The greatest contribution my own early piano teacher Mr. Ball made to my musical development was to listen to my compositions. Often, after all of my scales, exercises, and pieces were played, he would sit back and listen to my latest noodling on the keys. Through his encouragement I soon realized that I was not just noodling, I was composing.

I see this daily with my own students. The student whom we teachers suspect of daydreaming, her hands stirring up and down the keys, may in truth be improvising at the piano, and not aware that music is being created. As a teacher, we can try to make the student aware that she is indeed composing. “Tamara, did you know that you were just making up your own music?” “I am?”

Awareness is the first step in children acknowledging their own innovations. Composing is a natural activity, like dancing or singing – it just happens. But it is far too easy to dismiss these early attempts as disobedience. With a little guidance and awareness raising, we can create an atmosphere that fosters students’ creative sides.

It is, I would maintain, a more powerful learning experience for the student to be accepted where she is. Just leave the pieces alone, change very little, and the student will write more clearly as they get older.

Dan Kennedy

The piano is a great instrument for composing, but students of other instruments, strings, brass, woodwind, can become accomplished composers as well. All of my budding composers were piano students at first, but branched out. A handful switched to composition completely at some point in high school, but the majority want to continue with an instrument. Most composers start writing around the age of 12.

I do not recommend that the student try to notate their pieces initially. This is too cumbersome a task, which may or may not be age appropriate. Rather, have the students play their pieces by heart. Ask them to play the piece again. If the student is improvising, the “same” piece will come out differently. If the student is composing, then he can play his composition a second time, and it will be identical to the first performance. An identical repetition of a student’s composition by heart indicates readiness to physically notate the piece by hand; it is time to take out pencil and paper. 

If you’re working remotely, and students have handwritten scores to send you, it works best if the student’s family has a scanner. The scanner can then generate a file such as a PDF. Having the student photograph their paper and emailing that way usually looks too washed out for me, but it could work in a pinch, especially if the student pays extra attention to the lighting. Have the students send in their pieces the day before the lesson so the teacher can go process them in a calm, organized way.

I generally believe in having the students write down their composing by hand. This can satisfy the student to have it written out, but many often will switch to a notation program on a computer for a final draft. You really have to teach them how to notate. The most time efficient way to do this at the lesson is to edit their music, correcting their notation. I remember seeing a photo of the legendary John Williams at work, and all he had in his room was a grand piano, and a table adorned only with a can of pencils. What more does one need?!

Through teaching composing, we are also teaching music theory, for when the student’s own composition necessitates the use of lines and spaces, clefs, barlines, stems, flags, staccati, dotted quarter notes, and whole rests, etc., a wealth of learning occurs because the student demands to know what these symbols mean. Every student should be able to notate something. A little theory goes a long way.

A fun thing to do is to compile books of student compositions, and encourage the children to add artwork to the books. In this way, students will end up with their compositions in their hands, and a sense of satisfaction.

Interestingly, the teacher does not need to be a composer to allow their students to compose, just a sounding board. But, I would caution against changing the students’ notes around. It is tempting to try to “fix” or re-compose the student’s works. It is one thing to help the student notate a piece (I find the rhythm is always the hardest thing to notate), but it is another to inject our own sense of form and idea. The student may come up with some pretty weird stuff – but that’s OK.

One final plea to teachers: PROGRAM your students’ compositions on recitals. It’s amazing what happens! While it’s ok to play the student’s works for them, the student should have the option to play their own work. Having a recital date gives composers a deadline (a deadline is a beautiful thing!). Your recitals will be a little more varied and interesting for the parents this way, plus your students will have immense pride in their perhaps newfound ability. 

Not every student wants to spend extra time composing, but many do. My job when I teach Composition is to ‘allow’ the music, not discourage it. Let’s remember to dwell in possibility.

Final Thoughts

1. Take early improv & compositional efforts seriously.

2. Don’t try to “reform” or “rework” the compositions. If the student is writing jazz, let them write jazz. Remember my mantra: “Allow.”

3. For a piece the student has decided to work on, goals and deadlines are best, i.e., “Write another 12 measures for next week,” and, “The piece has to be done by the first lesson of February.”

Composer, clinician, and piano recording artist Daniel J. Kennedy has taught privately for 22 years. A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory and New England Conservatory, a few of his young composition students have attended Harvard, Amherst College, Berklee, Yale, and BUTI (the junior division of Tanglewood). Kennedy has also served as Artist-in-Residence in the Deer Park, WA Public Schools. Dan can be contacted at dankennedypiano@yahoo.com, or through his website www.dankennedy.us.

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