Songwriting Club – Exercise #2: The Story of Place
Updated: Jul 24
Due Friday, August 7 and Friday, August 14, 2026 Aloha Songwriting Club!
As we all know, our theme for 2026 is centered around place. The places we love shape who we are. To help get us in the headspace to begin songwriting about place, we first need to ground in place. All good songs start with a story so here's your second assignment, enjoy it!
EXERCISE #2: The Story of Place
Part 1: A Story Of Place (Due Friday, August 7, 2026)
Write a story about a place that is meaningful to you.
Don't worry about writing lyrics yet. Instead, focus on telling the story.
Think about questions like:
Where is this place?
Why is it meaningful to you?
What happened there?
Who was with you?
What emotions do you connect with it?
What does it look, sound, smell, or feel like?
How has this place changed you?
Write as much or as little as you need. The goal is simply to capture the story behind the place.
Part 2: Leave A Comment on at least two other posts (Due Friday, August 14, 2026)
Great feedback can include:
What imagery stood out to you?
What emotions did you connect with?
What details made the story come alive?
What would you love to hear more about in a finished song?
Happy writing!
— Kala'e
Kapena School of Music & Creative Expression
My story begins just last Wednesday, when my Dad, brothers, and I got on a plane to Seattle. Our destination is Spokane, Washington. We're going up there for my cousin's wedding, and my dad's brother lives up there, so of course it would be nice to go to a wedding and see some family.
At first, I was reluctant to go, because I wanted to spend the rest of August in my bed listening to the radio. But I think it was good for me to go. Although, I was a baby the last time I was in Spokane, so I didn't really remember a lot. When we got there, it was cloudy and kind of cold. People said w…
PONDS
My story has to do with a very good friend of mine. We met in our eighth grade year during the track season, and right away we hit it off. The great thing was he only lived a block away, so we would drive home together and hang out all the time at each other’s houses. In our freshman year we really became close through our mutual love of track, lifting weights, discipline, and building ourselves to be better people.
That following spring we found out that he was moving away, and I was crushed. I thought for sure this friend would be ride or die, that we would go on to have so many more amazing adventures to…
Not on time but Never too late....
THE FARM
A place that holds a very special meaning in my life is my grandparents’ house on my mom’s side, Ka‘aha‘aina ‘Ohana, located in the Lualualei Homesteads. To me, it will always be known as “Papa’s Pig Farm” or simply, “The Farm.”
I was five years old when my mom and dad divorced, and my mom moved my siblings and me into my grandparents’ home. It was a difficult transition. We had gone from living in Ewa Beach, right near the ocean, surrounded by family, to living on my grandparents’ farm. Our old neighborhood felt like home. The street we lived on was even named after my family, Parish Drive. But my…
Nānākuli Beach has always been a place that I think of fondly. I used to take the kids there a lot when they were younger since we lived on that side and love spending time there for my birthday. I grew up paddling for Kailua Canoe Club and always looked forward to the Nānākuli race because I thought it was the most beautiful beach ever. The water was always so crystal clear and refreshing and I knew it wouldn't be filled with tourist. The races were so fun because instead of racing parallel to the beach, we raced straight towards the beach which gave us a chance to catch any bumps on our way in. Being out in the ocean…
One of my favorite places is Manoa, where my great aunty and uncle live. I chose this place because this house holds a lot of memories. I've been going since I was a baby, but my earliest memories are from when I was one. They have an old piano over 100 years old that belonged to my great uncle's dad and that they shipped to Hawai'i after his dad passed. Some early memories I have are banging on the keys when I was a baby. When I was younger, my auntie bought me a pull-back toy bus that I loved to play with. I remember pulling it back and letting it go, and then it would zoom forward so fast…