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 my response in the comments section of the post but here (I include some publications in it that I don’t in this post) I want to make the point that I believe what we do in our K-12 music classrooms can play a significant role in this situation. While there is no guarantee that the integration of improvisation and composition throughout the years that a child is in public (or private) school will result in “creativity,” the more opportunities students have engaging in creative thinking, musical problem solving, and exploration through improvisation and composition, the more practice they will have in being creative musically. In addition, after years of engaging in composing and improvising it is less likely that students who do enter college music programs will be scared or reluctant to engage in these aspects of musicianship.
Luckily for music educators who do not have experience teaching improvisation and composing, more and more resources are becoming available each year. “The New Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning,” edited by Richard Colwell and Carol Richardson, has two chapters devoted to research in improvisation. The article “Improvisation Begins With Exploration” by Micah Volz in the Music Educators Journal, Vol. 92, No. 1 (Sep., 2005), pp. 50-53 is a great practical starting place for approaching improvising with your students. “Why and how to teach music composition: A new horizon for music education,” edited by Maud Hickey, offers excellent starting points for thinking about teaching composition and”Composition in the Classroom: A Tool for Teaching” by Jackie Wiggins is also a great practical guide for teachers who want composing to be a part of their classes. It is worth the time to peruse through issues of the Music Educators Journal and to look for related articles in our other professional journals for the latest thinking on improvising and composing in the music classroom.
Engaging in these forms of musicianship ourselves is also a very important aspect of having them be a part of our music classrooms. Why not ask some of your colleagues to stick around one day after school for a jam session or compose a piece for your students or a future faculty recital? Have you ever improvised with your students?
The question that Spiegelberg raises is an important one for the music education community.
What role do we as music educators play, regardless of the specific classes/ensembles we teach, in providing students with opportunities to improvise and compose? How do you “light the creative spark” in your students? How are our classrooms conducive to allowing those who already have sparks and more realize their own creative potential?
I found this post and the links included to be very useful. Composition and improvisation are important aspects of music education, and I would like to see them become more common in the K-12 schools.
I have Maud Hickey and Jackie Wiggins’ books and they have helped me a lot incorporate composition in my teaching. Every year, I do a composition unit with my instrumental students and they really enjoy it. Some of them even go home and download “Finale notepad” so that they can continue to compose at home!
Stephanie