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If you watched the Grammy Awards last weekend, you probably heard the name “Childish Gambino” thrown around like candy. Also known as Donald Glover (pictured below), his hit number one single, “This is America,” won the young actor and rap artist four Grammy awards, including Song of the Year. Gambino’s electrifying win highlights the vast potential of song as a popular medium for youth expression and social commentary. Drawing upon this tradition spanning across artists from Gambino to Bob Dylan, spouses Sara Nicholson and Ben Gammerman unite the rich history of political songwriting with the art of songwriting itself in their new ExCollege course Political Songwriting.
Nicholson and Gammerman, both songwriters with MFAs in Musical Theater Writing from New York University and years of experience in the theater community, strive to show students how to stimulate social discourse through the powerful lens of song. Based on initial skill evaluation, students pair off into lyric- and music-writing duos to accomplish a variety of songwriting assignments meant to address both a “political imperative but also a craft imperative.” For example, students can choose individual topics to write about from the news, but must layer their insights within a specific song type, like verse chorus.
Beginning last week, students take turns performing their songs in class, followed by a critique, discussion, and song lab. Yet, the critique is aimed less towards criticism than towards personal improvement. “We never say this is good or this is bad,” Gammerman said. “While there are definitely some craft elements that we are focusing on, we are not being overly prescriptive or judging whether someone’s work is to our taste or not. It’s overwhelmingly about the response in the room, and questions students have that we can help answer.”
Indeed, in a class comprised of students majoring in everything from architecture to chemical engineering and spanning all four class years, personal preference is of low priority when evaluating an original piece of music. As Nicholson points out, “I think a lot of people are bringing a lot of different voices and perspectives. Knowing what interests them and what inspires song is really fun to see.”
In the spirit of broadening perspectives, Nicholson and Gammerman recently presented students with an article by British professor, Simon Cross, whose writings on the purpose of political songwriting represent a controversial viewpoint for the class. “I think it will create very interesting discussion,” Nicholson mused. “I’m curious to see what the students will think of it, because we certainly don’t agree with everything that he is saying.”
But disagreement is certainly not a deterrent for the course. “We live in a divisive world,” Nicholson said. “While I don’t think that song has the power to convert the unconverted necessarily, it does have the power to unite people around a cause or a theme or an idea. Art has the power to access emotion and empathy in a way that other communication does not. We want to empower students to use their own voices...it’s not about being right or wrong, but about being able to express yourself. And if art is your medium, then we want them to know how to honor that and be able to do that wisely and well.”
The semester will culminate in a political cabaret, in which “every student will have a song performed live for an audience right here at Tufts.” While the exact date and venue are still up in the air, what will not change is the impact that the course will have upon the future songwriters in the class. “I know what it's like to be in this political climate as a 33-year-old, but I don’t know what it's like to be in this political climate as a 19-year-old,” Gammerman said on the importance of his and Nicholson’s course. “I’m probably quoting someone famous when I say that art is an empathy machine, and when you match empathy with politics, it can be very powerful.”
About the Author
Emma Hodgdon is a senior studying English literature. Apart from reading Gothic fiction, she can be found practicing cello for the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, or dancing with the university’s ballroom dance team. She spends her free time experimenting with calligraphy, learning to speak Chinese, and caring for her succulents, Verotchka and Geraldine.
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