Tag: composition

Composition

Composing in the Piano Lesson with Beginner & Elementary Students

Joy Morin

Mack T - The DinosaurFor the past six months, I have been working on a new resource to help piano teachers compose and improvise with their students.  I am going to give you the full scoop on the new resource soon, but I wanted to introduce the resource with this article discussing how composition can be used in the private piano lesson.  Update: the new “Composition & Improvisation Prompts for Piano” eBook is now available here in the Shop!  

There are many challenges to having piano students compose.  For example, teachers might feel that:

  • I don’t have time in the lesson to teach composition.
  • I don’t know how to teach composition.
  • I don’t know how to give a composition assignment.
  • My students don’t understand how to compose a good melody.
  • My students are overwhelmed at the idea of composing their own music.

Despite these challenges (yes, I feel them too), I have enjoyed having my students compose their own pieces for many years now.  Here is how I incorporate composition in my lessons: Continue reading “Composing in the Piano Lesson with Beginner & Elementary Students” →

Composition, Music Camps, Music History

“So, You Want To Be A Composer?” Camp – Now Available!

Joy Morin

Hooray, the “So, You Want To Be A Composer?” camp has just been added to the Color In My Piano Shop!

Now, it’s time for me to focus on my next camp: “Music History Blast From The Past.”  Want a sneak peak?  Okay, if you insist:  🙂

Composition, Music Camps

Music Camp Freebie from “So, You Want To Be A Composer?”

Joy Morin

Good morning!  The “So, You Want To Be A Composer?” camp is ready to be listed in the Color In My Piano shop……but I’m just waiting to hear back from one more student to get permission to share their composition in the lesson plan as an example.  I will post it as soon as I hear from them!  UPDATE: The lessons plans are posted now!  

For today though, I thought I would share a peek at a composition by one of my other students, and also share a FREEBIE from the camp lessons plans!  Read on.

During camp, we spent a lot of time discussing how composers make music SOUND like the title or the subject they are describing.  This student appropriately chose a minor key for his dragon piece.  I helped him very little, other than approving his first few measures and then encouraging him to add a B section.  Not bad for a first composition, is it?!  🙂  Once he had it worked out on the piano, we together figured out how to notate the piece.  Later, I transcribed his piece into Finale, printed it out, and then asked him to add an illustration.

As promised, I’d like to share a freebie from “So, You Want To Be A Composer?” camp….. a pdf containing TEN different sizes of staff paper!  I hope you can put it to good use.  🙂  Visit the Printables > Other Resources page and scroll down to the S’s for “Sheet Music A-J.”

  Staff Paper - A-J (180.5 KiB, 23,053 hits)

Composition, Music Camps, Printables

So, You Want To Be A Composer? – 2012 Summer Camp Details

Joy Morin

Last week, I held my second summer music camp for my piano students!  It was called, “So, You Want To Be A Composer?”  I am so excited to share with you some details about our camp.  We had a really great week!

Here’s where all the magic happened:

Continue reading “So, You Want To Be A Composer? – 2012 Summer Camp Details” →

Composition, Conferences, Music Camps

MTNA 2012 Conference | Session on Composition Camps

Joy Morin

The last session of the conference I attended was a wonderful one!  It was called:

Get Out of That Musical Box: Teach Students How To Compose!

Dianne Higgins gave a delightful presentation about the summer composition camps she holds each year.  It has been a great success even since the first year she tried it!

The first year, Dianne emailed her students and friends to ask for donations of keyboards, headphones, computers, and other equipment she would need.  She was surprised with the response she received, and only had a few things left to purchase.  Over the years, she has upgraded her equipment and now has 5 computer stations with small MIDI keyboards, and some keyboard/headphone stations too.  She has a separate room in her house for these stations.   Continue reading “MTNA 2012 Conference | Session on Composition Camps” →

Composition, Conferences

MTNA 2012 Conference | WSU’s Adopt-A-Composer Program

Joy Morin

On Sunday morning of the conference, I attended the Alfred Exhibitor Showcase and the Keynote Presentation given by Norman Horowitz and Melvin Stecher.  My notes are very similar to Natalie’s from Music Matters Blog, so I will let you read her summaries here and here!  (We somehow attended a lot of the same sessions…great minds think alike!)  🙂

After that, I attended a session given by the MTNA Collegiate Chapter at Washington State University (WSU) called:

Composition and Creativity: Collaboration With Living Composers In The Private Studio

This session was about the annual Adopt-A-Composer Program that that WSU uses for their Piano Lab School (where piano majors teach students in a supervised setting).  A year in advance, they choose and approach a composer, explain the components of the program, and negotiate terms.  If the budget allows, some years they commission a work or two.   Continue reading “MTNA 2012 Conference | WSU’s Adopt-A-Composer Program” →

Composition, Music Theory, Printables, Teaching Piano

Just Added: Music Staff Paper for Stickers of all Sizes

Joy Morin

Guess what!  Tomorrow is Color In My Piano’s THREE YEAR anniversary!  Woohoo!  I’ve got a few fun posts and giveaways planned for later this week in honor of our anniversary.  But today, I thought I’d share this new printable:

Continue reading “Just Added: Music Staff Paper for Stickers of all Sizes” →

Announcements

Pictures from the Studio

Joy Morin

Thought I’d share a few photos of random things from the studio…

Here’s a first composition created by one of my young students last week.  It’s called “Hush Little Squirrels.”  I love her inventive notation system!  You can see the black key groups of 2’s and 3’s pictured, and the L’s and H’s mean high or low.  I was so proud of the work she put into creating and notating her piece.

Continue reading “Pictures from the Studio” →

Composition, Games, Group Classes, Music Camps, Printables, Rhythm

Make Me A Rhythm! game

Joy Morin

I was recently browsing some forums online and found a description of this game by a music educator.  It sounds like a great game to use with large groups of students — perhaps for group lessons or summer camps.  I asked the music educator if I could post about the game on my blog, and she kindly agreed.  In her own words: “You certainly have my permission to share the game. I made it up, but someone else probably has, too. We all get ideas from one another and put them together in different ways.”  I love her attitude and generosity!  We teachers have so much we can share and learn from each other.

This composing/rhythm game is appropriate for groups of about 8 or more students.  All you need are 4 pieces of paper with the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 written on them.  These sheets serve to mark the beats of the measure, spaced out on the floor.  One student is chosen as the Composer, who must select students and make them into quarter notes/half notes/whatever.  Once the measure is complete, everyone claps the rhythm and the teacher records the rhythm onto a whiteboard to save it.  A new Composer is chosen to compose the next measure.  In the end, everyone claps the entire rhythmic composition to see what it sounds like.

I haven’t tried out this game yet, but it sounds fun!  And it’s not always easy to find games that work for large groups of students.  I just might try out this game at my studio Christmas party coming up.  🙂

Complete game instructions can be printed by downloading the pdf on the Printables > Games page.  I thought the game needed a more specific title, so I came up with “Make Me A Rhythm!”

Composition, Music Theory, Printables

Staff Paper – Large Staff for Simple Compositions

Joy Morin

With my Piano Readiness Class, we’ve been learning about staff notation.  Last week, each student composed a mini-composition on the piano and then we together notated the piece.  We used colorful markers to label the notes (A, B, C, etc) and also wrote in finger numbers, so they can continue playing their compositions at home.  They loved the idea of being composers!

This is the sheet paper we used to notate our compositions.  Young students tend to draw rather large notes 🙂 , so I left plenty of room between the lines of the staff.

To download, visit the Printables > Other Resources page and scroll down to “Staff Paper — Large Staff for Simple Compositions.”

Composition, Technology

Hear my New Piano!

Joy Morin

I promised over a month ago that I would post a video so you could hear my new piano!  I wanted to wait until after I got it tuned, of course, and recently I finally got around to recording something.

In this YouTube video, I’m playing a short piece I composed during undergrad called “Contemplation.”

This is a piece I composed in 2007 during my senior year at Hope College. It was written for an assignment for a Form & Analysis theory course for which we were supposed to compose a piece using the Schenkarian techniques we were studying in class. The structure of this piece is based on a descending line using scale degrees 3-2-1. This descending line is also used on a more micro level as a motive throughout the piece.

In the next video, I am playing a piece that my six-year-old student back in Central Michigan composed before I moved away.  He composed a melody called “Goodbye,” and wanted me to compose the left hand part for it.  I was so touched by his request!   Continue reading “Hear my New Piano!” →