Contributions to Music Education Vol. 47 (2022) - An Unmarked Puzzle Box - High School Students Navigating Creative Experiences Through Songwriting

Oct 15, 2026

Instrumental case study documents how high school students in a songwriting course experience creativity, composition, and performance over one semester. Ten students in grades 10–12 create original songs, practice keyboard and ukulele accompaniment, and present songs in class and at a coffee shop. Data from observations, interviews, focus group, student journals, and songwriting artifacts illuminate students’ decision-making. Findings emphasize how intersections between musical backgrounds, learning processes, negotiation of songwriting, and collaborative episodes support self-actualization and responsive collaboration, informing creativity-focused school offerings and musical autonomy.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages23

Reading Time58 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Contributions to Music Education

Creativity as a component of holistic music education

Calls to reexamine musicianship in school settings

Capturing Songwriting Experiences

Contributions to Music Education Vol. 47 (2022), pp. 37-59. Dennis P. giotta Southeast Local School District nathan B. Kruse Case Western Reserve University “An Unmarked Puzzle Box”: High School Students Navigating Creative Experiences Through Songwriting The purpose of this instrumental case study was to chronicle high school students’ creative experiences in a songwriting course . Ten students in Grades 10-12 composed original songs, learned to accompany themselves on keyboard and ‘ukulele, and performed their songs in class and at a coffee shop . Data sources consisted of classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, a focus group interview, student journal reflections, and songwriting artifacts, which provided insight into students’ decision-making over the course of one semester . Of particular interest were the intersections between students’ musical backgrounds and interests, and the learning processes they navigated while developing and performing songs . Overall, participants’ continual negotiation of the songwriting process led to heightened self-actualization and responsive collaboration . Students highlighted musical goals, personal struggles, and collaborative episodes as meaningful turning points throughout the songwriting process . Implications include exploring creativityfocused school music offerings and promoting musical autonomy among students and teachers . Keywords: composition, creativity, popular music, songwriting Introduction Three students surround a keyboard at the far end of the repurposed health classroom – their songwriting space. Samantha, the girl in the middle, employs the help of herfriends to place the finishing touches on “I Worked Till 8,”a song about her weekend. Sean sits at the keyboard, staring blankly ahead Contributions to Music Education as he ponders variations of her three-chord song; first as block chords, then as repeated notes, then finally as arpeggios. Pam stands like a voice coach to Samantha’s right, mouthing along and gesturing at the lyrics sheet. Pam instructs the songwriter to vary her melody without changing the lyrics. The students try to identify the best key for the song before the bell rings. Creativity is an inherent component of a holistic music education. Students who engage in singing or playing activities have an opportunity to experiment with musical sounds, expressivity, and imagination; however, there have been continued calls to reexamine the ways in which teachers and students approach musicianship in school settings (Abramo & Reynolds, 2015; Adams, 2016; Colquhoun, 2019; National Association for Music Education, 2021; Running, 2008; Webster, 2016) . Hickey and Webster (2001) argued that defining creativity can be problematic, given the breadth of musicianship that encompasses creative thinking. For example, aside from performance itself, being musical can involve a host of skills in composition (Hickey, 2012; Kaschub & Smith, 2013; Kennedy, 2002; Kerchner & Strand, 2016; Menard, 2015; Stringham, 2016), improvisation (Hickey, 2009), songwriting (Fautley, 2005; Tobias, 2015; Tracy, 2018), music technology (Giotta, 2015; Tobias, 2012), and critical listening and analysis (Green, 2008). Additionally, musical creativity generally has fallen into process-oriented, product-oriented, and performance-oriented methods (Running, 2008), which have logical applications to in-school and out-of-school contexts (Kratus, 2007) . Vernacular and informal modes of learning music (Folkestad, 2006; Green, 2002, 2008; Powell et al., 2015; Randles, 2019; Tobias, 2013; Woody & Lehmann, 2010) also have received greater attention as the music teaching profession continues to interrogate issues of accessibility to music (Webster, 2016), out-of-school music interests ( Jaffurs, 2004; Kratus, 2007; Tobias, 2015), therapeutic benefits of musical creativity (Riley, 2012), and lifelong music enjoyment (Adams, 2016; Kratus, 2016) . Songwriting is one activi

FAQs

What was the goal of the instrumental case study?

To chronicle high school students’ creative experiences in a songwriting course and document how they navigated composing and performing over one semester.

What data sources were used to understand students’ songwriting experiences?

Classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, a focus group interview, student journal reflections, and songwriting artifacts.

What did the study identify as meaningful outcomes of the songwriting process?

Ongoing negotiation of songwriting increased self-actualization and enabled responsive collaboration, with students citing musical goals, personal struggles, and collaborative episodes as turning points.

Oct 15, 2026

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