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USE MUSIC TO INSPIRE WRITING

Weekly Challenges

INFORMATIVE AND EXPLANATORY WRITING

Exercise #5: Profile an artist in an imagined interview

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Read one of these interviews with musicians:

Khalid, the Teenager With 5 Grammy Nominations: ‘They Got It Right This Year’
Jay-Z and Dean Baquet, in Conversation
John Mayer Has More to Say: The Outtakes
Bruce Springsteen on Broadway: The Boss on His ‘First Real Job’
Adele on ‘25’: Song by Song
In Hip-Hop, Inspiration Arrived by Way of Kirk Franklin
Gwen Stefani on Spirituality, Insecurity, Pharrell and ‘Truth’

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What types of questions did the interviewer ask? What subjects did the two discuss? What questions were missing from the interview that you wish were asked?

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Next, choose your own musical artist to interview and profile. The following steps can guide students through the process:

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1. Do Your Research: To learn more about the artist you selected to interview, do an in-depth study of several song lyrics or an album, read published interviews with the artist, watch a video or listen to radio interviews to see how the artist speaks.

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2. Prepare Your Questions: Consider this artist’s particular music and biography. What more do you want to know about the artist and his or her music? What in the songs or videos you studied struck you that you would like to ask about? For more inspiration, our lesson plan “Beyond Question: Learning the Art of the Interview” provides additional advice on how to conduct good interviews.

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3. Conduct Your Imagined Interview: Based on your research of artists — their background, their music and the way they speak — imagine how they might respond to your questions. Be creative, but try to stay true to who the artist is. Alternatively, you could role-play the interview in partners, where one person is the interviewer and the other is the artist. It might be helpful to record the interview and take notes.

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4. Write Your Article: You may choose to write your interview in a question and answer format, or create a narrative.

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PERSUASIVE AND ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING

Exercise #4: Review an artist, album, or song

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Choose one of your favorite (or least favorite) artists or songs to practice writing passionately and knowledgeably about a subject. Or,  explore a genre of music you might not normally listen to and see what they can learn.

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CREATIVE AND NARRATIVE WRITING

Exercise #2: Pen your own song or rap. 

Write your own music about topics, events or themes you are studying in class.

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Here’s an example from Julien Turner, 20, who produced this music video called “XY Cell Life” for a college biology class. 

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For inspiration,  check out the Times “Diary of a Song” video series to see how songwriters and musicians like Zedd, Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber make hits. What stands out to them about these songs? What are the artists’ processes for making music? How do they write lyrics and sounds that resonate with an audience? How do they communicate content and emotion?

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You can simply write lyrics — like these students who wrote “Hamilton” hip-hop verses and these young people who summed up the year’s news in our annual “Year in Rap” challenge.

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Or, make your own music videos or recorded songs.

Exercise #1: Write a poem or story inspired by music

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  • Next, listen to your own song or playlist of choice and like Basquiat, write what you hear:

    • ​describe the images that come to mind;

    • name the feelings and thoughts triggered by the imagery and sounds in the music;

    • mimic the pacing and rhythm through word choice, sentence structure and line breaks;

    • borrow the words, phrases or lines that resonate most;

    • or build on a theme or message.

  • ​To take this exercise a step further, you might use what you wrote while listening to music to develop a short story or poem.

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