FIRST STEPS TO COMPOSING How to help your pupils compose at the piano A Teacher Handbook by Pam Wedgwood
UNDERSTANDING KEYS A good understanding of keys is really important. Start by encouraging your pupils to use keys that they are very familiar with. For example: C major & A minor G major & E minor F major & D minor Be sure that your pupils understand how chords are formed from these keys and that they know how inversions work. Once your pupil has picked a key, they should play the chords and their inversions (in that key). In the lesson, ask the pupil to play a random selection. They will soon get the hang of it!
MAKE A PLAN Your pupil needs to decide what mood their composition will be in. Will it be sad, happy, dramatic or tell a story? Whatever the mood, encourage your pupils to use their imagination. Discuss the possibilities and ask your pupil to write down a list of titles from which to choose.
STYLE What style will the piece be written in? Sometimes it s a good idea to mess around on the piano until something happens - and this is something that pupils will get better at the more they do it. The idea is to arrive at a style that suits the mood/title that the pupil has chosen.
TINY MELODIES Writing a melody - does this happen first? For me, not necessarily. Sometimes I think of a bass line first. Then I develop the melody around it. However, it s mostly melody first as this is the most important and memorable part of a composition. The secret is often this: tiny melodies. A melodic motif or a combination of 2 chords often gets the ball rolling for me.
LISTEN Encourage your pupils to listen to as much music as possible - in any style. Listening to music is one the essentials of composition. Without that input, composing music will be challenging. Your pupils need not be afraid to write something they have heard before if it helps them to get going. There is nothing wrong with borrowing a few notes from something else you have heard - as long as you are not selling your work!
WRITE SOMETHING EVERY DAY Just like an athlete lifting weights on a daily basis to become stronger and perform better, our pupils must write consistently to practice the art of composition. The more you write, the better you will become. I started to write music when I was 11 for my school band. Looking back, it sounded like really bad Handel (because I listened to lots of Baroque music at that time!) The influence of other composers on your writing is so important in the beginning. After a while, your pupils will be able to develop their own style and put their own stamp on it. This doesn t mean that our pupils have to write an entirely new piece every day. It just means that they should practice composing a section of music or develop a motif.
DEFINE THE FORM When you set off on a car journey you nearly always have a destination in mind. The same goes for music composition. It s always nice to know where you re going to end up before you start writing. Of course, as with any creative enterprise, anything can happen along the way (and that s ok!) However, defining the form is always a good start and something that I d definitely recommend. For example: A Write an opening 8 bars in your chosen key, possibly with 4 bars repeated B Next you might write another 8 bars in the relative minor (or in the dominant key) - with the option to repeat 4 bars again A Back to your original 8-bar theme
THINK SHAPES Where is your melody going? Get your pupil to draw a simple graph of a piece on manuscript paper as a starter. Then your pupil will write their melody to follow this shape. It s also possible to start by putting the opening bars at the end, perhaps with a small variation.
SING Always encourage your pupils to sing their melody through, then try to write it down. Whatever you do, encourage your pupils to keep it simple. For example, can your pupil sing around the shape of a major triad (major and minor 3rds and a perfect 5th)? That could be your simple starting point! Here s a simple song that uses a major triad: 4 & 4 doh œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Spin - ning top goes round and round, Lis - ten to its hum - ming sound. & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ O - range, yel - low pink and green, Pret - tiest co - lours I have seen.
ANALYSE COMPOSITIONS Another great way for pupils to develop composition skills is to analyse compositions. My composition The Little Blind Donkey has been included in this month s Curiosity Box. Use the Pupil Analysis Workbook, designed for your grade 1-2 pupils in conjunction with this piece, to guide them through the process of analysis.
WITH VERY YOUNG PUPILS A lot of fun can be had by getting them to make up their own tunes using any subject that they enjoy. Animals, Birds, Space, Computer Games, etc. Encourage free expression and see what happens!