Projects and Possibilities for Future Creators and Their Teachers

When asked about suggestions they might have for young people who are creating music or their teachers, all twelve composers expressed gratitude for past and present music educators and offered the following ideas in that spirit.

John Adair elaborated on ideas for elementary and secondary ensembles:

At the elementary school level, if the kids are playing a tune together with their instruments, even on a recorder, say, “Hey, do you want to make up a different melody?” Then help them get that melody into a place where it can be repeated reliably so it’s actually a thing. Then work with them. Ask them, “Okay, if you’re doing this and Emily is playing the glockenspiel, what do you think Emily should play along with your melody? When do you think she should play?”

Those kinds of experiences could happen in middle school too. It’s vitally important to have spontaneity and encourage them to express themselves, and there’s huge value in collaborative music-making. So break up the band into smaller ensembles and let them be creative within those ensembles, even if it’s at an arranging or orchestrating level. What happens if you do an arrangement of a Mozart string quartet for a four-piece woodwind ensemble? What happens if the parts get flipped? What if the flute does the clarinet part? Flip that around so they can start to have that creating experience.

In high school, where they are more specialized and skilled, do projects. Break them into smaller ensembles. Take a piece of music that interests them so that they’re working with the stuff they’re actually listening to and that they love. Maybe one ensemble is working on a jazz composition, maybe another one is doing a hip-hop piece, maybe another one is doing Southern fried rock and roll. Whatever it is, charge each group with pulling it apart, dissecting it, just like they do in science class with a frog. Figure out how it’s built. Why does it work? What about it makes it work? What happens if you do it at a slower tempo? What happens if you do it at a much faster tempo? What happens if you change the key? What happens if you add a singer? How do you talk to each other to accomplish what it is that you want to accomplish? In pulling it apart, they’re understanding innately how it’s built. By the end of the term, the goal would be to build their own piece in a way that is informed by what they learned from pulling apart the composition that was the focus of their study.

Peter Bernstein pointed to the value of imitating other composers and focused listening:

Start out creating something that is like something you’ve heard before, and then do something with it to take it to another level or another place. It’s great to get into another composer’s head, learn what they did, and then make it your own. And then, really learn how to hear. In other words, you might hear a kick drum and a snare drum doing something, but just because you’ve heard them doesn’t mean you’ve really heard what they are. What are they doing? What makes them good and unique? Close is okay, but figure out what’s really going on, which requires conscious listening.

Steven Bryant challenged instrumental ensemble teachers to listen to students and engage their interests:

If somebody loves to lay down beats on their laptop but they also play trombone in the band, do something with that. Yes, I understand, there’s limited rehearsal time, but have them bring it in. Have it played through the sound system and have the band improvise over it. Find a way to meld those worlds. Band does not need to sound like band has always sounded. Orchestra does not need to sound like orchestra always has. None of that really matters. We’re not going to destroy the canon. There’s no danger. Playing and expanding the boundaries of what music can mean is so much more engaging. And the kids, I imagine, will be on fire. If I were a band director, I would do that. Probably we would never compete, but we would play together all the time.

Connor Chee also focused on identifying student interests and asking questions:

Find out what students want as a starting point. They might want to write songs or do singer-songwriter-type things, or they might want to compose for an orchestra or a movie. Identify what it is that they like most or what drew them in. From there, encourage them to listen to more music or watch music performances that are similar to what interests them. If one of my students was to say, “I want to start composing for movies,” then I’d ask, “What are some of your favorite movie scores? Bring me some of your favorites and let’s talk about them” That gets them excited, and once they have that starting point, it’s a much more natural conversation about what to do next.

Miriam Cutler also emphasized excitement and the fundamental value of exploration and play:

You know what the most important thing is? Excitement. One of the most amazing experiences I ever had was opening up my new clarinet and smelling it. I’m not kidding. Every time I picked up a different instrument, I wanted to play it. I still get excited when I see real instruments. So have kids play more instruments early on instead of trying to become virtuosic at one of them. Don’t limit them when they’re young, because the excitement is so raw for kids. Have kids touch instruments and make noise on them and see which one feels like them. They will pick one or two or maybe three. They’ll find their own thing, and maybe some of them will go, “Man, this guitar is really cool. I really like the computer. What happens if I play guitar and use computer sounds?” Give them all the options. It teaches them to see the world.

Steve Hampton advocated for technology and for finding one’s place as learner and creator:

For a kid who wants to be a composer, the resources are unending. Think of something you want to learn, then do a Google search on it and find the YouTube video that shows you how. All those resources are an amazing opportunity for students, and they’re doing that anyway. Then, if you choose to study music in college, choose a place that fits how you are musically. And obviously, whether it’s old school or new school, develop your abilities. If you’re in the tech end of things, great, you’ve got to learn everything. If you’re a violinist, great, you’ve got to practice. Raw talent blended with all this new technology and resources makes for a very powerful opportunity. If you’re teaching, you’ve got to be comfortable with that and try to incorporate it into your method.

Jennifer Jolley emphasized improvisation:

Encourage improvisation in every class and ensemble. As my friend (composer) Omar Thomas says, we’re not talking about capital “I” improvising at the Blue Note with a spotlight. We’re talking about little ditties and incorporating improvisation in different ways, such as adding notes or rearranging familiar tunes. I understand there’s a curriculum and there’s a lot going on, but improvisation teaches listening, you’re learning about music, and you’re creating music in real time.

Anne McGinty argued for student composers to be heard:

Have their music played. Not criticized—played, and then talk about it. How do you feel? Does this work for you? Are there finger problems? What kind of instrumentation is it? Good feedback can help. Negative feedback can destroy them and the whole idea. If they’ve got a piano around, work with that, or a guitar, or a synthesizer, or a flute—whatever they’ve got. Or just sing.

Jessie Montgomery emphasized collaboration and honoring the journey of discovery:

Give them projects to do. I might say, “Find your cello friend, and write something for them. Get your friend to help you with the notation and ask you questions about what you wrote. And then let me know how it goes.” Then do it again with a violinist or a flutist. And make sure there are opportunities for the kids to work in groups. I like the idea of instilling early on that composing can be a collaborative experience.

The act of composing and sharing ideas about music back and forth is something that can enhance their experience. Ask them to imagine a portfolio of their works. What would you put in that portfolio? And remember that in composition, unlike learning an instrument, there are no wrong answers. The student is on a journey of discovering their own music. Think about it as walking with them as they make their mistakes. Take a mentorship approach. I would say that’s fundamental.

Daniel Bernard Roumain offered a three-part strategy for encouraging young creators, and a three-island metaphor for teachers:

When a kid says, “I want to be a composer,” I say three things. The first is, “I agree with you. I think it’s fantastic. I think you can do it. I think you will do it. I want to help you, and if I was 10 years old right now, here’s what I would do.” It’s not just positive reinforcement, it’s I agree. I’m trying to reinforce their choice and partner with them. Then they know they’re not alone. Second, if they want to be like another composer, I say, “You should listen to all of their music and should learn everything you can about them—where they were born, where they grew up. Listen and learn. Then share that with the people you love—your parents, your family, your dog.” I’m challenging them to get into the research and go deep. The third thing is, “You start creating your own scores, your own music, your own tracks, if you’re not doing that already. Use your phone. Make your own movie and then create your music to it. Dive into that pool of creativity and keep going. Falter through. If you have a teacher, share it with your teacher. Just start" It’s about affirmation of their choice, it’s about biography and research, and it’s about the actualization of their creative practice. Don’t wait. Do it.

For teachers, the analogy I would use is, you’re trying to build bridges between three islands. The first island is their island. What are they listening to? What are they wearing? What is their cultural practice—the totality of it? Every one of your students has their own island. Then, what’s my island? This is what I’m listening to, this is what I like. Once that is shared—not exchanged yet, just shared—the bridge starts to happen. Then, third, where can we go together? What are all the things that are in common between our musics? They’re going to say things we can’t imagine. I’ve been in a class and played a minute of Bach and a minute of Eminem and asked, “Okay, what are the differences?" Easy. “What do they share in common?” It’s incredible. Nine times out of ten they start to realize there’s far more in common between those two composers than differences. That’s the bridge building I’m talking about, and that’s so exciting.

Mari Esabel Valverde spoke directly to students:

If you have a piece of music inside of you, do your best to get it out. Write the whole thing. Try getting it on staff paper. You don’t have to have all the answers. Just try. And then, get somebody to do your music, perform your music. It’s so validating and so important, no matter what. Do that as early as possible, honestly.

Eric Whitacre offered a one-day creative project:

I’ve stumbled on something that I’m calling the four-note challenge. You wake up in the morning and choose four notes, any four from a chromatic scale. Choose four notes that have some meaning to you. They might spell out your own name or your parent’s or someone you love or your phone number. Then, your piece has to use only those four notes, be less than one minute long, and it must be finished by midnight, no matter what. The idea is to upload it to social media, like TikTok. Built into that that lesson are massive constraints, and those constraints cause you to use a different part of your brain. You become adaptive and clever and constructive. And you also have less judgment on yourself, because you’ve only got four notes, so how interesting can this possibly be? Too often creativity and composition is taught as this wide open field where anything is possible, and that’s absolutely paralyzing, especially if you’ve never done it before.

References: Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990/2008). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. HarperPerennial. Wallas, G. (1926/2014). The art of thought. Solis Press.

Wildman, J. (1999). Electronic music. In L. Stacy & L. Henderson (Eds.), Encyclopedia of music in the20th century (pp. 187-192). Routledge