A Song Club Session goes like this:
FIRST LISTEN
We’ll listen to the song once all the way through. You can dance, sing, stand, sway, sit—whatever floats your proverbial boat; we want our whole selves available to react to the first listen. After that, we’ll go around the circle and share out our first thoughts/reactions. Any observation goes! Little thoughts, half-baked thoughts.
SECOND LISTEN
Then, we’ll propose as a group a few things that we might want to listen for and we’ll listen to the song again. Let’s get beyond the like or dislike of this song. What is the song doing? It’s a fine balance of encouraging divergent opinions but also experiences, memories, stories.
THIRD LISTEN
This time around, anyone can say “stop” at any moment and pause the track so as to draw our collective attention to the section that prompted their thought or noticing. We’ll keep playing the “stop game” and keep close to the record (meaning, we’ll stick by the song and not just forget about it while talking). You can share things unrelated to what other people have said. Just jump in and start a new thread. I encourage you to consider using resources at your disposal (the Google Drive, the internet, paper and pens, drum, and so on) to go wherever y’all want to go as a group in the conversation.
FINALE
We’ll debrief our listening experiences over drinks and snacks.