INNOVATIVE USE OF MUSIC IN SOCIAL WORK: LYRICS REWRITING IN FIELDWORK PLACEMENT WORKSHOPS
Cultivating the creativity of social work students is becoming essential in contemporary social work education due to the variability and cultural diversity of human services in Hong Kong. Music, as a form of creative arts, can foster students' creativity. Lyrics rewriting can be an initiative in integrating music into social work education in practice so as to nurture students' creativity. Experiences of facilitating two different fieldwork placement workshops in a social work sub-degree programme using individual and collective lyrics rewriting activities are described. The students, most of whom had no formal musical training, rewrote the lyrics of Cantopop songs; various themes, scenarios and messages were expressed as a result. The practice wisdom of encouraging the creativity of students in the classroom is discussed.