Why Teach Composition to Children

Why should I teach my students to compose?

Children are naturally creative. It’s one of the things that distinguishes us from other living species.
The self-esteem and confidence of children thrive when they create something they know is a part of them.
Student’s understand of music theory improves dramatically when composing. Even if you are the one writing the piece down, having the student edit their own work by adding dynamics and other such details improves their musical understanding dramatically.
Students who compose gain a deeper respect for the details that other composers use.
I have had students who love to change the music of other composers to suit their tastes, but when I am playing the piece that they have created, they really react if I don’t follow every detail. This is usually a moment of clarity for them as they begin to realize that the composers of other pieces are just like them in that they like their pieces to be performed accurately!
You as the composition teacher are able to introduce more advanced concepts long before they are introduced to them in their method books. An exposure to new sounds and rhythms (quartal and quintal harmonies, sequences, dissonance, resolution, triplets, syncopation, etc.) will expand their harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary much sooner than usual.
Children seem to always want to play music that is harder than they can read! Composing and playing their own compositions undoubtedly will yield music that is more difficult than they typically play. For example, method books don’t teach dotted rhythms for a long time, but that doesn’t mean students aren’t capable of playing them. Accidentals may not be taught for a while, but that doesn’t mean the student can’t play them or use them! When they do not have music in front of them, students are not restricted in what they can play, so they often come up with much more advanced rhythms and concepts when they compose.
Composing music empowers children. Children spend a lot of their waking hours doing what they’ve been told to do, playing what they’ve been told to play. They spend hours in front of music that dictates every last detail of how they are supposed to sound. Composing their own music allows them to be in control and to make their own decisions which builds their confidence. Many children never get that opportunity.
You never know where a student’s gifts lie. Perhaps they’ll never be a performer or a teacher, but the fields of arranging, composing, orchestrating, editing, composing film music, etc. may be opened to them if you expose them to composition in your studio.