Composing Educators. Composers in the Classroom

Among the most active authors focusing on group composition pedagogy are members of Different Hearing team with rich pedagogical experience: Synek (2004, 2005, 2008a, 2008c, 2011a, 2011b, 2011c, and 2012a), Coufalova & et al.,2013, Coufalova & Synek, 2014, Vsetickova (2010, 2012, 2015), and the author of this chapter. We all are experienced lecturers and mentors of the Different Hearing Program at the Palacky University Olomouc Department of Music Education, where the program was founded 2001.

Synek is focusing on music-pedagogy tasks (2004, 2005, 2012b). His dissertation was dedicated to elementary composing and the methodology of the Different Hearing Program (2008). He also led and described workshops, where students are introduced to existing compositions only through their compositional activities (Synek, 2008a and 2012). Recently Synek dedicated his publications to experiential pedagogy and methodology of DIY musical instruments and their use in group compositions (Coufalova et al., 2013; Coufalova & Synek 2014; Synek, 2008b;). He is the coauthor of all three Different Hearing books.

Coufalova focuses on strengthening performing competencies when composing in classrooms. Together with Synek and Medek they published a book about the production of DIY instruments (Coufalova et al., 2013; Coufalova & Synek, 2014). Coufalova and Synek described possibilities of further use of the methodology of Different Hearing in project activities, from free composition, through animation programs and multimedia projects (VJ and multimedia) (Coufalova & Synek, 2014).

Vsetickova (2015) has developed the Different Hearing methodology for listening activities. She dealt in detail with compositional activities using principles of minimal music in her dissertation (Vsetickova, 2011) and other studies. She also clarified the importance of graphic scores in the compositional activities of the Different Hearing methodology (Vsetickova, 2014a).

Together with the author of this chapter, this trio made a significant contribution to strengthening the composition motivation in general music education and teachers’ composing competencies. We carried out dozens of courses and methodically led hundreds of teachers under lifelong programs supported by the European Commission (IVOK, 2017-2019) and carried out workshops for music institutions (Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Brno Philharmonic Hradec Kralove Philharmonic, Exhibition of New Music) (Bakla, 2005; Flasar & Kyas, 2005, Synek, 2012).

The Different Hearing Program is currently the most active program in the Czech Republic for the composing in the classroom and group composition pedagogy in general music education. The numerous studies focused on experiences from workshops (Synek, 2004; Dvorakova, 2004; Medek, 2004), compared compositional activities in music education abroad and in Czech schools (Vsetickova, 2014b; Zouhar, 2008), curricular materials, and theoretical reflections (Synek, 2011a, 2011b, and 2011c), and brought new methodological procedures. The topic of classroom composing has also become the subject of master theses and dissertations (Drkula, 2006; Jandova, 2012; Skrebska, 2017 and 2019; Stecova, 2015 and 2017; etc.). The Different Hearing Program was also mentioned as one of the starting points for the amendment of the general music education curriculum (Grobar et al., 2019).

Composers in the Classroom.Several composers are engaged in composition pedagogy in formal or non- formal music education in the Czech Republic. Melkus (1969) proposed the cooperation between teachers and composers in music education in the late 1960s. But it didn’t happen for several years. In 2003 educators and composers were teaching together for the first time. Teachers and students of the Department of Composition at the Janacek Academy of Music (JAMU) entered the Different Hearing program and worked together with teachers and educators (Zouhar, 2004; Synek, 2008; Medek et al., 2014).

Medek (2004; Medek et al, 2010; Zouhar & Medek, 2010, and 2014) is the most active composer in the context of classroom composing as educator, innovator, and author. He serves as professor of composition and has been a member of the Different Hearing team since 2003. Together with the author of this chapter he has published several studies and is the co-author of the books Different Musical Instruments (Coufalova et al., 2013) and Composing in the Classroom: Different Hearing: Experiences in Czech Music Education (Medek et al., 2014). During the years he led and co-f ed many workshops for music festivals (Exhibition of New Music Brno, 2005; Ad Libitum Festival Warszawa, 2006), orchestras (Brno Philharmonic, 2015), and young composers (since 2005). He motivated his former students Dvorakova, Medkova, Kavan, and other young composers for classroom composing.

Dvorakova and Medkova are active composers, teachers, and Different Hearing team members since 2003. Dvorakova described compositional processes in the Different Hearing Program (2004, 2005) and differences between individual and group composition pedagogy within Workshops for the Youngest Composers (2006). Medkova (nee Zalcikova) focused her studies to teamwork and parallels between group elementary composing and composing in a team by professional composers (Gojowy, 1971; Medek et al., 2014). Both of them have led many workshops and teach individual composition courses and piano class at basic art and music schools. Dvorakova has also been leading the Workshop for the Youngest Composers since 2005. It is the only educational venue in the Czech Republic that combines individual and group composition lessons.

Over the past 20 years, many composers have expressed their belief that everyone can compose. Dlouhy, professor of composition and head of the Department of Composition at JAMU in Brno, noted already in 2002:

Mostly at the school, the teaching of composition start[ed] from harmony, from traditional forms. However, the [current] time is completely different; harmony [has not been] used for fifty years. I miss moving to the experimental plane, because the contemporary composition is based on sound, for example. [Children] should be able to get acquainted with specific sounds and create sound etudes from them in musical teaching and in the teaching of composition; [they should] try different rhythmic structures: not specific rhythms, but, e.g., different rhythm densities. (Adamkova & Dlouhy, 2002, p. 17)

Rataj (2019) came to the same conclusion. In the essay “Can anyone be a composer today?” this composer, performer, and professor of composition at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague replies:

I declare that everyone can be a composer at the moment. It seems to me that this thesis is fundamentally related to the discussion of the future development of the teaching of creative artistic disciplines, and musical composition in particular.” (Rataj, 2019)

The next composer with the same meaning on everyone’s creativity is Horinka (2019), professor of composition and the head of the Department of Composition at the Prague AMU. He notes: “The creation of music can then be a unique form of acquiring otherwise unattainable knowledge. I firmly believe that anyone can do so, whether they feel like a musician or not” (Horinka, 2019, p. 14). In 2005, the author of this chapter led a controversy when he published his study Everyone Can Be a Composer (Zouhar, 2004). Fifteen years later, the fact that everyone can compose no longer causes heated discussions.

Horinka is one of those composers-educators who has led workshops for children focused on classroom composing. He presents his workshops within the educational programs of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and formerly the Berg Orchestra. He initiates his didactic procedures for group composing by listening activities and partly follows the Different Hearing methodology. In his workshops, listening activities are the starting point for the reproduction and fixation of the sounds and inspiration for creating others: “We warm our ears by briefly listening to the silence, fixing the sounds into the graphic score, and then reinterpreting, [and] stylizing, whether through the sounds of the body or on DIY instruments” (Horinka, 2019, p. 12).

He thematizes the listening activities on the basis of his own experience: “From the point of view of an ant; inside my body; or what I am most afraid of” (p. 12). Currently, he is focusing on experiential pedagogy and workshops for adults using sound interventions. Some other composers contribute their experiences, participate in workshops, and publish about methods of composing in the classroom, especially Graham (St’astny, 2005 and 2008); Adamkova & Dlouhy, 2002; Vitkova (2011); Vorosova, and others.

References: Adamkova, J., & Dlouhy, D. (2002). Od kanonu ke hvezdam [From the Canyon to the Stars]. Talent, 4(3), 16-20.

Bakla, P. (2005). Radost Slyset jinak [The Joy of Different Hearing]. His Voice, 5(4), 26-27.

Balada, J., Jerabek, J., & Tupy, J. (2006). Ramcovy vzdelavact program pro zakladnt vzdelavani. [Framework Education Program for Primary Education]. Research Institute of Education.

Boleska, J. (1905). Skladba. [Composition]. In Ottdv slovntk naucny: Dvacatytfett dtl [Otto’s Dictionary: Part 23] (p. 265). Publisher J. Otto.

Branberger, J. (1911). Das Konservatorium fur Musik in Pragzur 100-Jahrfeier der Grundung im Auftrage des Vereines zur Beforderungder Tonkunst in Bohmen. Verein zur Beforderung der Tonkunst in Bohmen.

Cage, J. (1973). Silence: Lectures and writings. Wesleyan University Press

Coufalova, G., & Synek, J. (2014). Composing in the classroom: The Different Hearing programme: Experiences in Czech music education. In SGEM Conference on Psychology & Psychiatry, Sociology & Healthcare, Education. Conference Proceedings. Volume III (pp. 169175). doi: 10.5593/sgemsocial2014/B13/S3.023