Suno

A week ago Saturday night, I had the opportunity to  hang out with an 88 year-old.

While riding to the house concert we were attending, we started talking about music.

He is a prolific lyric writer but does not feel comfortable putting music to his words.

He found an app called Suno that does what he cannot. 

After he played me one of the songs he had created, I downloaded the app.

You can put in your own melody, your own lyrics, or have the app make up a song completely based on your subject.

You tell it the style of music that you would like and give it a few other details and it creates a song!

I knew immediately that I could use the app at school.

 

Fast forward a few days, and I was trying to decide what song to play for the fifth graders as they left their promotion ceremony.

I thought to myself that it would be neat to make an original song.

Then, out of the blue, a simple lyric and melody popped into my head and less than an hour later, I had written the Greenwood Graduation song.

It is fun, quirky, moving, and unique to Greenwood, 

Full of words that my principal says each morning on the morning announcements.

 

I first recorded the melody on my voice recorder app and wrote the lyrics in my notes feature.

I then printed all of the lyrics and recorded the full song on my voice recorder.

I downloaded the song,

Uploaded it into Suno,

Told Suno that I wanted an upbeat inspirational pop song with a female voice,

And it created it!!

It was so cool!

 

I know.

There are ethical implications for this app.

AI demands a lot of the environment and computer generated art seems to take away from the creativity and need for the real work of artists.

But in this instance, when I needed a song fast, this tool was a Godsend! 

It took what I had to offer and made it better.

I used it as a tool,

Not as a replacement for my brain or creativity. 

 

And I think that’s the key: 

Using AI as a tool and resource 

rather than as a substitute for human thinking, emotion, and skill. 

 

Take a listen to the Greenwood Graduation Song and notice how it turned a simple melody and lyric set into a full song. 

The kids were dancing and having a blast as they were waiting to leave.

And my principal slowly recognized his own words, and it almost made him cry.

 

May we use our technological tools wisely

But not forget that our wisest investments are always in people.

 

Amen.