composition & improvisation
always knowing what is coming next, particularly if you hand the creative reins to the students. In my time as a general music and orchestra teacher, I have en- joyed putting student creativity at the core of my programs. It is amazing how dynamic classroom life becomes when uti- lizing the collective, creative brainpower of every student. Though the process may be productively noisy, when the pods of students share their pieces with the others, you can hear a pin drop. Students, having just co-created themselves, can’t wait to hear how others’ ideas have evolved from a common prompt. Their eyes and ears are wide open, and their feet and heads move to the music of another group’s groove. In that moment, they are connected not just within their own pod, but across the classroom through musical language, shared leadership, empathetic listening and devotional curiosity.
And the beautiful thing is that play by its very definition can morph, transform, and adapt to any environment – even in those, and especially in between those, tiny little boxes in our Zoom and Google class- rooms. Once we look at the environment as a potential playground for creativity, how far can our students stretch them- selves to redefine what might be possible? Are our digital boxes confining walls or wonderous wormholes into infinite spaces of possibility?
What if you gave this simple prompt: “Everyone hold hands with the people next to you.” Don’t say too much. Let them create how this could happen. What happens next? Laughter? Joy? Pondering? Puzzling? Experimenting and sharing ideas? Once they figure out how to virtu- ally hold hands, and everyone sees rows of classmates connected across the screen, there may be some gasps as our confining boxes are breached and community over- comes separation.
Might there be musical prompts that spark new kinds of playful interaction? What might those be? In this kind of glorious, collaborative, deep play, engagement is high, time is suspended, perceived boundaries are transcended, and young minds reimagine the world and how they interact with it. Their discoveries might just change how we see the world as well.
And so play, lightness and humor are inex- tricably woven with the sacred, profound and serious, each finding their meaning in the reflection of the other as they work together to allow all of us to become the ra- diant, creative beings we are meant to be.
Reference:
Diane Ackerman, Deep Play (Vintage, 2011), location 547 Kindle.
Leila Ramagopal Pertl teaches music education at Lawrence University. Email:
leila.r.pertl@
lawrence.edu
MARCH IS Learn about this year’s direction for Music In Our Schools Month® (MIOSM® ), as we focus on lessons for
fourth-graders that help them learn elements of music through some classic children’s songs in English and Spanish. The lessons and songs, however, can be shared at many levels. All are available without charge to teachers for their use during MIOSM and beyond.
Read about this year’s theme and the direction for Music In Our Schools Month in years to come; obtain lesson plans and other resources; and take part in the Biggest School Chorus in the World with American Young Voices by visiting
nafme.org/MIOSM.
Follow the hashtags #MIOSM and #MusicTheSoundOfMyHeart on Twitter and Instagram. Questions? Call 1-800-336-3768 or email
memberservices@nafme.org.
Wisconsin School Musician
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