To Compose or Not to Compose

MU.A.3.2 states "The student reads and notates music."  That's a rather broad music standard for upper elementary students.  The art of musical composition is filled with all sorts of intricacies that must be understood before this task can be attempted, much less, accomplished. 

To begin, one must have an understanding of how music is put together.  One must have a working knowledge of music notation (how to read the symbols and what the symbols mean), how to lay it out on a piece of staff paper, voicings, range, meter, key signatures....the list goes on and on.  One can be easily overwhelmed when your teacher says, "O.K. class, now you are going to compose a piece of music.  Here is the rubric.  You have 20 minutes.  I will perform your piece on the piano at the end of class."  Some students are paralyzed by this assignment; others take it and run with it.  The ones that take it and run are those students who have had private music study outside the classroom.  I have found that piano students make the best composers, especially when these compositional skills are just emerging.

On a whim, I decided to challenge my 5th graders with a compositional assignment at the conclusion of a unit of study on melody.  I created a rubric that set up the parameters for their composition:

• Your composition must be four measures long.
• Your key signature is C-major (no sharps/no flats)
• Your time signature is Common Time (4/4)
• You will need to set up your paper before you begin (bar lines, time signature, double-bar lines at the end of the fourth measure; save space for a title on the top staff)
• Your composition must begin on C, move to G in measure 2; begin on G in measure 3 and end on C in measure 4
• You may use whole, half, quarter and eighth notes and their respective rests
• Your piece must have a title

I thought this task was simple enough (I wrote a sample piece for them in 60-seconds).  I had no idea whether or not they could accomplish this task, but I was determined to let them try.

We began the process by reviewing the notes on the staff and playing a spelling game using the seven letters of the music alphabet (A-G).

composition set-up on the left; spelling words on the right

This is the word "baggage" spelled  using the music alphabet.

After 15 minutes of review, I turned them loose in the back of the classroom to work in small groups for 20 minutes.  I moved from group to group to offer any suggestions and scribe for those who needed my assistance putting the notation down on the staff paper.

At the end of class, I performed each group's piece of music on the piano. 

Several groups followed the rubric perfectly; others used "artistic license" to create that which sounded good to them.  Some were paralyzed and required much oversight; others were happy trying to do the assignment on their own with little input from me.  It was definitely an enriching and multi-level creative experience for all.

"Beach Breeze" by Terrell, Aaron and James

Titles by other students:   "A Night on the Caribbean," "Jamaican Cruise," "Element," "Swaying of the Palms," "Smooth Melody," "Rain Drops," and "Ocean Waves"

Until next time...