The aspiring composer's development is commonly described using the metaphor of finding one's own composer voice. A central goal for teaching composition in higher music education is to guide students toward finding such a voice--toward personal expression and creativity. In order to shed light on the teaching strategies associated with this goal,…

Instrumental music teaching traditionally emphasizes the cognitive, motor, and motivational processes of score reproduction, often at the expense of creative musical activities, such as improvisation or composition. Since today's international art school curricula prominently include creativity competencies, opportunities to integrate creativity…

Making Music: Composing "with" Young Musicians is a multi-year, multi-site research project partnered with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and the Canadian Music Centre to commission composers to collaborate with teachers and students (age 11 to 18) to write a piece of music. This article outlines findings on the analysis and…

The existence of thematic songs in theme books in Elementary Schools appears to be ineffective in supporting the attainment of learning objectives. In addition to the limited number of songs, the lack of appropriate lyrics and materials remains one of the causes. Due to this, the most possible alternative solution is for teachers to compose their…

The development of creative processes within the framework of music and dance constitutes an opportunity to promote and integrate learning from different subject areas. In these activities, the moments of knowledge transfer between the different parts of the curriculum emerge as key moments in the process. This article identifies and analyses the…

Feedback plays an essential role in music education, helping individuals learn to consider creative works from multiple perspectives. In this article, we explore the Critical Response Process, a four-step process for engaging with artistic works in progress. Founded on the principle that both artists and responders play active roles in feedback,…

Composition is a natural human activity that can both support other music instruction and help students develop creativity that is applicable to their extramusical endeavors. It also constitutes a major strand within national and state music standards. However, it is not consistently taught in ensemble classrooms, which are often students' only…

Musical composition is widely considered to be a fundamental component of good musicianship. Recent state and national standards make it clear that preservice music teachers will be expected to include the teaching of musical composition in their curricula when they enter the field. The purpose of this study was to investigate the integration of…

Evidence found throughout the history of Western European art music reveals traditions that encompassed improvisation. This furthers the idea that without improvisation, music education based on canonized works of Western European art music is incomplete. When the goal of music education is to preserve works exactly as notated, improvisation…

In the pedagogy of Western classical string music, creativity is often viewed according to the works of luminary composers, suggesting the question: how might string teachers, students, and musicians conceive of creativity? After problematizing standard definitions and ontological ideas of musical creativity, I outline an open model using the…

This article responds to recent calls for situated examples of student-centered education. Our goal is to illustrate what student-centered pedagogies may look like in the music education classroom, particularly in the context of collaborative composition activities. The sample case presented features a Primary 5 Singaporean music teacher…

This pilot study analyzed the learning activities of adult musicians during the composition of a new musical work through online collaboration. The participants interacted in a virtual environment using synchronous and asynchronous tools to develop the composition project. The study utilized a mixed method descriptive design through video…

Before our current notation system was widely adopted by musicians, improvisation was a key component of music throughout the Western world. One of the fundamental elements of the baroque style, namely, using improvised embellishment, offered musicians great artist liberty. During the baroque period, improvisation spread across Europe and beyond.…

Since the publication of the May 1990 "Music Educators Journal" Special Focus Issue on Creativity, the profession finds itself in a new and more challenging time. Our field is changing before our eyes as new ideas about the music we teach, the people who are taught, and the way music as art is delivered and consumed affect our pedagogy.…

Early in my teaching career, my goals were to teach students to play their instruments beautifully and to help them correctly and independently interpret music notation. However, many of my students were missing the internal musicianship skills that enable high-level music-making. As we teach instrument technique and notation, we sometimes…