There is nothing quite comparable to the excitement experienced when we are able to create something unique that we can call our own. We see it so innocently when a child draws us a picture, an infant makes all sorts of new sounds with their pots and pans, and especially when a piano student walks into our studio saying, “Guess what! I made up a new song! Do you want to hear it?” Learning to capitalize on this excitement for creativity in the piano lesson will help students enjoy their lessons more and continue their study longer.
While we all probably acknowledge the value of encouraging creativity, I am finding that many piano teachers feel ill-equipped to know how to help piano student improve their compositions. As a result, students are left with general comments like, “That was nice” or “Wow, that was so pretty” and are given little with which they can improve their next composition. This is not to blame the piano teacher, but just illustrates that there is a need for some general education in composition.
There are some very simple things that a teacher can do which will go a long way in helping students be better composers. In the next few months, I would like to share a series of posts about these simple techniques to assist you as you encourage creativity in your studio. If you encourage your students to create using new concepts you teach, they will actually retain the new information better which results in a win-win for the piano teacher and student! (Stay tuned for an article about this in an upcoming AMT.)
This new segment will be called “Composition Corner” and will function a bit like an interactive workshop. There will be several lessons on teaching composition and then I will ask you to weigh in on what you might say to a student who brings in a composition (examples will be given). Hopefully, this will give you some practical experience in what to say and how to help your students. I will comment on your comments as well as tell you what I might say to specific students and music.
Look for the Composition Corner on the blog every Tuesday in January and February. If you are a Facebook fan, you can “like” the ComposeCreate page so that you can receive updates in your newsfeed for new blog posts.
I hope this will be of benefit! Please let me know if you have specific questions that you would like to have addressed in Composition Corner.
I look forward to your posts. This is an area I had very little experience with as a student.