Composition in the classroom should be scaffolded and modeled in a way that supports students to experiment and create music.
Creating a "Baby Steps" resource aims at providing students with an accessible way into the world of composition through the inclusion of models, scaffolds and interactive resources. Composition transforms from a scary, foreign concept, to a gradual process experienced through many different modes, and levels.
For the subject "Composition in Music Education" at the Sydney Conservatorium this semester I am creating a resource that helps students to start the composition process. A new Australian work "Light for the First Time" by Bree van Reyk will be used as a model and its composition processes will be broken down and transformed into small bite-sized steps for a stage 5 student.
I am going to use three elements of Bree's work as a way for students to get started with their own composition;
1. Thematic element/inspirational concept for the work
2. Chosen pitch set for work
3. Chance composition to create melodic content (Aleatoric element)
Personally, I find composing easier when I am working towards a specific concept or storyline as this attaches a personal vision and understanding of the musical content. It helps to get students thinking about how they could represent their chosen concept through the music rather than working from a blank mind and not having an idea for the piece's direction.
Choosing a pitch set at least at the start of the composition process, helps to control the melodic and harmonic content created. Giving students the chance to listen to different modes and choosing one that they likes still gives them autonomy over their work but also enables them to create in a "safe space" and limits the sense of "wrong notes". However, once students are further into the composition process, removing this limitation will allow students to explore tonality further.
Using chance composition to create melodic material is an interesting and relaxed way of encouraging students to start composing. It takes the pressure off of them and minimises the terror that some experience by seeing a blank page in front of them. By scaffolding a slightly random way of creating material, composing a melody can become fun. This can be purely a way to get them started as students still make choices about rhythmic elements and have space to develop their ideas later on. Students could also use chance composition to create more musical material and feature that in their work.
Hopefully my resource will give students some musical elements to consider while also adding a personal understanding to the work and therefore creating their own meaning for their learning.
Stay tuned to see how I go!
Composition in Music Education Baby Steps Task - Reflection 1