Shand, Patricia Martin. "Creating Music in the Classroom," Creativity and Music Education, edited by Timothy Sullivan and Lee Willingham, pp. 116-128. Canadian Music Educators' Association, 2002. Volume One of the CMEA "Research to Practice" Series.
Keywords
Canadian music education
Canadian composers
composers in the classroom
commissioning music
student creativity
sound exploration
pre-service teacher education
Creating Music in the Classroom
Composers in Electronic Residence
John Adaskin Project
Summary
In this article, Shand describes a variety of composer-in-the-classroom programs, including Creating Music in the Classroom and the Composer in Electronic Residence Program. Each program is individual – tailored to suit the needs of the classroom, the students, and teacher. Shand includes comments from composers involved in these projects, describing student engagement and learning in musicianship, problem-solving, musical expression and much more. Such programs are not the norm in Canadian music education. Shand sees opportunities to change teacher education in order to change classroom practices which tend to focus on performance standards as teaching goal and quality assessment. She suggests that teachers who are more comfortable themselves with composition, sound exploration, improvisation, and music technology (e.g., MIDI) will be able to bring to their classrooms a wider understanding of how to foster creativity and musicianship in their students, and will have a much more flexible and nuanced set of teaching tools at the ready.
CREATING MUSIC IN THE CLASSROOM
Patricia Martin Shand
Reproduced with the permission of CMEA/Acme.
The Canadian Music Centre (CMC) has been involved in composer in the classroom projects since the 1960s. As part of its Graded Educational Plan (renamed in 1965 the John Adaskin Project), CMC in 1963 sent a group of composers into Toronto area schools to observe and work with student performers, preparatory to writing compositions for school use. In 1965, CMC presented a seminar which featured concert demonstrations by student performers of music by 10 of these composers. At a 1967 John Adaskin Project policy conference (CMC 1967), there was considerable emphasis not only on promoting the use of Canadian music in schools, but also on encouraging creativity in music education. Early composer in the classroom projects, like those undertaken and described by Murray Schafer[1], which emphasized student sound exploration and "ear-cleaning" activities, were held up as models. But with the influx of funds for commissions for the 1967 Canadian Centennial, CMC turned its attention to these projects, leaving further development of the John Adaskin Project till 1973 when CMEA joined CMC as co-sponsors. At that time, the decision was made to focus the Adaskin Project on promoting and commissioning Canadian music for student performers, without CMC's previous focus on student creativity in music education. It was not till the 1983-4 academic year that the CMC Ontario regional office began its Creating Music in the Classroom (CMIC) program. Prior to that, there had certainly been examples of composers visiting schools. Many of the visits were related to commissioning projects, similar to the 1963 school visits during which composers worked with student performers preparatory to writing pieces for school use.[2] Other composer-in-the-classroom projects, such as the Canadian League of Composers' Visitation Program which began in 1979, were designed to introduce students to the music of contemporary Canadian composers, with the primary focus being on listening.
My main purpose in this paper is to describe efforts to involve students in composing, arranging, and improvising activities, guided by an experienced composer and an interested and committed teacher. I have chosen to highlight Creating Music in the Classroom (CMIC) because it is the longest operating program of its type in Canada.
From the outset, the CMC Ontario regional office has acted as a match-maker for the people involved in CMIC, and as a clearing house for funds flowing from the Ontario Arts Council, private donors, and the participating school or school board. CMC describes the main objectives of CMIC as being to provide opportunities for students "to learn the craft of composing by listening and doing" and "to develop an awareness of contemporary and Canadian music" (CMC 2000).[3] Each CMIC project has been designed to fit the needs, interests and abilities of the participants, but in each case a composer has guided students as they undertake a composition project. Some composers have scheduled weekly visits over some months, while in other projects, students have had a shorter, more intensive period of involvement with the composer. In some cases, students have worked individually, while in others they have worked in groups. Sometimes the student compositions have been performed by professional performers, funded through CMIC. In other cases, students have performed the compositions themselves. There has been considerable emphasis on listening and analysing, as well as on manipulating musical materials. Some groups have begun with improvisation, others have developed compositions based on pre-existing or student-produced melodies, while others have produced music dramas or multi-media compositions. Some have explored descriptive music, while others have experimented with the manipulation of various musical elements or have explored specific compositional devices such as twelve-tone technique. The emphasis has been on problem-solving and musical decision-making as the composer, teacher, and students have worked together.
From its inception in the 1983-4 academic year to the 1999-2000 academic year, CMIC involved 47 composers in 134 residencies, working with elementary and secondary school students in classrooms across Ontario. With the establishment in 1995 of the Composers in Electronic Residence (CIER) program with support from the York University and Simon Fraser Faculties of Education, and administrative assistance from the CMC Ontario Regional office, some recent composer residency sessions have taken place via the internet, "virtual" residencies rather than "in person" visits by composers to classrooms. CIER, modelled after Writers in Electronic Residence, allows students, teachers, and composers to reach beyond a specific classroom, since student compositions and reactions, composer feed-back and musical examples, and teacher comments can all be shared by other CIER participants. Gary Barwin, composer and CIER program director, describes CIER as "an online composition workshop that links together professional Canadian composers, music students, classroom teachers, and music education students from Canada and around the globe. Students submit their compositions in the form of standard MIDI files. Composers, classroom teachers, and other students listen to, comment on, and often submit their own versions of the original pieces. Often groups of students along with the composers collaborate on pieces. In addition, discussions occur among students and teachers within the local classroom as well as between geographically remote classrooms as they are inspired by the work and discussions they have received. CIER is also a forum of the exchange of new curriculum ideas for teachers, and information concerning hardware, software, and technical troubleshooting" (Barwin 1998).
Since 2000, CMC Ontario has focussed its attention on Millennium projects which have had significant educational benefits (Parsons 2000). The Millennium New Music for Young Musicians Project has involved the commissioning of compositions for student performers. As part of that project, some composers have visited Ontario classrooms to work with student performers. The Music Canada Musique 2000 Project has involved the commissioning of compositions for professional performers, with some of the participating composers visiting Ontario schools in person and/or on-line, introducing students to the newly commissioned music. Some students have also been given the opportunity to attend Music Canada Musique 2000 premiere performances. While educational activities related to these Millennium projects took place mainly during the 2000-2001 academic year, some have been carried out during 2001-2. With the completion of these projects in sight, CMC Ontario Regional Director Sheldon Grabke indicated to me in a personal interview (Jan. 7, 2002) that CMC is considering future directions for its educational efforts. Since CMC's primary aim is to promote the work of its Associate Composers, CMC may choose to focus on school visits by composers, designed to introduce students to the music of those composers, rather than returning to the Creating Music in the Classroom project with its emphasis on student composition. I would personally regret the loss of CMIC, particularly at a time when the Ontario Ministry of Education (1998, 1999, 2000) is mandating creative activities as essential components of elementary and secondary school music curricula. Whatever the future of CMIC and CIER, teachers can learn a good deal from the past successes of these programs, as models of approaches to developing students' creative abilities through active music-making.
Here is an example of a well designed and successfully executed CMIC project from the 1998-9 academic year, as described by the participating composer and teacher.[4] Composer Paul Steenhuisen visited a secondary school in the greater Toronto area for a series of 10 classroom sessions with grade 11 and 12 students. The project goals were "to have the students compose a piece, to learn the skills required to compose music and to gain knowledge of contemporary music." The composer worked with large and small groups, and also with individual students. "In between class sessions, many students had 'email' lessons, where mid-week compositional problems were resolved in order for work to progress." The composer described the project as featuring "private and group composition lessons, discussions of instrumentation, orchestration, form, analysis, notation, basic and advanced compositional techniques, and listening sessions. Students were encouraged to be creative and explorative, and given the tools to develop and articulate their musical ideas, as well as to express their needs and feelings about the project as it developed." To supplement in-class composition work, students were given opportunities to hear the Esprit Orchestra and the Toronto Symphony performing contemporary works, and to meet composers represented on those programs. The teacher was an integral part of the process, working with the composer to establish project goals, consulting with the composer before and after each classroom session, assisting students between sessions, and "providing support and follow-up material and musicianship lessons as necessary." The teacher also assessed students' work: their creative output in terms of "following parameters discussed and originality," and also their more theoretical work as they developed their written scores ("accuracy, neatness, completeness"). The teacher indicated that if he were to undertake another such project in future, he and the composer could "be more demanding of goals – setting and achieving between sessions" and as the teacher he would "set evaluation/assessment strategies from session to session so students are on task." The students (only one of whom had previously written a musical composition) produced pieces ranging from two to seven minutes in length, for a variety of instrumentations (solo piano, Chinese harp, string quartet, mixed nonet, full wind ensemble). The completed pieces were performed in concert at the school, and a CD was made. The composer reported: "while the majority of the compositions were relatively conservative, it was clear that each composer’s thoughts on music had expanded, and that they were making genuine musical expressions of themselves." The teacher indicated that the main benefits of the project to the students were "understanding the process, using the skills and knowledge of theory in a creative way, and hearing a sonic interpretation of the print." The teacher reported that the students enjoyed working with a professional composer, and some "were keen to further pursue similar writing experiences." For the teacher, it was "great experience," with the process being as important as, if not more important than, the final products of the project. Steenhuisen was "very pleased to have been involved with a school so encouraging and supporting of its students’ self-expression and awareness of contemporary music.”
At the heart of the project described above was the development of students' musicianship through active involvement as composers, performers, and listeners. This type of multifaceted music-making has characterized other exemplary CMIC projects. In a 1986 article, Lee Willingham, then Head of Music at Agincourt Collegiate in Scarborough, reported on a CMIC project which he co-designed with composer Timothy Sullivan. "This series of classes ranging over a two year period carefully guided students through the process of creating music -- dealing with such diverse concepts as sources of motivation or inspiration, motivic development and orchestral transposition. Students, many for the first time gained a first hand glimpse of the painstaking and meticulous work of composing. They also realized the thrill of hearing their work performed by professionals. The project culminated in the commissioning of an original Timothy Sullivan work. Here the tables were turned. As Tim completed a page of music, it was distributed to the student ensembles for rehearsal. They provided immediate feed-back for the composer and in return they saw many of the techniques, creative and motivational devices from their own experiences put to use in the new composition” (Willingham, 1986, p. 25).
Since the project at Agincourt Collegiate, Sullivan has continued to participate in a variety of projects which involve students in active music-making. For example, he undertook recent projects in several northern Ontario communities which "provided the students with a first-hand experience of music/sound exploration with a professional composer. The creative process was immediate: they were able to suggest ideas, explore them sonorally and, as a group, suggest appropriate places within the growing composition for these ideas to be placed. As a group, suggestions were made, explored and ordered, then, again as a group, the developing composition was played through, and feedback given. In this way, all participants were able to contribute as co-creators, co-analysts and co-performers. Within the 60 or 90 minutes, the class moved from a position of being elementary band students to being co-creators and performers of a new composition." When asked to describe students' responses, he noted the following: "Growing enthusiasm. Interest in qualities of sound. Willingness to experiment and to offer imaginative suggestions. A sense of critical skill in assessing contemporary musical content: the idea and its realisation rather than a judgment on the sound materials themselves."
Sullivan's focus on the importance of listening to and making judgements about musical sounds is echoed in the comments of many CMIC and CIER participants. For example, composer Gary Kulesha "hoped to inculcate critical listening habits which will serve the students in whichever style they choose to listen to regularly. I believe that learning intelligent listening habits is a vital beginning” (quoted in Moore, 1988, p. 19). Over the years, whether projects focused more on sound exploration (as was often the case with younger students), or put more emphasis on the development of the discipline and craft of composition (as was frequently the case with more advanced secondary school students), the focus on listening critically to musical sounds has remained constant. To use Schafer's term (1986), students have been encouraged to use "the thinking ear." One high school student remarked: "Mr. Nimmons encouraged us to try to compose our own music. He taught us that music isn't what's on paper, it's what you play and how you play it."