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composing

Open scores and music students: An invitation to compose from Jason Freeman

The New York Times has a fantastic section called “The Score,” which features composers discussing their music, process, and various issues related to composition. Jason Freeman, a composer and assistant professor at the Center for Music Technology at Georgia Tech, recently wrote about the use of open scores as a springboard for creating music. In his post he mentions the small percentage of adults who continue playing music and speculates that even less compose music. When viewed through the prism… Read More »Open scores and music students: An invitation to compose from Jason Freeman

Practicing, Composing, & Thinking Creatively in Music

Dave Douglas recently posted a thought provoking email from one of his readers raising questions about practicing, composing, and thinking creatively in music. Both the post and the comments are worth reading and thinking about. While the email deals with a university context it could easily be applied to public school music programs. The lingering questions I’m left with are: “To what extent do we provide opportunities for our students to think creatively in/with music? And for instrumental programs: How… Read More »Practicing, Composing, & Thinking Creatively in Music

2009 Arizona Music Educators Association In-Service (Conference)

I just returned from the 2009 Arizona Music Educators Association In-Service (conference). I had a great time attending sessions, and meeting many wonderful people. At the conference it was announced that MENC has started the following petition, available online: Be it resolved that we, the undersigned, agree that all Americans should work to enhance and support music education in our nation’s schools. To that end, we call on the U.S. Department of Education and all American leaders to: • Mandate… Read More »2009 Arizona Music Educators Association In-Service (Conference)

Creating Ringtones

I always enjoyed having my students create ringtones and discuss the musical ideas they came up with and decisions they made. One of the aspects of the process I focused on was how to compose music for such a short amount of time. Robert Voisey wrote about this topic in an interesting article at New Music Box in 2004 asking, “How short can a composition get?” He mentions composers ranging from Chopin to John Zorn. For those of you who… Read More »Creating Ringtones

Reluctant composers & Sparking student creativity

Anytime I hear about a music class, whether in K-12 schools or the university level, that makes use of improvisation and composition I get excited. I was happy to read Scott Spiegelberg’s recent post “Teaching Creativity” (via his excellent “Musical Perceptions” blog). At the end of his post he asks the following question regarding students who are “scared or reluctant” about a composition project: “So, how do you light the creative spark in these types of students?” You can read… Read More »Reluctant composers & Sparking student creativity