The Same Thing Project and the National Museum of Mental Health Project are offering an innovative college songwriting workshop with the aim of creating and spreading positive emotions and awareness on campuses in Worcester and beyond, with a recent launch event at Assumption University.
A relatively new concept, according to those involved, community songwriting is described as “discovering your voice, alongside others, to create words and music for shared experiences and emotions – everyone becomes a writer -composer”. No musical experience is required to participate, the events bring together people of all ages, abilities, backgrounds and careers.
The workshops, and the resulting Same Thing project, are about “finding common ground. We all breathe the same air, we all see, we all feel things,” said founder Mark Cutler, Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame inductee and solo artist who was also part of bands The Schemers and Raindogs.
Cutler created The Same Thing Project in 2016, after working with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Jim Wolpaw on a project about Ladd School, a residential institution for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Rhode Island that closed in 1994. Cutler, who at the time had quit his day job to pursue music and was looking for “something meaningful,” he said, was asked to write the film’s soundtrack.
“It was my first in-depth exposure to people with intellectual disabilities,” he said. “They are part of the community. … We have more in common with each other than differences.
Create songs together
Cutler began hosting free community songwriting workshops at the Outsider Collective in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, which still take place on Tuesday mornings. Free workshops allow people to come together to talk about life and think about song lyrics; at the end of the session, participants have a complete recorded song accompanied by music played by Cutler. They also share songwriting credit.
At workshops, everyone’s ideas are valued – sometimes the lyrics used in the song are exactly what someone came up with, and even if the lyrics aren’t used in their purest form, they inspire the end result. , Cutler said. “People come out of these workshops feeling better. I don’t know if ‘happiness’ is the word, but I know they leave feeling better than before,” he said. “Even though you didn’t make a statement, even though you didn’t say a word, your presence mattered. I believe everyone’s energy affects the environment.”
Some of the songs created in the workshops are recorded in the studio; 10 of the previous sessions appear on the album, “Walks of Life Collaborations”, which can be found on iTunes, Spotify and 75orLess Records. Cutler said he also recently received a grant to pursue a new recording of songs developed in the workshops.
Since founding The Same Thing Project, Cutler has led hundreds of songwriting sessions, primarily in Pawtucket, but also at a developmental disability camp, nursing homes, plazas and bands. of self-representation. “I would love to do it as a team building exercise,” he said. “I think it has value everywhere.”
Last year, The Same Thing Project partnered with the National Museum of Mental Health Project, a Milford-based nonprofit co-developed by Paul Piwko and 2019 Assumption graduate Alexandra Orlandi. After hearing talking about the workshops, and then having attended one in August 2021, Piwko was completely captivated by the events that took place and felt that the purpose of The Same Thing project would align with the National Museum’s mission to “strengthen mental health literacy through the arts nationwide by bringing the exhibition to you.
Cutler felt the same way, he recalled, saying, “I think they’re both fair programs, and it’s good to do something you believe in.”
“It was one of the most moving and important 90 minutes I’ve had in 2021,” Piwko said, adding how amazing it was to watch the community come together to create a song word by word. “In a world where everyone is looking at their cell phone for the next thing, it’s so rare to experience something where everyone is together. … There just aren’t many areas in society where people can come together and create something and get to know each other in the process.
Reaching middle school students
Since the collaboration formed between The Same Thing Project and the National Museum of Mental Health Project, the community songwriting experience now extends to college campuses. In March, Cutler was invited to lead a workshop at Dean College in Franklin, which over 20 students attended and wrote a song called “What’s Gonna Happen”.
Then, thanks to the work of the MBA students that Piwko previously taught, the idea for the Community Songwriting Tour for Mental Health emerged. Emily Taylor, an advisor for the National Museum of Mental Health and a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross last spring, played an important role in developing the wording for the definition of community songwriting used on the website and on the leaflets.
Eric Kane, a graduate student at Clark University and an intern for the National Museum of Mental Health Project, worked on development and outreach. Additionally, as part of Piwko’s Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship course at Assumption, two senior student interns, Zachary Khalady and Seth Bogoslofski, are working on plans to promote the tour to colleges in central Massachusetts and Connecticut. Although the semester ends in December, they will have created the plans for the next group of interns to continue the work, as the intention and goal is for the tour to remain developed by the students.
“I hope to see this project grow in the future for sure,” said Khallady, an economics student. He noted that similar songwriting events could also benefit high school students.
The tour’s first official stop was at Salon La Maison de l’Assomption, sponsored by the campus chapter of Active Minds, a national organization that works to raise awareness of mental health on college campuses. “I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said Anna Mullen, senior and president of Active Minds. “It was so much fun.”
When Cutler opened the session asking what everyone was thinking that night, one of the Active Minds board members replied “inflation,” which started the writing process. collaborative,” Mullen said. “We started to focus on hope, which is in line with Active Minds’ mission,” she said.
“We had a small group that was there, but it was more intimate. It was a more personal setting,” said Julie Sutherland, co-chair of Active Minds. “It was stimulating.”
By the end of the session, about an hour and a half later, the group of 14 had created a song called “Shaking Off the Fright”. Sutherland said she loved seeing the energy in the room, everyone building ideas, and Mullen added, “I was amazed at what we were able to do in such a short time.”
At the end, everyone was really excited about the event and the song they helped create, Cutler said. “It seemed like a great way to get to know your neighbor and get your neighbors to know you a little too. It’s also a positive way to show that we’re not alone,” he said.
Kane agreed, saying it was “really cool to see people who didn’t know each other brainstorm and do one thing. … I think everyone there contributed something.
Program ‘changed the direction of my life’
A communications major, Kane brought his guitar and was able to provide some of the background music for the song that was created. But beyond that, the event struck a chord with him. As an undergrad, he came to Clark to study economics and management, but soon realized he had no passion for this field. As he struggled with depression and anxiety, he eventually decided to take time off and then returned as a media, culture and arts specialist. “I still struggle with it, but it seems more manageable,” he said.
This focus on the arts, Kane said, “helps ground you in the present,” and he added that it “really changed the direction of my life.”
Now he makes handmade journals, plays the guitar, writes songs and dabbles in printmaking. “It has helped me so much, and having an outlet makes me realize that I love the arts and makes me realize how powerful the process can be. It helps me feel more calm and balanced,” Kane said. .
Likewise, the songwriting community project can help in a similar way, “especially in colleges, I think it’s a really good bridge for people who may never have felt connected to the musical arts. in a participatory way,” Kane said. “I think it can really open up a lot of people to parts of themselves that they weren’t open to.”
Mullen and Sutherland agreed, saying the session was beneficial in many ways to promote mental health awareness, as well as for students to come together, relax and have the opportunity to see their thoughts and feelings. could be shared by others.
“I think this event was really important to help break the stigma,” said Mullen, who added that they would like Cutler to come back in the spring for another songwriting session.
Kane, who said he likes working on the program from “the grassroots” because it’s a new initiative, would like to see it go mainstream. “Even though we’re more aware of (mental health) stigma as a society than before,” he said, “it doesn’t mean the job is done.”
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