Application Exemplars. Historical Landmark Books

This second section features several writings that include practical strategies for teaching composition to beginning learners and are selected to be matches for the changing landscape of music pedagogy today. Historical books from the latter twentieth century are included, followed by recent publications of major significance.

Historical Landmark Books. The noted Canadian composer, writer, and educator, R. Murray Schafer, had a passion for teaching music. Starting in 1965, Schafer began writing short “booklets” that captured that passion. Five were created, published separately, then pulled together in a combined volume in 1976 that is referenced here (Schafer, 1976). Growing up in school, Schafer described his personal experience with formal music education as a troubled one; the set of teaching strategies and suggested approaches found in these booklets presumably might have been preferred. For example, the first booklet, The Composer in the Classroom, is based on dialogs Schafer had with elementary and secondary students on topics like music’s definition, what a composer does, and how music is formed. The author described experiments with sounds played by the students to encourage discussions and used music improvisational exercises like strategies used by lecturer/ writer Nachmanovitch (1990) today.

Another booklet experimented with Ear Cleaning exercises that were Shafer’s approach to aural skills. Music elements such as melody, silence, texture, and timbre were used in experiments and complete “soundscape” compositions were created. In the booklet, When Words Sing, experiments with vocal sounds are described in some detail, together with graphic scores of created compositions. Consciousness of the sonic landscape was stressed. The collection of booklets ends with a set of statements about music education reimagined. Fifty years later, these readings still feel fresh and stimulating.

Books by (Paynter & Aston, 1970) and (Paynter, 1992) revealed wisdom about music and its teaching by way of creative thinking in sound . They share Schafer’s approach to project description and graphic displays. Paynter and Aston were college teaching colleagues and developed Sound and Silence as an extension of their beliefs as educators. A conceptual introduction is followed by 36 projects sequenced by difficulty and based on contemporary music of the time. They are designed for learners at a variety of levels, and many involve found objects in nature. For example, Project 11 starts with the isolation of a found object in nature, a study of its structure, a drawing of the object, and its instantiation in sound with attention to patterns; collaborative work is encouraged and a musical score of some sort was expected. Study of others’ music that follow a similar approach was encouraged. The authors held sacred the interaction of sound and silence:

It is in ways like this, developed over several lesson periods, that we would aim to give children and young people a genuine experience of what music is really about; to help them feel its expressive power and enable them to use it to say something. (Paynter & Aston, 1970, p. 23)

Paynter’s second book (Paynter, 1992), some 20 years later, upped the ante a bit in terms of complexity and is organized around 16 projects with multiple parts and a set of concluding teaching points. One of the interesting aspects of many projects in each book was the use of a concrete object and its design to organize a composition. A favorite from Sound and Structure is Project 8, which uses the structure of a pyramid as a focus of design “ . . . by putting musical sounds together that resembles as closely as possible the way in which stones were put together to make the ancient Egyptian pyramids” (p. 97). A building up of complex textures is imagined, perhaps by using cornerstones as guides and filling in the rest layer by layer. Can the layers be made to sound different but still be perceived as related layers? Might there be something to be done with the layers to support a volcanic eruption through the layers? Paynter relies on the imagination to fathom a kind of implied motion—a sense of movement in time but in a restricted space. These ideas are presented as starting points for structure and are not meant to be programmatic renderings of what a pyramid might sound like per se. The student is really creating a kind of private grammar of sounds and textures in an effort to create a personal voice. Again, the technical is married to an imaginative spark of uniqueness. Interestingly, traditional notation is used often to demonstrate how this might be crafted—a difference between Schafer and Paynter

Modern Landmark Books. The 21st century began in a strong way for exemplars that inspire composition pedagogy. Hickey’s important collection of writings (Hickey, 2003) celebrated a gathering of national and international scholars on the topic of why and how to teach music composition. In terms of foundational work, M. Barrett’s opening chapter (M. Barrett, 2003) on children’s meaning-making through composition is predictive of Burnard’s (2011) work. Moore’s chapter (Moore, 2003) on the nature of style and the music experience and the turn to the world of digital realizations of music underscores the vignettes of teachers and student vignettes portrayed in the opening of the current chapter. Hickey’s own chapter (2003) in this edited edition adds perspectives to Amabile’s componen- tial model of creativity and its relation to composition in schools; Hickey’s conceptual scheme for musical composition curriculum, endorsement of consensual assessment, and sequential notions for teaching composition would appear again in the author’s important 2012 book (Hickey, 2012). Espeland and Wiggins offered chapters on composition processes featuring models¹¹ important to consider. Espeland also noted the importance of considering children’s composition processes as not always identical with those of adults and Wiggins¹² underscored the vital importance of social context. Stauffer and Gromko each provided glimpses into the importance of student voice in composition and provide exemplars for student engagement. Finally, the chapters contributed by Webster, Stephens, Reese, and Younker represented an important collection of exemplars on how teachers might best assess student composition in order to encourage growth.

The work of the writing team of Kaschub and Smith, taken separately and together, represents an impressive number of exemplars for composition pedagogy. Minds on Music Composition for Creative and Critical Thinking (Kaschub & Smith, 2009) is noted here because of its blending of conceptual frames and examples for practical application organized by level of instruction. Many of the conceptual bases explained elsewhere in this chapter are found in the first two parts of this book in expanded form and many newer ones added. Sections on preparing for composing and composing communities were both notable.

Beginning with Part III, several exemplars for working with various levels of education were presented. Sample lessons were proposed and accompanying etudes for teachers in preparation or in-service were included. Touchpoint summaries were used as well as teaching scenarios. In suggesting lessons, a balance was made between prescriptive versus vague descriptions. Much is left to the creative teacher to craft approaches that fit student and teacher circumstances. The last chapter focused on the establishment of a unified composition program in schools that continues in an organized way across grades.

Designed with a similar intent to Kaschub and Smith, Hickey (2012) offered support of composition pedagogy with an “Issues” chapter that should be required reading for all those interested in this topic. Presented were reasons for open versus closed composition assignments, group versus individual composition, traditional notation versus less traditional, and practical approaches to technology use and assessment. Composition in ensembles was celebrated. What followed are chapters on listening and exploration of sound with suggested activities such as the use of listening journals. A special approach using an innovative curriculum model was also included.

A chapter on getting started with composition with various prompts that draw on learners’ music experiences provided moving and genuine circumstances for why one writes music. Examples of activities were offered that touch on related arts, soundscapes, personal memories, and many more. A concluding chapter also offered a composition program across grades as an essential core of the music program.

A few years later, two volumes were published that offered a treasure trove of exemplars for band, orchestra, and choir (Randles & Stringham, 2013; Kerchner, Strand, & DiOrio, 2016). Over 40 lessons across both books are portrayed and documented by nationally known researchers and teachers. The editors chose introductory, conceptual chapters with multiple references that set the stage for coming applications. All sample lessons are clearly described, and all come from real practice in today’s school ensembles.

Riley (2016) documented composition activities internationally. Students from China, Ireland, Mexico and the United States were represented improvising and composing music deeply influenced by their own social contexts. Children interviewed and observed creating underscored the notions of cooperative learning and community music-making. The author introduced the children and their imaginations—planning, making, refining, and presenting their music. Concluding chapters contextualized the children’s work and provide powerful exemplars that fit well for written standards in many countries.

Considered as a whole, the exemplars on application noted here are remarkable. From the early writings of Schafer and Paynter to the most current publications by Hickey, Kaschub, and Smith, and Randles and colleagues, the case has never been stronger for developing composition pedagogies in PreK-12 education.