Teachers' Corner

Name Composition
Theme & Variation
Forward March
Creature Feature

Teaching Music through Composition

Several years ago, I went back to a public classroom to teach music. For months I struggled to teach the basics to 20 second-graders who had virtually no background in music and who were not thrilled to be “beginners.” These children, raised on a diet of television, movie, and video game sound tracks, felt that I had nothing of interest to offer them. At the end of the year, and about at the end of my rope, I gave the students a composition project based on a composing trick I had learned in high school. To my great surprise, my teaching headaches were suddenly over. The chance to make and perform their own melodies magically transformed these reluctant dragons into kids eager to learn the fundamentals I had been trying so hard to get across. Music became a very cool thing to do!

My goal in using a composition-based teaching method has never been to turn elementary students into composers, but rather to introduce music fundamentals--tonal and rhythm patterns, the staff, notation--and build real music skills--reading and performing music on instruments, developing aural acuity. This approach is similar to that of many contemporary language arts methods, where students practice the rudiments of grammar and punctuation by writing original stories and poems. In the following booklets, I share material that has helped me create a stimulating, skills-based environment in the elementary music classroom. These packets introduce children to the important “nuts and bolts” of the music discipline by giving them the opportunity to apply the basics immediately to what they love most--playing instruments and creating their own music. I hope that you will find the activities described in these booklets interesting and substantial, and that they will aid in bringing out the special music genie in each of your students. I hope, too, that you will have occasion to hear from your students words that have been music to my ears: “That was a lot of fun!”

Composition Units can be used in several ways to enhance learning in a class or private setting.The instructor can

	Follow lesson plans and do guided composition project at end with students.
	Pick and choose individual activities of interest in the Games, Guided Listening, Ensemble, or Tonal and Rhythm Skills sections.
	Use the composition project in a private setting with beginning instrumentalists to break up lessons and introduce music theory. Student and teacher work through Student Workbook together and go through the steps for writing the composition. The student learns to play the original composition on his/her instrument.

Composition Units:

What's in a Name?

Recommended for 2nd - 3rd graders. Students learn about the treble clef staff and the names of the lines and spaces. They learn to recognize and write eighth, quarter, half, and whole notes and how to fit the appropriate number of counts in measures with a given time signature. Students become familiar with famous works written for a specific person, for example "Fur Elise" by Beethoven. the final composition project is a short melodic line--a musical "coat of arms"--that students create based on the music letters in their names.
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Forward, March!

Recommended for 2nd - 3rd graders. Students learn to recognize, perform, and write simple rhythm patterns in 2/4 as well as simple tonal patterns that move by step. Many movement and listening activities to famous marches are available to enhance students' familiarity and and enjoyment of this mode. Students use their writing skills to create an 8-bar march of their own.
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Theme and Variation

Recommended for 3rd - 4th graders.
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Creature Feature

Recommended for 3rd - 5th graders.
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Composition Unit Structure

Each composition unit includes a Teacher's Guide and a Student Workbook. Teachers may pick and choose activities from the various sections in the Teacher's Guide to complement their own goals, or may follow the step-by-step lesson plans.

The Teacher's Guide contains the following sections:

	Tonal and Rhythm Patterns -- This section provides suggestions for introducing the staff, written notation, measures and time signatures, as well as a basic vocabulary of tonal and rhythm patterns. The tonal and rhythm patterns introduced in each unit occur frequently in music and can be used by students for their compositions.
	Games -- Fun ways for students to practice rhythm and tonal patterns, learn about the staff, and gain ensemble skills.
	Guided Listening -- These lessons expose children to a classical repertoire and develop listening skills while reinforcing concepts such as form, dynamics, meter, and tempo.
	Ensembles -- Themes from the classical repertoire are arranged for tonal bar, glockenspiel, or recorder class ensembles. Teacher's parts as well as optional percussion parts and simple accompaniments are included.
	Lesson Plans -- Detailed lesson suggestions (typically between 6-12 weeks, depending on the unit) incorporate all of the above sections and culminate in a melodic composition that students create.

The Student Workbook (Composer Packet) provides short exercises that drill writing rhythm and tonal patterns. Each unit has special staves where students write their original compositions. Workbooks can be purchased for a minimal cost OR downloaded at no cost in electronic form with purchase or 1 Student/Teacher set.

*Note that each unit is completely self-contained, and does not assume prior knowledge of music on part of the students. Some of the material is, therefore, duplicated in each unit.