Very Young Composers of Central Wisconsin

The Very Young Composers of Central Wisconsin (VYC) is an extension of the New York Philharmonic Very Young Composers program. The New York program provides an opportunity for students in grades three through five to compose and have their compositions performed by members of the New York Philharmonic. The Wisconsin program, run as a community and university partnership, involved collaboration of university students and faculty, as well as area general music teachers.

Fourth- and fifth- grade students interested in composition participated in a four-week class during the January winter term. The composition class consisted of three sessions (two hours in length) each week, and ended with a public performance of student works. The young composers were mentored by undergraduate music majors, including music education, performance, and composition students. The young composers were not required to have any music theory knowledge or previous musical experience to participate in the classes.

The undergraduate composition teacher/mentors were trained by area general music teachers and university faculty serving as camp directors. These composition mentors participated in a weekend workshop that included group exercises such as: creative body movement, connecting movement and emotion (run joyfully, hop angrily) to musical ideas, expressing musical ideas in graphic notation, and role-playing (teacher/mentors and young composers) the process of documenting and notating the compositions. Throughout the training, there was intense discussion and reflection about the importance of guiding the young composers in the composition process, valuing and supporting their ideas, and offering direction; all while trying not to influence their musical ideas. This training offered a wonderful opportunity to experience the challenges and benefits of nurturing creativity through composition mentorship in a classroom setting.

In the Wisconsin VYC program, teachers first introduced musical and creative concepts to the young composers through group warm-up activities they had learned in their training. Musical instruments were introduced to the to the young composers in “instrument interviews.” During the interviews, the young composers were introduced to several wind, percussion, and string instruments through teacher demonstration. After they learned what the instruments sounded like, and what special techniques might be available on the instrument, students were asked to compose their first musical ideas—one for each of the instruments they interviewed. The composers chose the instruments they wanted to compose for based on these experiences. Composers began with a story (either original or known) that had a beginning, a middle, and an end. This became the guide or framework for the piece.

The young composer’s musical ideas represented events in the story and were notated using a scribing process. The students shared their ideas with their mentors through: vocalization of the sounds they desired, playing patterns and melodies improvised on electronic keyboards, graphic notation (pictures that they drew); and verbal descriptions of their ideas. A few composers, with some musical background, used traditional notation for communication of ideas. When the young composer could repeat their idea multiple times and make decisions about the musical idea they wanted to include, the teacher mentor “scribed” the idea on a computer using music notation software.

The teachers often had to ask for clarification of the ideas that were shared and frequently offered the young composer choices. For example, when a student drew a “basket of flowers” as a flute melody, the teacher played a group of trills and then a collection of scales to offer two choices for interpretation of what a basket of flowers sounded like. The young composer could choose one of the examples or provide more information to make sure the idea was notated the way they imagined it. They were also invited to revise their ideas throughout the composition process.

When a young composer was not working individually with the mentor, a piano lab, supervised by area general music teachers, was available to allow individual work and additional composition support. The composition teachers/mentors performed the final compositions at the concluding program with an introduction to each piece shared by its young composer. The teacher/mentors met as a group following each session to reflect upon and discuss successes and challenges faced during each day’s activities.

Through observation of these classes and interviews with the teacher/mentors and young composers, I was able to understand teacher perceptions of the experience. As expected, one of the challenges that the teacher-mentors faced was the large amount of time required. The class was held during winter session at the university, and some of the teachers had jobs in the area or were taking winter session classes, which likely added to their concerns about time. It was a very intense four weeks. The teachers also shared concerns about how to validly represent ideas of the young composers. Scribing exactly what the young composer wanted could be frustrating. Sometimes the young composers knew exactly what they wanted to hear, and other times they were satisfied to just accept the teacher’s idea.

Related to this was the difficulty the teachers had in understanding the difference between guiding the young composers in the composition process and influencing composer ideas (Menard & Rosen, 2016). Reflection upon these discussions provides a realization that it is almost impossible not to influence the process, while also guiding it. Teachers should encourage student decisions about musical ideas, offer multiple opportunities for students to change their minds, and then do their best to validly represent those ideas. Some teacher influence may be a natural part of the learning process. For these pre-service teachers, their beliefs about the positive aspects of the composition mentoring process are important.

Teacher perceptions of personal benefit in composition mentorship were identified as:
- Gaining valuable teaching experience with fourth- and fifth-grade students. This included developing positive relationships with the young composers they worked with.
- Gaining a better personal understanding of the composition process for both the young composers and for themselves.
- Gaining a personal identity as a composer and increased appreciation for composer intent.
- Developing clear visions for use of composition activities in their future classrooms. (Menard & Rosen, 2016)

School and university partnerships and service-learning projects like the VYC classes can offer important opportunities for pre-service music educators to develop composition teaching skills and would be excellent pathways for expanding music composition knowledge in the music teacher education curriculum.