It's safe to say that most music departments do performing pretty well. At schools there are often various extracurricular ensembles, termly concerts, shows, and perhaps an end of year tour. Pupils learning an instrument can enjoy working towards a concert and then bask in the audience's applause.
Yet our attitude towards composing tends to differ enormously. Some departments may view composition as something that just has to be done at exam level. It seems that teachers have gotten themselves into a self-perpetuating cycle. They have often not had a positive composing experience as pupils, and then either avoid it as teachers or approach it cautiously. This negative feeling can reinforce the attitude among pupils that writing music is something difficult and highly specialised. This is a reasonable assumption if composing is mainly left for GCSE and A Level students, where no one mentions it outside of the classroom. However, if we're mainly focussing on performing then surely we're not properly supporting those students who want to compose and take music-making further.
And, in order to find and nurture those students, we must create spaces where composition is encouraged. Here are some ways to raise the profile of music composition, mainly outside of core classroom activities, so that it is considered a crucial and important musical skill across the department.
Seeking out the composers
During the first couple of lessons with a new class, most teachers find out who plays what instruments and ushers them into various ensembles. But how many of us find out if there are any composers in the group? Setting a short creative task will soon give a sense of who likes to improvise and explore musical ideas – the pupils may even surprise themselves! Having these students on your radar is the first step to nurturing the natural composers in your school.
Creating opportunities
In the same way that we organise the school show and set dates for concerts, we should create opportunities for our composers. Perhaps Year 9 will be working on a drama project and there's potential for composing some incidental music. Or as part of their maths or science revision, pupils could create a song to help remember formulae or the periodic table – this would also work well for languages. These are real-life composing briefs which could be tackled in a composition club or, indeed, incorporated into the music curriculum.
Listen, listen, listen!
We'd all agree that listening to a wide variety of styles, genres and composers is so important for our students. What we ultimately want is to engender a love of listening in our pupils so that they are actively seeking out a range of music that they can engage with. As violinist, Hilary Hahn says: ‘Composers don't just sit in their rooms and write things that are in their heads, they actually listen to a lot of music.’
Here are three tips for encouraging students to broaden their listening experiences:
- Ask students to record one piece they've listened to each week in a journal and, at the end of each half term reward those who have completed it
- If you're on Twitter, you could post a piece to listen to every morning or once a week and call it #MusicBeforeBreakfast
- Start a New Discoveries initiative, where students are invited to share new pieces they have listened to
Student composition concert
Why not organise a student composition concert? To begin with, it doesn't need to be a big event. The first time I organised an A Level composition concert it took place in the library, but the following year it was held in the hall and is now a firm fixture on the school calendar. At the start of that academic year, students know about the concert and are often motivated to write a piece for live performance. They seek out instrumentalists for guidance and are hugely engaged in the composing process. Of course, with the academic landscape sadly changing, you may just have a couple of students doing A Level. If this is the case, a combined exam group concert or lunchtime performance could work just as well.
Composition Club
If we want composing to have a similar standing as performing, it must be reflected in the extracurricular offering. How about a regular composition club? In order to do achieve this it's best to:
- Invite a core group of keen students who will help drum up enthusiasm for the club
- Target students who don't necessarily play an ensemble instrument
- Encourage students to work in a way that suits them – individually or in pairs
- Structure the club around termly composing challenges. If they're real-life briefs, even better
- Upload students’ pieces to Soundcloud, Youtube or the school website as the challenge is completed
- If you use Google Classroom, set up a class so the club can share resources.
Composer of the week
Running a whole-school composer of the week scheme is a great way of raising the profile of both your music department and composition. You could potentially introduce the whole school to the music of 40 composers! Here are my top tips for a successful composer series:
- Share the idea with staff. Some might be willing to participate in ‘My favourite composer is…’
- Compile a list of times in the school day when music could be played such as entering/exiting assembly, in the canteen, on entering the classroom
- Set up a dedicated composer of the week display board in a prominent location and assign monitors to oversee and update it
- Publicise it on social media and engage individuals outside of the classroom
- Invite students to offer composer suggestions and to discuss the music with their teachers.
External agencies
If you've got the budget, it can be worth bringing in outside agencies to run workshops. I organised an exam group trip to the Royal Northern College of Music to watch the degree composition showcase. It was great for students to observe the final stages of the creative process and to see the interplay between the composer and the musicians.
With some thought and thorough planning, it's not too difficult to bring more composing opportunities to your school. Try adding one new initiative each year – doing one thing well is better than becoming overwhelmed. As Schoenberg once said, ‘The teacher must convince his students that the study of composition will not make them experts or acknowledged judges, that its only purpose is to help them understand music better, to obtain that pleasure which is inherent in the art.’
Rachel Shapey is the founder and director of I Can Compose, an innovative platform offering detailed interactive courses in different aspects of composition. To find out more visit: icancompose.com To learn directly from Rachel, be sure to check out her session at the Music & Drama Education Expo.
