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March 11, 2011 JOHN PAUL SHARP
Songwriting is all about building, sampling and trading!
This modification of the classic game, Settlers of Catan, enhances new and veteran
songwriting students experiences by introducing basic contemporary song formsin a fun and unexpected, yet relatable way.
This article is
intended to empower
you to create your
own modification of
Settlers of Catan or
experiment with the
modification that I
created. You are freeto print out the visual materials provided in this
document and try it out yourself!
Three NeedsThe needs I established in my modification for
teaching a new learning domain are:
1. The game must be playable as a 2 player game.
Rationale: Songwriting is often most likely a one
or two-person process at most. Also, the amountof cards needed to build the new song formulas
require each player to control two of the four
available colors.
2. The game must be fun in the way that the
original game is fun. Rationale: Dont fix what
isnt broken! I wanted to find a learning domain
where I could teach fundamentals, but not require
a lot of additional rules in order to actively engage
the material with the students. Songwriting is a
great subject because the simple act of building
song parts is profound in and of itself.
3. Modifications must testable by others.
Rationale: Why leave the experiment to my ownshort time schedule? All modifications must be
printable and testable for others.
The AuthorJohn Paul Sharp is a
graduate student at
the School of
Education and
Human Development
at UCDenver,studying Information
and Learning
Technologies. He is
also a long-time songwriter and graduatedsumma
cum laude at the College of Arts and Media with a
B.S. in Vocal Performance. For more information, go
to www.johnpaulsharp.com
Songwriters of Catan
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Three Modifications1st, I had to modify the game so it could be played as a 2-player game. 2 nd, I had to
reskin the game. 3rd, I had to change the rules ever-so-slightly. Then I called it quits.
Modification One: 2 PlayerThe first option I tried was to have each player take turns controlling a
third player. Since my partner (Josu) and I are relatively new to playing
the board version of this game, we decided to try our 2-player
modification first, without trying to figure out of my reskin would be
effective. The biggest issue we had playing with this first option was that
we could not remember whose turn it was to manipulate the player.There were times when it was great fun to use the third player to create a
disadvantage for the opposing player, but we realized we had to take
trading with the third player out of the rules. After all, how can you trade
with someone who isnt there?
The other option was to have both of us control two colors each and take
cards for both colors at every roll. Josu felt very frustrated at having to
manage so many cards. I wasnt so much frustrated with the amount of
cards as I was with how long the game was taking.Turns seemed to take
even longer than normal and that became an issue when we first decidedto make the goal of the game to get 20 Song Points. We ended up
keeping the 10 Song Point objective. By forcing each player with 14 or
more cards to get rid of half of their cards when a player rolls a 7, we
were able to alleviate some of our frustrations with the second
modification.
Ultimately, I ended up going with the second option. I felt that the
learning curve for managing more cards was much more achievable than
trying to remember which turn was yours to manipulate a third player.
Also, because I would eventually be changing the formulas for how to
build the individual pieces, having more cards made it easier to build a
Basic Hit, Love Song or Masterpiece. I imagine that the game would
have gone much longer trying to win the game with half of the cards
available. Also, trading became a more effective mechanic in the game
when all the cards were going to just two players and not an imaginary
third. Overall, the second option is the best.
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Modification Two: ReskinI really struggled to choose a learning domain for
modifying Settlers. My biggest issue was trying to
figure out a way to keep the game fun but also be able
to teach real terms and concepts in something that I
teach: acting, singing, performing, songwriting. Itwasnt until I had a conversation with an old classmate
from my college days, who loves to play the original
game, that I realized what a great fit songwriting, or
song-building, would be for this game modification.
My friend suggested, Why dont you just build songs
with song parts?
This made me consider how I could translate the
resources into song parts.There are five basic parts of a
song and five resources! Perfect!
The basic hit was the first song form I thought of
because it already resembled what was called for to
build the original road. I had to get a little creative with
naming the other two song forms, as there are really no
names for them in the contemporary music world. I
figured that songs with bridges were usually love
songs. And most songs that had all the song parts I
called Masterpieces because usually these types of
songs you hear on the radio have a greater, grander feel.
Victory Point = Song Points, Victory Cards = Gigging CardsOne aesthetic change which is especially important is the new gigging cards. I chose various typical venues
that performing songwriters may find themselves in. The point of doing this was to show that the quickest way
to win as a songwriter is to get out in the real world and perform your songs to the people.
Progress & Special Cards = Music Business CardsInstead of drastically changing the rules of how the game works, I chose to reskin these types of cards by
introducing students to music business terms (i.e., sampler, copyright protection, prolific artist, record label,
publishing house). Because the craft of songwriting is truly a commodity-based art form, Settlers is especially
appropriate because of the trading, stealing and monopolization of song parts, or, more accurately, ideas.
Use of Terms & Questions to Encourage MetacognitionStarting questions are placed on each resource card to encourage students metacognition on what it means to
write, build and own songs. Players should be encouraged to explore why The Longest Road is called Record
Label! and why The Largest Army is called Publishing House! Why is the robber called a Sampler and what
does it mean to sample someone elses music to create your own? How does a songwriter own a piece of
music? These are all the types of questions that should be explored both before and after gameplay sessions.
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Modification Three: Rules
After play-testing the reskin, I realized that relabeling the resources were not enough to teach someone with no
songwriting experience the concept of song parts. Josu asked me during the middle of the game, So, verses
are the lyrics and choruses are when everyone sings, right? While his answers were correct, they were not the
correct terms being addressed in this game. This prompted me to change the rules to the extant that when a
player builds a Basic Hit, Love Song or Masterpiece, she or he must recite the order of the song formulas on the
Build Costs card.
When Josu built his first Masterpiece, he said, Intro/Ending when he placed his first card down. I asked himto tell me which part it was: intro or ending? At that point, the whole purpose of the game became clear to him.
In fact, he could recite the song formulas several hours after our last play-test. I felt this was one of the more
important achievements during the play-test.
Because the reskin and 2-player modifications were quite a bit to absorb, we eventually decided not to use Port
Trading in regard to the Seaframe Pieces discounts. Optional seaframes were still created to post onto the
original pieces in case players wanted to include the original port discount trading anyway.
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Modification ReflectionIf theres anything I can take away from this process, its this: the best way to bring innovation into teaching a
learning domain is to keep the method as simple as possible and to be patient. Modifying Settlers of Catan for
songwriting showed me that even the most fundamental lessons can be profound when introducing them
through game play. What would normally be a difficult discussion of describing song parts and song form to
someone with no previous songwriting knowledge becomes much easier and fun by playing Songwriters ofCatan. From my own experience in play-testing these modifications, I see how I have created a great starting
point, but there are still some flaws.
Recommended future modifications:
1. Other song forms could be recognized, explored and play-tested. Instead of taking a contemporary pop angle
to the story of this game, one could explore the more complex classical song forms through this format of
modification.
2. Further modifications to bring this game back to a 3- and 4- player game could be interesting to see if the
current song formulas are as easy to build. Would other song formulas work better, worse or just as well?
3. Are there other ways to change the rules without sacrificing the fun? In my own endeavor to modify this
game, I felt pretty strong on keeping the majority of the rules the same, but there are probably some minor
changes that could be made to more clearly incorporate songwriting lessons into the gameplay. This would
be another, more riskier place to experiment.
Recommended educational uses for this modification:
1. Students could be asked to examine relationships between various terms used throughout the reskin. Ask
students to consider why each new label or term was used in place of the originals. Help the studentsunderstand the modification itself.
2. Students could be asked to develop their years portfolio of music pieces by using the winners list of basic
hits, love songs and masterpieces as a guide for their own full-length album.
3. Generally, this could be a great icebreaking activity for first semester songwriting students, however the
amount of materials necessary to support a class of 20 would be 10 full games at the 2-player mod. This
specific mod would best be for small groups of songwriters and songwriting duos (whether thats teacher to
student or student to student).
Learning Objectives:
1. Teach songwriting students the basic fundamentals of contemporary song parts and song forms.
2. Inspire students and increase their self-efficacy in songwriting by showing how easy it is to put songs
together and trade parts back and forth.
3. Give students the opportunity to think about and explore the concepts of building songs with parts by having
them play this modified version ofSettlers of Catan.
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D.I.Y.! Print, Cut & TapeIf youd like to try this modification out for yourself, just print the rest of this document. The first page shows
you how the board looks and lists specific modifications with the # of pieces modified. Also, a small bulleted
list of the changed rules is listed under the spreadsheet.
The rest of the pages are the exact amount of art you need to print and cut out your own cardboard pieces or toprint them out on paper and tape them to yourSettlers of Catan board, like I did. The pieces are not going to be
the exact size of the pieces you have with the original game, but you should be able to work with them through
either method.
If you have any questions or comments about this modification or if youd like to share a modification youve
done, please feel free to write [email protected].
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RULES CHANGED: Players control two colors each.
When a 7 is rolled, players with 14 or more cards mustdiscard half of their resources.
Some inspirational cards give you more resources.
Players must recite all song formulas when building aBasic Hit, Love Song or Masterpiece and also mustidentify Intro and Ending in the correct order).
Port trading is optional.
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