“Waabgon Mother Earth Song” – Part One: The Creation Process

Before you go any further, take a moment to listen to this beautiful tune entitled “Waabgon Mother Earth Song”, and soak in the words and the beautiful voices of the children from Waabgon Gamig First Nation School.  With support from myself and Hayley Williamson, as well as the educators at the school, the children wrote and performed this song.

Beautiful, right?!  I adore this song, and it’s been an honour to be a part of its creation.  I’m going to share more about this song in a two-part blog series.  The first I am sharing here today, and it will focus on the creation process we undertook.  The second I will share later this month, and it will be a reflection on what this song has taught me.  Okay, first the song creation process- let’s dive in!  

The songwriting process unfolds in so many different ways and always has a pinch of magic, if not heaps more.  I’m always keen to hear about how others write in groups, as there is an art to gently holding space and uplifting the voices and ideas of others, while also shaping the offerings into a song.  I find this is particularly true with youth, and it takes a thoughtful, gentle approach to support them in sharing their ideas and their voices, to honouring all of the contributions offered, and then bringing it all together to create a song.  In my experience, the process is as amazing, inspiring and fascinating. Today, I offer the experience of creating “Waabgon Mother Earth Song” to you, that it may spark your curiosity and perhaps inspire you to consider stepping into a songwriting process with the youth in your life.  

“Waagbon Mother Earth Song” took shape on the shores of Georgina Island, the land the Chippewas of Georgina Island call home.  Last June, I was invited by Hayley and her mom, Lauri Hoeg, to spend the morning on the beach with the kids.  Hayley, Lauri and I have collaborated a number of times over the years, and this was the first where I was coming to spend time in their community, rather than the other way around.  I was thrilled to pack up my guitar and head to the ferry and spend time with them.  

Hayley had let me know that she spends time drumming and singing with the kids at the school every Thursday, and they knew a number of songs.  I was keen to make our time together about all of us lifting our voices and sharing, and so we did a bit of a song swap.  I shared a song, and the kids brought out their drums and shared a song with me.  All of the kids, Kindergarten to Grade 5, sang and played, it was really quite beautiful.  

I then thought to step into the creative process with the kids, to explore the possibility of writing a song together.  I find simply asking children to share their ideas is a big ask, particularly if they don’t know me really well and if we haven’t done something to spark our creativity.  So I brought out some art supplies, and suggested that we create some watercolour pictures to tell the story of our connection with the land.  As the children painted in the shade of the trees, stories emerged as the kids. They started sharing while they were painting about what they love to be doing in nature- canoeing, looking up at the stars, looking for ladybugs…  As they shared their stories, I started to write down their words. 

One child offered the line, “the Earth is happy because we love the Earth”. This struck me as an overarching idea that brought all of these stories together, and I found a melody with my guitar.  We then worked to bring in the stories the children had shared, and the form of the song started to take shape with a simple rhyming scheme.  Hayley had her drum, and had the idea to include a beautiful chorus that brought in the children’s drumming.  A song was quickly emerging!

As the kids finished up their paintings, some picked up their drums, and we all continued to sing and play with our words and form until we felt the song was complete.  I remember we did a little phone recording of what we had created and realized that we weren’t too sure how to end it.  Working together, we found a way to include the sentiment that the kids wanted to include, which is that they ask that we please take care of Mother Earth.  We made another little recording to capture our creation, and I remember the feeling of ‘creation satisfaction’ in my body.  I can best describe ‘creation satisfaction’ as the energizing and yet peaceful warmth I feel in my body when a new song has been created, and I sure felt it then!  We had created something beautiful together!  I left on the ferry that afternoon aglow.

Hayley let me know that they sang the song for their families at the school graduation the following week, and at some point during the following school year, she let me know that they were continuing to sing the song quite regularly and that the kids loved it.  This made me so happy, and also made me wonder if we could continue collaborating together to make a special recording of the song.  And so, this Spring, I headed back to the ferry, this time with some recording gear in tow, and we spent an afternoon together to explore this idea.  

We gathered at the church, across the road from their school.  The educators chose this site as the acoustics are quite good.  I was SO impressed with all of the kids as we worked together to create a recording of the song.  All of us were in the same room, and the kids waited patiently and respectfully while everyone took their turn to sing with a partner into the microphone.  This is no small ask for anyone, especially a group of children in June! It was really something special.  Listening to the voices of the children as they sang along to each other’s recorded voices, I felt that same ‘creation satisfaction’ feeling grow in my body. Again, I left on the ferry aglow!

Wanting to turn the recording into a music video that we could share, the educators at the school supported the children in creating artwork to go with our recording and sent them along to me.  I took time to edit the recording and then put it with their visuals, and voila, we had created a beautiful music video together!  

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to do this work and to collaborate with Hayley and her mom and the children and educators at the school. I’m happy to have learned that the kids loved it and showed it to their families at their graduation again this year.  I hope they will carry the song for many years in their hearts, along with their memories of the creation process, so they might continue to sing and write many more tunes for our world to hear!

I hope you enjoy the tune and learning about the creation process we underwent. I’d love if you might share any words for the children about their creation, that I can pass along to them to let them know you are listening and appreciating their work! And if you have any comments about the creation process, please let me know. Perhaps you have a shared songwriting story to share, that I can learn from you?!

Thanks for taking in my words! I’ll offer a second part to this post, a reflection on what I’ve learned, later this month.

Warmly, Tiiu