Understanding History Through Songwriting

Course of Empire (Destruction) - Thomas Cole (1830)

Perhaps it's already been done, but what would be interesting is a history class that was based on songs written through the ages, which would correspond to actual history. The history of the recordings would be studied as well and perhaps people would write songs as class assignments and perform and record them. 

Each student would pick some part of history that interests them. The first part of the assignment would be to simply write the song based on your current knowledge. Then rewrites would be done after researching the events--editing the verses accordingly and adding verses.

Art history would also be included. For example, you can take a painting from the 1830s and write the song based on its history. Or writing songs influenced by your favorite (musical or visual art) artists and displace them in time, such as Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen, or Sting. It would all be based on actual, not mythologized histories, and it would be interesting and fun.

You could also do ironic covers/parodies--such as Sting's History Will Teach Us Nothing.

 6/12/2021