Nashville songwriters help Pace Center for Girls students write their own song

There was a big blank blackboard and an hour later it was filled with beauty − words of struggle, hope, love and promise.

The words would make a strong, and powerful message to anyone dealing with hard, uncertain times, especially if those were put to a delicate melody. The at-risk students from the Pace Center for Girls Escambia-Santa Rosa have faced struggles, for sure. But they've also experienced the beauty life has offered. Maybe they could help put the lovely, sometimes sad, words on the board to music.

After all, they wrote them.

About 40 of the Pace girls participated in WSRE-TV and the Pensacola Beach Songwriters' Festival's "Lyrics of Light" songwriting workshop, held over three consecutive Fridays, with the final session having the students pen a song from scratch alongside two Nashville songwriters and recording artists − Teea Goans and Anne Buckle − who would assist the girls in conjuring up a song.

With acoustic guitar in hand, Buckle − a descendent of the founding family of country music, The Carter Family − began strumming a gentle melody.

"We're going to write a song together," Buckle said at the beginning of the session. "Raise your hand if you've written a song before."

A hand went up.

"Raise your hand if you like to write poetry."

A few more hands went up.

Soon, she and Goans were fetching ideas from the students in a classroom at Pensacola State College, which is located next to Pace Center for Girls Escambia-Santa Rosa branch, and the song was on.

The women asked the girls for topics.

Most were quiet, but finally one offered "life."

"What about life?" Buckle asked.

"How it can be a struggle," the student quietly whispered.

Then, another Nashville writer, Stefanie Buppert, wrote the idea on the big blank blackboard.

Slowly, the girls pitched a few more ideas.

"Life can be a struggle but you can get through it."

"Hard times don't last forever."

"I love that," Buckle said. "What are some more?"

Someone mentioned "the good moments in life" and a few minutes later, the girls decided they wanted a song that combined happy and sad sentiments. Because that's real life.

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The Pace girls know all about real life. Founded in 1985, the Pace Center for Girls is a program that educates, trains, counsels and advocates for girls and young women who have had significant troubles in school or at home.

As the session went on, more and more words and phrases went up on the board as the girls became more comfortable in the spotlight. Buckle and Goans strummed a melody and slowly the ideas built.

All of the ideas on the board stemmed from the Pace girls. The two professionals would help them arrange those words, ask the girls if a line sounded better this way or that way, and listen to every idea spit out.

Soon, they had a verse, and Buckle would sing the lyrics in a tender, organic voice, with both her and Goans strumming the tune along.

They worked on the chorus, then the bridge, and more and more girls would begin to voice their ideas − ideas about having someone with you to face life's challenges, about sticking with someone in life's hardest time.

Soon, the song was done.

"What do you think?" Buckle asked. "We wrote a song in an hour."

The girls smiled, they clapped and cheered.

Then, the women, with some of the girls singing along, played the song the girls titled "Thick & Thin":

"There are times when it feels like I'm broken

I can't get out from the pain that I'm in

and no matter how hard I keep trying the cycle keeps starting again

We will get up again and I'll push through the pain with you

You are there for me and I am there for you and we will stay and see it through

Because I love you

Through thick and thin we can do anything together

When I'm with you we can face the stormy weather

Don't run don't hide, we'll stay we'll fight, we might fall down but we won't stay down forever

Because I love you I love you

No matter what anyone says it's me and you no matter what happens next, I'll stay true"

Song credits: Pace Center for Girls Escambia-Santa Rosa, Anne Buckle, Teea Groans.

When the tune finished, the room cheered the song, a song of slight melancholy, a song of unyielding hope. It was happy and sad, just like they sought out.

WSRE's "Lyrics of Light" program began in 2019.

Some of the girls in the songwriting session were invited to attend and go backstage that evening for a taping of the WSRE's "StudioAmped," the PBS affiliate's concert performance series. The girls will attend StudioAmped's "Pensacola Beach Songwriting Festival" episode featuring performers Kensie Coppin, Jim McCormick and CJ Solar. The Pensacola Beach Songwriting Festival began Oct. 1 and ended Sunday and features more than 100 performers at numerous area venues.

Goans and Buckle are both Pensacola Beach Songwriters Festival performers, and WSRE's works with the festival to produce the three-week "Lyrics of Light" program.

"It's an honor for me to just be able to come out here and talk to them, and more importantly listen to them and their stories," Goans said of the session with the Pace girls. "We all need to be heard."

Buckle agreed.

"It's about the power of self-expression and teaching them that their opinions matter," she said.

The songwriting program is a strong tool to help the Pace girls express themselves, their hopes, desires and fears.

"It's a learning experience for all of our girls to be exposed to the arts and to music," said Ashley Donahoo, development director for Pace Center for Girls Escambia-Santa Rosa. "It's also a look at potential interests and hobbies and maybe potential jobs and careers. It's just a really positive program the girls enjoy it."

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Nashville songwriters help Pace Center for Girls students write their own song