Thursday, July 21, 2016

Reflection - Week 3

       The teaching of composition is very unique to me, mainly because of how students and adults alike can take so many different approaches to writing music.  Composing also yields many skills that are somewhat difficult to obtain in other capacities.  Creativity is at the heart of composition and that spark of creative thinking will allow students to really explore themselves and grow as individuals.  As a teacher, I agree with Bauer in regards to knowing one's students.  Teachers must effectively assess the skills and abilities of their students in order to properly plan lessons that adhere to each student's skill level.  Getting to know students and their limits is crucial when planning a lesson based around composition.  Of course, having a basic knowledge of musical notation can be helpful when composing but as Bauer pointed out, there are so many programs within today's technology that allow for both notational and non-notational composition.  Knowing how to read and write music is no longer a requirement when composing intricate and complex pieces of music, which is great for beginners!  Not only is it great for those who are just starting out in music, but it also benefits "The Other 80%," which Bauer refers to as the group of students who may not participate regularly in an ensemble-based music class (band, choir, and orchestra).  Non-notational composition software is perfect for young students, maybe K-4, but I believe around 4th or 5th grade, students should be learning about notation.  It often surprises me when I get a new student in my 7th grade concert band and that student will tell me that he/she never really learned how to read music.  This most likely means that this student was taught music by listening and by doing mostly ROTE activities.  While this may be great for audiation and developing a strong ear, it limits that student's ability to understand and decode music from a visual standpoint.  I always tell my band students that the ability to make music should be both an ear and eye endeavor.

       Setting boundaries and constraints when teaching composition is a fantastic way to develop growth and scaffolding within each lesson.  Students can and should build off of what they've previously learned so that they can move on to the next level or concept of music.  Technology can make this very simple, especially when a software program can set a limit on the number of measures in a composition!  For example, if a teacher wants to do a lesson on the blues, he/she can show the students 12-bar form.  However, within those 12 bars, the students can compose a melody or horn line on the first 4 measures, then the next 4, and then the final 4 measures.  By doing this, both students and teachers are progressing gradually through the composing process.  If the teacher told the students to go straight into composing a full 12-bar melody, they may have some difficulties with such a daunting task.  Breaking it down into smaller, 4-measure increments is a great example of setting constraints so as to promote student growth and development.  Taking it a step further, teachers can start delving into the chord progressions and showing students the different kinds of chords (I-IV-V) that coincide with traditional 12-bar blues.  Software that has immediate playback of student work can allow students to listen to their music and how it is growing as they improve their composing skills.  As students become better composers, the number of boundaries can be reduced, allowing for more creativity and expression among experienced student composers.

       Webster's (2003) multi-stage composing process should be essential knowledge for music educators.  Moving from one stage to the next (formative, craftsmanship, and expert stages, p. 62-63) shows that the involvement of the teacher should be lessened as the students become more independent and self-regulative.  In other words, in the beginning of this process the teacher will set a number of boundaries and he/she will give a good amount of feedback to the students.  Towards the end of the process, there will be fewer boundaries and students will have more freedom to critique their own work.  Some may argue that setting constraints can limit student creativity, which is why, according to Bauer, "There needs to be an appropriate balance between assigned constraints and freedom of choice" (p. 60).  I couldn't agree more with this statement.

       Audiation and thinking in sound (p. 65) should start as early as possible so that students can have a foundation for composing music.  This should also go hand-in-hand with learning notation as early as possible.  To me, reading and listening to music are equally important; they are pretty much two sides to the same coin.  Over the years, I've taught students who are brilliant with notation and they can sight-read a short etude within minutes!  However, their ear-training and listening skills are a bit limited.  On the other hand, I've also taught students who have astonishing listening skills but limited notation skills.  As their teacher, I must ensure that each student is improving in the area that they are limited in.  Technology can definitely assist me in this endeavor.  Just last year, I received an 8th grade transfer student who had great ears and her reading skills were fairly decent.  She came in only 4 weeks before our all-district concert in April.  The music we were preparing was quite challenging and I didn't want her to feel discouraged.  So for the first two weeks, I used MuseScore to write out a simplified version of her flute part.  She also stayed after school quite a bit to put in some extra practice time.  In week three, she got a slightly more challenging part.  Finally, in the fourth week, she got the actual part and stayed after multiple times before the concert.  She was very successful at the all-district concert and I was grateful that I had a software program where I can easily modify and alter parts to fit the level of my students.  When she asked me how I was getting these parts changed up, I showed her the software on my Chromebook and she immediately installed it on her school-provided Chromebook so she could write her own music!

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