Journal of Pedagogic Development Volume 7, Issue 3 The Songwriting Coalface: Where Multiple Intelligences Collide Clive Harrison, Australian Institute of Music, Sydney, Australia Contact:
[email protected] Abstract This paper investigates pedagogy around songwriting professional practice. Particular focus is given to the multiple intelligence theory of Howard Gardner as a lens through which to view songwriting practice, referenced to recent songwriting‐specific research (e.g. McIntyre, Bennett). Songwriting education provides some unique challenges; firstly, due to the qualitative nature of assessment and the complex and multi‐faceted nature of skills necessary (lyric writing, composing, recording, and performing), and secondly, in some less‐tangible capacities beneficial to the songwriter (creative skills, and nuanced choice‐making). From the perspective of songwriting education, Gardner’s MI theory provides a ‘useful fiction’ (his term) for knowledge transfer in the domain, especially (and for this researcher, surprisingly) in naturalistic intelligence. Keywords: Songwriting, multiple intelligences, creativity, higher education Introduction From a research perspective, we do not seek a scientific theory of songwriting, for there exists no single, perfect, repeatable answer to the question of how to write a song. What is needed is a synthesis of objective scientific analyses, combined with an appreciation of the subjective nature of song and its reception by an audience, in order to understand and educate students of songwriting. Bennett usefully identifies song in terms of lyric, melody and chords (2011), a traditional perspective which distinguishes between the melody as sung and the chords (harmony) that serve to provide context for that melody. Stepping beyond that traditional perspective and recognising the important role of song recording‐as‐ text, rather than score‐as‐text, any definition of song must reflect the changing emphasis away from melody and towards rhythmic elements, and the shifting influence of producers.