Books Featuring Creative Music Making Projects and Activities

In recent years, more and more information has been published on teaching musical creativity in books, journal articles, research publications, and online resources. While reading about how to teach music composition and improvisation is not as ideal as observing sample lesson, it provides a viable pathway to begin or delve deeper into this topic. General resources covering all areas of music education, as well as some specific recommendations for general, instrumental, and vocal music will be discussed.

For those looking for a single resource for teaching music composition in any music education class, Music outside the lines: Ideas for composing in K-12 Classrooms (Hickey, 2012) is a top choice. Hickey offers a clear pathway for teachers of all backgrounds and types of music classes to start including improvisation and composition. She begins by presenting a view of what composition is and why it is so important, and goes on to cover some significant issues, such as “open versus closed,” settings and parameters, composition assignments, notation, use of technology, assessment, and composing in ensembles. She also offers her definition of composition and provides ideas for listening and exploring, which are key central components of composition. The “meat” of the book includes engaging compositional prompts, studying form in music, and presenting composition through an “elements of music” approach.

Other books on teaching music composition that are more general in approach include the “classic” Sound and Silence: Classroom Projects in Creative Music (Aston & Paynter, 1973), which stands out as one of the earlier books pioneering the way for music teachers to include composition; Minds on music: Composition for creative and critical thinking (Kaschub & Smith, 2009b); Creative and critical projects in classroom music (Finney, Philpott, & Spruce, 2020); and Composing our future: Preparing music educators to teach composition (Kaschub & Smith, 2013). Aston and Paynter (1973) feature 36 projects developed from real classroom experiences and include lots of examples, photographs, and diagrams. Kaschub and Smith (2009b) begin with rationale and research, but then really dig into the important aspects of developing composition pedagogy and explain how to do that with students from early childhood through high school age. One notable feature of this book is that it includes an online webpage that lists many supplemental resources such as full color templates for student Sketchpages. Finney, Philpott, and Spruce (2020) build on Aston and Paynter’s book and include 16 creative classroom projects designed and enacted by real classroom music teachers offering updated research and plans that are relevant to 21st century teachers and students.

Finally, Kaschub and Smith (2013) have targeted those working to prepare future music teachers. This book should be essential reading for all college music education professors, but it also offers practicing music education professionals an incredible resource full of well-researched information on teaching composition in a wide variety of settings. After a significant introduction to the topic with foundational elements presented by Peter Webster, Maud Hickey, and Randall Allsup, the book covers model practices in teaching music composition for K-12 general music, gifted learners, instrumental and choral settings, and working with special needs students. There are also chapters on using digital composition tools, incorporating composition in university courses, and a visionary chapter on “Strategic Administrative Practices for Including Composition in Music Education.”

Some music teachers may want more specifics for their area of teaching. For elementary and general music teachers, Kaschub and Smith’s (2016) Experiencing music composition in grades 3-5 is a top resource, as well as Wiggins’ (1990) Composition in the classroom: A tool for teaching, and Burnard and Murphy’s (2017) Teaching music creatively. For instrumental teachers, several recent books have been published, including Composition concepts for band and orchestra (Koops & Whitener, 2020), Musicianship: composing in band and orchestra (Randles & Stringham, 2013), and Musicianship: Improvising in band and orchestra (Stringham, Bernard, & Randles, 2019). Agrell’s (2007) Improvisation games for classical musicians: A collection of musical games with suggestions for use is also a great resource for instrumental teachers, though many of the games can be used in general music and vocal settings as well. For choral directors, Musicianship: Composing in choir (Kerchner & Strand, 2016) is a great resource, as well as the multitude of books available on songwriting. Musical Futures from the UK offers an excellent songwriting curriculum guide in the form of a free booklet.⁴ Songwriting: Strategies for musical self-expression and creativity (Hauser, Tomal, & Rajan, 2017) is another great resource for vocal teachers. Wilkins (2006), a composer herself, offers Creative music composition as a significant resource for those wanting to support emerging high school and collegiate composers on their journey.

For digital technology and curricular ideas, Freedman’s (2013) Teaching music through composition: A curriculum using technology, is highly recommended and includes practical lesson plans and assignments that have all been field tested, as well as an extensive companion website of audio, MIDI, and video files. Freedman’s book is great for beginners to technology as well as those with experience looking for ways to expand. Several other recommended books include Watson’s (2011) Using technology to unlock musical creativity, Bell’s (2020) The music technology cookbook: Ready-made recipes for the classroom, Bauer’s (2020) Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music, and Dammers and LoPresti’s (2020) Practical music education technology. Watson’s book comes with 29 detailed, teacher-tested lesson plans for creative musical activities and includes a companion website. Bell offers 56 lessons by 49 music technology experts from around the world, organized in five parts, starting with beat-making and performance, and then diving into composition, multimedia and interdisciplinary projects, production, and ending with programming and design. Bauer (2020) takes a standards-based approach covering the topics of creating, performing, and responding and his companion website has excellent resources and links making this a helpful resource for much more than just composition or technology! Dammers and LoPresti’s (2020) book is broader than just composing, including topics such as audio recording and sequencing, loop libraries, and accompaniment and practice software.

Randles (2020) provides a moving philosophical argument for including composition in To create: Imagining the good life through music. He shares experiences in his own life and teaching that shine light on the importance and relevance of music creativity and how that contributes to “The Good Life.” Another inspirational book for teaching composing is Adolphe’s (2020) The mind’s ear: Exercises for improving the musical imagination for performers, composers, and listeners, which includes exercises and stories that can be used in teaching composition to individuals or groups. Adolphe’s ideas include concepts such as hearing in silence and dialoguing through music. He challenges teachers in the preface by giving three examples of ways to present the same composition. Two of the examples are quite inspirational and motivational, while the third is completely boring and non-musical. Here is the second:

Imagine you are in the audience of a courtroom trial. A man who has just been wrongly convicted of a serious crime suddenly turns to the jury and makes an impassioned speech, trying to convince them of his innocence. His voice rises higher and higher until he is screaming at them, and then suddenly he collapses and is silent. The court is stunned. The man stands up and quietly asks for their mercy and understanding. No one speaks. Take this and use it to create a short violin solo. (Adolphe, 2020, pp. xv-xvi)

Adolphe concludes: “The point is clear: the way we teach can inspire creativity or dull it” (p. vxii). One of his goals with this book is to “break down the barriers that prevent some musicians from improvising and composing, to make it fun to engage in creative exploration” (p. xxii).

There are more and more books as well as online resources on composition and improvisation coming out, so this is a great time to really “take the plunge” and start trying ideas out in this field. Some of the books are focused on a specific type of class or age, while others are more general music education books that contain great advice on teaching composing. Any one of them will work to facilitate, support, and enhance music learning and creation in music students’ lives