Living Composers and New Music for students

Composer Belinda Reynolds, a member of the common sense composers collective, is doing the kind of work I was thinking about when I posted about contemporary music and music education a couple of weeks ago. Her recent article on Newmusicbox “Writing Music for Young Players” offers a refreshing and promising perspective on the creation of original music for youth. It would be wonderful if her perspective became a trend (as it was at one point in the 60’s and 70’s) and music was commissioned on a regular basis for individual students and various types of ensembles in schools. Her commissioning project “Custom Made” is an interesting model that could be replicated by other composers and even university/college composition students beginning their careers. The potential for relationships and collaborative projects between school music programs and composers is exciting and could definitely invigorate music programs across the country!