Music Plus Composition Program

In a school-university partnership with a local urban high school, a midwestern university established the Music Plus program. School band, choir, and orchestra directors recommended students to the program who were: interested in receiving additional music training, good citizens in their music programs, and financially unable to access private music instruction outside of the school day. For 10 weeks in the fall and spring, the students were bused to the campus for two hours of music instruction each week. Instruction included private lessons on their instruments, ensemble participation, keyboard class, aural skill development, and an opportunity to share their musical ideas through composition instruction. This service learning project was administered by music education faculty members, with undergraduate and graduate music education students serving as the instructional staff for the program. This was a meaningful opportunity for music education majors to experience composition mentorship as part of their music teacher training program.

None of the music education students had experience in composition. At the beginning of the program, some were very apprehensive at the idea of having to lead composition instruction. Graduate and undergraduate students from the university composition degree program were also invited to participate in the process, giving these students the opportunity to experience teaching composition. The 30-minute composition classes were held in a piano lab with every student seated at their own piano with headphones available. These high school students were excited to be on the college campus and most were willing to participate in any experience that was offered. Some were fairly competent on their primary instruments, but many were not.

Some basically learned much of the music they performed by ear and very few had previous piano experience. For the graduate composition majors, who were teachers in the program, the lack of theoretical training in these students was a difficult hurdle. How could one develop composition experiences for students who had such varied and sometimes limited musical ability? For the undergraduate music education majors, it was a relief to know that they didn’t have to “know how” to compose to get started. Instruction began with the students creating brief musical ideas that were prompted by questions to stir their imagination. Concepts such as musical questions and answers; consonance and dissonance; and form (beginning, middle, end) were addressed.

After exploration on the keyboards, the Noteflight music software program was used by the students to notate their ideas. The university provided access to a Noteflight online classroom for the Music Plus program. In this platform, the students could continue work on their compositions at home and teachers could also access student compositions to offer suggestions and encouragement during the week. Most students had only cell phones to access the website, but it was amazing what they could do with their phones!

The undergraduate students served as composition mentors and were available to assist with transferring a difficult or complicated musical idea to notation so that it could be documented in the system. They were provided with simple instructions: help with notation, try to think from the composer’s perspective, honor the composer intent, and go with the creative flow. This worked well, and it did not take long for the young composers of the class to begin to notate most of their own ideas. The undergraduate composition mentors rotated around the classroom to hear ideas, give guidance, offer suggestions, and served as excellent mentors to the high school composers.

The composition majors that assisted with class instruction began to understand the need for establishing parameters for the young composers. They designed beginning activities that limited notes or intervals used by the novice composers. As the students began working on full composition projects, teachers introduced concepts such as motive, form, extending ideas, moving ideas to a different place, reversing ideas, and combining ideas. The composition majors were amused by the simple concepts, but also impressed that the concepts clearly related to processes that they used in writing their own compositions.

During the spring semester, pieces were composed for instruments that the college students played. At the final program, the compositions were performed by the undergraduate music majors, and each young composer spoke to the audience to describe their inspiration for the piece. The level of personal satisfaction and agency this composition opportunity provided for these high school musicians was clearly visible. The music education students adapted to the role of composition mentor exceptionally well. They embraced the process and overcame concerns about a lack of training.

They did an exceptional job of providing guidance, and when they were not needed, many sat at a piano or computer and worked on their own compositions, and on developing their own composer identities. As with the mentors in the VYC program, the undergraduate Music Plus composition mentors developed strong relationships with the high school composers they worked with. Some were inspired to consider a future working in urban and under-resourced school settings. The power of creating music in the lives of these high school students was beneficial in so many ways. Music teacher-educators need to be creative in the process of finding opportunities for pre-service music teachers to experience the process of composition mentorship (Kaschub, 2013). The Music Plus program was an effective training opportunity as well as a nurturing community for composition and creative thinking.