The Advantages of Arranging/Composing for Music Educators By Timothy Beattie
Since I started arranging and composing music I have seen noticeable gains in my efficacy as a music educator. After reflecting on this fact, I believe I have discerned the reasons this occurred. The primary reason for this improvement was the better understanding of musical elements. The main elements of music that became clearer to me (and therefore my students) were form, priority of instrumental voices, and the technical concerns of specific instruments. It is because of these that I would like to encourage music educators to arrange or compose for their ensembles.
One of the first skills that can be honed by writing music is the ability to “chunk” the musical material. I have realized that there usually are not more than three or four musical ideas at once, and knowing this I can diagnose problems more quickly. This faster diagnosis helps keep the pace
of the rehearsal up which most music educators will agree is crucial to being efficient.
Once the separate musical ideas are seen more clearly, then you are able to prioritize (balance) the voices. Balancing the voices is also achieved through familiarity with timbre. Oftentimes I will tell students to write the name of the instrument, in their music, that they need to allow to dominate at that point in the music. Most of the time this works better than just
telling them to balance
repeatedly. I believe this is because the idea of balance can be a little too abstract for some students .
One of the last benefits of writing for your groups is gaining a better understanding of technical concerns. Testing my pieces out with my students has enlightened me to the fact of difficult fingerings, range
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Download the forms from the amea website:
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Click “AMEA Forms” from the menu on the left of the home page to find the following forms:
NAfME Membership Form Call for Sessions
Performance Application
AMEA Awards Nomination Forms FAME Registration
Young Composers Application 36 February/March 2012
- Timothy Beattie is the Assistant Band Director at Davidson High School in Mobile.
issues, and nonidiomatic patterns. Some of these concerns caused me to rewrite; while other parts I kept helped me to anticipate these technical concerns.
I understand that not everyone is a composer or has the time to arrange music, but I would highly encourage an occasional foray into this world. If you’re like me, you will come back to other music with “new ears”, and will also gain a better ability to create the ensemble sound you desire.
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