some? What instruments did you hear?
What were the lyrics about?
○ What were some highlights? What could they do better? BE SPECIFIC
★ Learn a new instrument
○ MUST be an instrument you already own that you’ve never played before
○ You will use Youtube tutorials and your awesome music teacher (me!) to teach
you
○ You will have to record yourself playing an entire song on this instrument
★ Create a movie soundtrack on Garageband
○ I will send you a silent video clip. You will use garageband loops to create music
that communicates the mood of the scene (you must identify the mood and
explain how your music communicates this mood)
○ You can also add sound effects by recording sounds from your house
○ MUST have access to a school computer
★ Plan and perform a radio show
○ You will plan out a half-hour radio show, complete with: music, commercials,
interview, entertainment news, etc.
○ You will have to make an audio recording of your show
★ Create a dance
○ Select a song and choreograph dance movements to the entire song
○ The movements should reflect the form of the song (meaning the movements to
the chorus should be the same each time. Think of our “Eye of the Tiger” dance)
○ You will need you do a video recording of yourself performing your dance
★ Research a music genre (rap, country, blues, rock, etc)
○ Select a genre to research
○ Create a presentation detailing: how, where and when it began, samples of the
genre (recordings), famous singers/bands within that genre, and your own
thoughts about this music