Last week I did a brief interview with one of the songwriting groups at my current school- Colegio Marin in Buenos Aires. Here's what Bruno, Lorena, and Gonzalo had to say.

Tom: Tell me about the song that you are working on right now. Where are you at in your process?

Lorena: We need to work on the lyrics. The rhymes.

Bruno: Yeah, it is difficult to find rhymes for us, but for now we have the chords and melody- like a verse, pre-chorus, and chorus, but now we are kind of stuck....

Lorena: We need to finish it. It is too long and we are trying to find a part to end it.

Gonzalo: We can do it!

Tom: What is the mood of your song? What is it about?

Lorena: I think it it joyful. You are enjoying life, because even though you might feel lost sometimes, your friends are there to help you.

Bruno: We started out with a totally different mood, it was sad, but we changed some of the chords from minor to major and now we like it a little better

Why is it important to have music in schools?

Gonzalo: It is a form to express many of your feelings.

Lorena: You can use your hands or your voice to express something that is inside of you, to get it out.

Bruno: It is different. It is not like a class. I mean, you are learning something, but it is from what you are doing.

Lorena: I think the best part is that (with songwriting) you don't get punished for what you are doing, because there is no good or bad, only different. It's great.

The students at Marin will continue finishing up their songs this week to prepare for a performance on Saturday, and to record a rough demo next week. Next week each student will also have a chance to reflect on their strengths as musicians, and plan some goals to take their music to the next level.