Place-based Songwriting Methodology
This workshop, delivered virtually for the 2021 International Congress for Qualitative Inquiry, explains the method I use to engage stakeholders in creating songs about the places important to them.
Usually I am working with a group where all the members come from the same general area, such as the same town, county, or perhaps state. When all participants have the geographical area in common, it makes for lively conversation about the topics that rise up in the workshop. For example, one participant may express a view on a certain topic, while another participant may have a completely different take on the very same topic.
In this workshop, however, the methodology was used with participants from New Mexico, Alberta, Florida, Belgium, South Carolina, and Michigan. I was curious how it would go--how I would facilitate the discussion when participants were not in the same room (and all the potential technical challenges that might present), and had different experiences. From my perspective, the session went very well. None of the participants were songwriters, but each came away with ideas of how to incorporate this simple methodology into their work as qualitative researchers.