Creating Sticky Songs | By: Committee for Children Today’s blog is by Program Developer Mia Doces. How do you get concepts to “stick?” It’s one of the most important questions we program developers wrestle with when developing new materials. One very effective way to help people of all ages remember concepts is by putting them to music. Music helps a learner encode the content through the catchy lyrics and provides a context for later retrieval of that content through the melody. When we were searching for ways to help students remember the different social-emotional skill steps in the revised Second Step program, we looked back to our own childhood experiences. You’ll date yourself if you also remember every word to those ubiquitous Saturday morning interstitial standards known as Schoolhouse Rock. “Conjunction junction, what’s your function…” or “I’m just a bill…” were tunes that stuck in our heads like gum to a shoe. The “Preamble Song” even saved my bacon once during a particularly challenging fifth-grade social studies exam. We thought surely we could come up with educational songs that are also fun and catchy…songs that would really stick. We got to work and put together a west-coast team of remarkable talent. Emmy-award winning writer Lynn Brunelle (Bill Nye the Science Guy) worked with us to create catchy, engaging lyrics. Los Angeles composer Mike Greene pulled out all the stops to create lively, fun, and definitely sticky tunes. And Portland animator extraordinaire Chad Essley brought the music and lyrics to life under the art direction of the fabulous and multi-talented Bill Jarcho. But don’t take my word for it—check out samples of the new music videos yourself and see what you think. Teachers and counselors who have piloted the songs in their classrooms confirm that they definitely have the “sticky” factor, and that students are easily able to recall the steps for calming down and solving problems as a result. But it’s not just the kids. If you ever have the chance to visit Committee for Children at our offices in Seattle, don’t be surprised if as you walk the hallways you hear a chorus of “Walk, walk, walk, walk in their shoes….”