Songwriting Residencies
stories & outcomes
News articles have captured some of the songs, discoveries and memorable moments created during Thad’s school residencies.
“…a week with Thad Beach is more than music.
It’s history and education put to verse.”
In between entertaining performances with Chicken Joe [the limberjack],
a handful of corny jokes and songs featuring a washboard,
a week with Thad Beach is more than music.
It’s history and education put to verse.
[…]the lesson was about El Cuartelejo at Lake Scott State Park, which is
recognized nationally as the northernmost Native American pueblo in North America.
“When we were brainstorming, El Cuartelejo was one of the ideas. A lot of kids were familiar with it because of a cardboard pueblo project they do in [fifth grade]” said Beach.
Scott City Record article excerpt by Rod Haxton, used with permission September 26, 2024
“While I’ve done this a few times, this is the first time these kids have done it,”
[Beach] points out.
“It’s always fun to go through the process – the creativity, the brainstorming and finding rhymes. It’s similar from year to year, but then it’s never the same.”
“It’s truly a collaborative effort involving nearly 60 students.”
The first step is to establish a rhyme pattern. After that comes the verse which will need at least two words that rhyme.
“This encourages the creative process of revising and writing. We’ll see pretty good ideas get erased and replaced with something better,” Beach notes.
He refers to the process as a track relay as one class hands the song off to the next and then the next during the day.
“One class may have written the first verse and the next class will work on the second verse. Or the next class may look at the verse that’s already been written and come up with revisions,” Beach says. “Everybody knows that’s part of the process. The goal is to keep making it better.”
Scott City Record article excerpt by Rod Haxton, used with permission September 28, 2028
“Everytime you learn something you go ‘wow’ and then you learn something else and you go ‘wow’ again,” Beach said. […] she was connected to so many fascinating people and so much history.”
Testimonials and Reviews
