A Song For Life & The Harlem Renaissance High School: Using My Influence

A Song For Life is proud to partner with Harlem Renaissance High School. Harlem Renaissance High, an alternative high school located in Harlem, New York, boasts illustrious alumni such as Dapper Dan and James Baldwin. A Song For Life is honored to continue this legacy of greatness with its current students by establishing our new #UsingMyInfluence music program. Our program is geared towards preparing students for careers in the music industry. From our Dapper Dan Guest Speaker series to songwriting, vocal, live performance and engineering & production workshops taught by industry professionals and ASFL artists, we encourage students to develop innovative musical ideas and envision new competitive music business models. Our goal is to provide students with a rich experience by exposing them to industry leaders & experts who they might not have access to otherwise. Students practice hands-on learning in our in-house, state of the art recording studio. Our studio is outfitted with 15 Macbook computers, loaded with Logic music software and keyboards. There is also a live recording room & vocal booth. There is a main production board that allows us to teach students to create and build musical compositions.

We offer credited English courses that ask students to analyze iconic artists that have used their influence to impact social change. These courses also prepare students for the New York State exams while encouraging the students to self-reflect and establish themselves as change agents. Students are taught to work collaboratively with one another as well as with the ASFL artist network.

Our English course, “Music’s Influence on Culture” examines music as an influential force in American culture. Together, we answer our essential questions: how does music influence societal values, popular culture trends, political awareness, and cultural outlooks? We examine how tone, lyrics, melody and rhyme impact listener emotions, and ultimately shape views and create societal shifts. Students complete a comparative analysis essay, an argumentative essay, and a final creative project. Our 12-week credited course breakdown is below:

Week 1: Reading & writing diagnostic examination

Week 2: Examining songs that influenced political change: Nina Simone, “Mississippi Goddamn” & Bob Dylan’s “Blowin in the Wind”

Week 3/4: Writing assignment #1-Writing & editing the Comparative Essay

Week 5: Examine songs that influenced character development, Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” & Bob Marley’s, “Redemption Song”

Week 6 & 7: Creative writing assignment-Write a song that influences mankind to change how she/he treats one another.

Week 8: Music & Sex and its influence on culture reading week one, Bing Crosby’s “Baby it’s Cold Outside & Patti LaBelle, “Lady Marmalade”

Week 9: Music & Sex and its influence on Culture reading week two, Bruno Mars, “Locked Out of Heaven” and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hot Girl Summer”

Week 10/11: Writing assignment #2- Writing & editing the Argumentative Essay.

Week 12: Socratic Seminar & Make-up Work

Comparative Essay: In this essay, students will compare how “Mississippi Goddamn” and “Blowing in the Wind” influenced cultural shifts in the minds of people and in American culture. Who are the artists that performed these songs? What motivated them to release them? Why did these songs become so successful? How did those songs influence culture at the time they were released? How do songs influence culture now, 50+ years after they were released?

Argumentative Essay: Students will have three essay question options to write an argumentative essay. Using four songs to argue issues surrounding how sex in music has evolved over time. Students will use songs from the past until the present to support their position and develop their argument and counterclaim.

Song Project: Students write a song that addresses mankind’s character and his/her handling of stereotypes, police brutality, immigration, gun violence as well as other social issues. Students are asked to include in their songs a character to influence how the audience should positively address the issue in their song. Songs should have 2 verses, a hook and a bridge. The verses should describe situations related to their chosen theme.