This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
the phrase. Eventually, we intertwine three or more strips held at each end by a student, and make moving tensile structures, pulling the fabric for the length of the phrase. (I use Enya’s “Marble Halls”, and have to give credit to David Frego, who uses pantyhose legs, for the tensile idea). In their first compositions, I explain that students may initially wish to ‘square out’ the phrases (4 lines of 8 measures), as it likely will help their group stay together. If their melody is not ‘square’, that’s perfectly fine; the important element is that their group hangs together. Students are always free to complete an assignment any way they choose. They simply have to show understanding of the composition technique by creating a composition that successfully uses that technique.


SCHEDULE I choose to see my 5th


grade students


once, rather than twice, a week because they need a longer chunk of time for the process of composing. I advise them to chunk their time into thirds: 1/3 exploration/improvisation; 1/3 setting their piece (choosing melodies and organizing who will play which part) ; and 1/3 rehearsing the piece. At the start of a class on a composing week my sequence is: (1) reiterate the assignment, (2) choose their groups, (3) assign their ‘composing station’, several of which are outside of my classroom, and (4) take instruments (generally Orff pitched percussion) and compose for about 35 – 40 minutes.


MAKING GROUPS


My process for creating groups has changed over the years. I started with letting students choose their own groups and have moved to making them myself, on the spot, each week. I have found that diversity within a group creates a better piece of music, particularly in the final composition. I have also found that groups of ‘friends’ bickered as much or more as groups of students I put together.


Also, I was very uncomfortable


with the exclusivity some students showed in making groups. The matter was clinched when two boys who had had frequent behavior issues said to me, “We like when you make our groups. We work with people we wouldn’t work with otherwise.”


SHARING THEIR COMPOSITIONS


I pull the students together at the end of a composing session and each group shares their piece. The first thing we do as a class is applaud. Then I always ask the question, “Did they do the assignment?” The rest of the class ponders, responds, and progressively demonstrates deeper and more accurate perception. If that group did not succeed in ‘doing the assignment’, we tweak or make suggestions for how to make their composition more successful. We may try many different things: different mallets, doubling a melody, changing instrumentation, getting all to ‘groove’ to the pulse, or I may jump in and offer a melody or complete an incomplete phrase---whatever ‘fixes’ the piece. Sometimes we hear extraordinary music that isn’t the assignment. We acknowledge it, praise the music, and think what we would need to change. Overall, the sharing time is hugely rich in terms of learning. We have the opportunity to review scales and modes, look at unusual combinations of bars on the Orff instruments, note instrument choices, and stress and demonstrate how important it is for the entire group to groove to the underlying pulse. We can dissect what makes a good melody or a good piece.


CHALLENGES


The greatest difficulty students have in composition is finishing their composition within the time frame. Incomplete or shaky compositions are almost never a lack of musical ideas; the issue is interpersonal dynamics issues, including flexing enough for consensus decision-making. But the students know that they are going to come in and share their compositions with the rest of the class. They do not want to come in without an intact composition! They quickly learn to be flexible and make the decisions necessary during their work time so that they do not embarrass themselves during sharing time. Since a composition is the students’ creation, they can not ‘blame the teacher’ for an unsuccessful composition. This shift away from the authoritarian classroom model is what makes previously defiant behavior change. There are students who have deep difficulty working with others, and I have learned to ‘’check in more often to the group(s) with


a student who has that issue. But it becomes progressively more obvious what exactly is the issue: that student’s behavior. The fun and joy of creating compositions encourages students to work co-operatively with others. I do my best to try to get around to every group during work time and make suggestions if necessary, as success feels good!


Composition is not without its pitfalls. Creativity can be chaotic. Sometimes I need to better prepare or present an activity for greater success. Having and clearly defining parameters is critical. Sometimes an activity does not bear repeating. Some groups bicker so much that forward progress on completing the assignment is greatly impeded. I do annual surveys with my 5th


graders,


asking them whatever questions I am curious about that year. I have learned a lot from them, with the greatest learning being that, notwithstanding any issues, the opportunity to create with music has been fun, and a joy filled with learning.


OTHER ACTIVITIES


I encourage teachers to try composing with their students; any activity of creation is a form of composition. These activities can begin with the youngest students and need not take more than one class period. For instance, when working on ‘sol-mi-la’ sight-reading with my 1st


graders on a Friday afternoon this


year, we wrote an impromptu song. The students chose a topic (people), wrote a verse of four short lines, and suggested and chose different combinations of magnetic ‘s-m-l’s magnets’. We sang the song and put motions to it; the 1st graders loved it. I think manipulating the ‘s-m-la’s’ magnets to get the melody they wanted helped students understand and enjoy solfege more. A mini-assignment with 4th


patterns to the ostinato rhythm at the beginning of the 2nd Beethoven’s 7th


symphony. An easy,


30-minute activity is creating vocal ‘shape compositions’, with students’ voices making sounds for whatever shapes they write on their ‘score’. This is an effective way to get students to reach into their ‘head voice’. Two assignments with lower elementary students that took several class periods but were notably


continued 17


graders was making movement movement of


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29