Running an Apocalypse Song Book Club (2hrs)

Materials and Equipment needed

Preparation

Research Apocalypse (Looking at the difference between pre and post apocalypse)

Choose some key songs

Practice playing your chosen 3x songs on an instrument

Create a playlist (example here https://open.spotify.com/user/1236085324/playlist/1JtAqu42B5s4lV0S8h8ag6)

Recommendations

Keep the pace up but not rushed.

Communicate through playing music and both your body and your words (use body language). Keep it playful. The point of the workshop is for people to communicate with each other and to enjoy the experience of discussing ideas.

Be sure to get a photo of the group and to see if anyone wants to write a blog post about their experience or to point them to where they can see yours and comment.

Further Learning

Apocalyptic songs:

Books and papers that discuss Apocalypse:

link to SLQ search.

Outline

Songs (Songs playing upon arrival) Mood is set with lighting, cushions, music playing from song list.

Who will be Present: Facilitator/co-facilitator /Co-ordinator (for pack up and pack down and evaluation)

INTRODUCTION

Give people time to arrive. Socialise. Grab a drink (water, juice etc) and snack.

Get started. Play a little tune on your musical instrument.

Welcome everyone to the first book club session at The Edge - not your ordinary one.

Introduce yourself.

Ask participants to share their names and past bookclub experiences.

Introduce the theme of Apocalypse: literal meaning “an uncovering” is a disclosure of knowledge or revelation. In religious contexts it is usually a disclosure of something hidden, “a vision of heavenly secrets that can make sense of earthly realities”.[1]

DISCUSSION

Get everyone to find a partner to discuss what apocalypse means to them.

Come back as a group.

Brainstorm further and unpack this big term.

Write them up somewhere in the space (The mood board?)

Pass around short snippets of song lyrics (for example: Where Have All The Flowers Gone, A Hard Rains A Gonna Fall, No Future - God Save The Queen and It's The End Of The World As We Know It). Participants guess who and what the song is.

Ask the question and break off into groups - Are there any that strike you as particularly profound or interesting?

Listen to a song that the facilitator plays live. Establish as a group who and what it is.

Break off - Have you listened to other songs by this songwriter or similar? Can you discern a similarity — in theme, mood — between them? Or are they completely different? SHARE

Offer participants the opportunity to chose a song for the group to listen to: (have device with Spotify available). Discuss as they are chosen.

Snack break (with swapping turn choosing songs)

One last song played by the facilitator

Break into groups to discuss. Does the song remind you of your own life? An event? A person — like a friend, family member, boss, co-worker?

Does anyone have any other songs or lyrics that are coming to mind?

Any new ideas or words to add to the mood board?

END