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Students were given an opportunity to brainstorm their own ideas for a song, resulting in this song co-written by Perry and the students, which is about attending to and depending on one another.
Students were permitted to step outside traditional syntax when creating the chorus of this song because of its poetic power to convey the ideas of unity and individuality. To change it to grammatically correct form would have robbed it of much of its power.
Invisible was written for a class that was participating in a year-long philanthropy project designed to raise money and awareness for people in need. This song, written through the voice of a homeless person, was created to bring to life to the people who sometimes go unnoticed.
Perry Jones wrote Invisible to bring listeners together to share in an act of collective compassion
We all have dreams. This is a song that seeks to inspire listeners to have the courage to act on their dreams; even when they might seem impossible .
This song was written by Perry Jones as a model for student deconstruction, and as an example of how songwriters find inspiration
HARM CIRCLE
Harm Cirlce was used during a workshop at Columbia University's Teachers College: Transdisciplinary Teaching: Liftimg Our Ideas with Songwriting, to demonstrate how a song can be written from an existing text; in this particular instance a piece of journalism
CANTATA
This song, also used during the workshop at Teachers College, is an example of how a song can be created from a poem, and to help illustrate that while these two genres are very similar forms they also have elements uniquely their own.
Teenage hearts sing a song or resilience in the face of challenging circumstances.
A song of rebellion against the social pressure created by perceived hiearchies in the order of teen social groups and this group of songwriters' realization that they don't have to surrender to that.