At the home of Adele Dreyer, Westwood MA
TEACHING COMPOSITION TO STUDENTS OF ALL AGES
Presented by Deborah Yardley Beers, Donna Gross Javel, Ruth Shyu
Donna Gross Javel started her presentation with an anecdote demonstrating how she overcame her own fear of improvisation and went on to eventually publish compositions based on her improvisations (AnythingPiano Publications). Donna mentioned her Dalcroze studies with Lisa Parker and Anne Farber as having been major influences in helping to "unlock her creative juices".
Although Donna considers herself a piano teacher rather than a composition teacher, she enjoys working on improvisation and composition with her piano students. She feels strongly that students of all levels can benefit from learning to think and respond creatively and freely. Not only is the process of creating your own music enjoyable, learning to "think compositionally" can also provide valuable insight into the repertoire a student is studying. If a student is hesitant to improvise, it can be helpful to narrow down the choices of notes (black keys only, specific intervals, clusters), focusing on something specific such as the mood or atmosphere, a rhythmic pattern, ostinatos, repetition, form, melody, harmony etc..
Donna also talked a little about the reciprocity of inspiration between her and her students. Her students seem to enjoy commenting on her own compositions. As her own interest in improvisation and composition has increased, her students have become more and more interested in improvising which in turn has encouraged her to do more and more of it on her own and with her students.
Deborah Yardley Beers does not teach composition: she is a pianist and teaches piano. As she started to become serious about composing in the last few years, she has noticed that her own approach to the piano and teaching shifted. In her presentation, she shared ways in which her new insights might help piano teachers support their students' learning, whether they are interested in piano or composition.
Debbie spoke of the challenges of notating a musical experience accurately, and of translating notation into a musical performance. She feels it is important to teach both the study of notation e.g. reading and the development of musical experiences and musical performances. She shared a variety of ways to develop musical experiences and musical playing through the teaching of improvisation. Her teaching of improvisation has been influenced by classes she took years ago from Eloise Ristad, and later, at the Longy School, by Lisa Parker. She concluded by inviting teachers to spend five minutes each day improvising or composing and to discover the benefits both to themselves and to their students that can result.
People can find out more about her compositions and her piano teaching by visiting www.deborahyardleybeers.com
Ruth Y. Shyu shared her experience incorporating composition training in piano lessons and suggested the following:
1. How to identify a talented student and set up the lessons accordingly
a) How to tell if a student has talent and interest:
- has good ears
- learns cadence patterns quickly (can hear harmony well)
- learn to identify intervals quickly (major vs. minor 3rd, 5th vs. octave)
- has good short-term memory of melodies and rhythm
- improvises on his/her own
b) How to set up the lessons:
- Extend lesson time to at least 1 hour if at all possible
- all students who are doing some composition work are taking 1 hr lessons
- all had parental understanding and consent for this
2. Teach the basics behind composition first
a) Scales, Chords & Arpeggios - "finger competence" for improvisation
Recommended: "Scales, Chords and Arpeggios" by Bastien
b) Ear Training / Solfege - "ear competence" for improvisation
Recommended: - "Four Star Sight-Reading & Ear Tests"
- "The Royal Conservatory of Music Official Exam. Syllabus" (Frederick Harris Music) ear-test requirements
- Berklee's Ear-Training Workbook 1 (Berklee Press)
c) Theory - "conceptual and notational" competence for composition
Recommended: "Elementary Music Rudiments" by Mark Sarnecki
(Frederick Harris Music). Three levels: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced,
which correspond to NMCP Gd. 5, 6 and 7 theory exams material.
Computer scoring software: Sibelius, Finale, www.noteflight.com.
3. Use short and focused composition exercises
The principle goal in these short exercises is to get the student to learn to have control when they compose.
a) Use 4 bar exercises for the following
-harmonizing a melody
-writing a melody above a given harmonic progression
b) Learn the technique of reusing material:
- writing a rhythm using a rhythmic motif
- writing a melody using a melodic motif
c) Melody writing exercises using 8 bars to introduce the ideas of:
- Question and Answer - understanding V-I relationship: Ode to Joy
- Parallel versus contrasting constructions
Parallel: Mary Had a Little Lamb
Contrasting Construction: This Old Man
4. Use composition projects with very specific guidelines
a) Transition gradually from 4-bar exercises to 8-bar songs
b) Teach one or two key stylistic musical elements at a time
c) Imitate the masters - learning how to use form on a larger scale
d) Theme and Variation - learning how to create different texture and therefore mood and color.
Use lots of examples: major versus minor, chordal versus arpeggiated accompaniment, convert regular 8th to triplets, switch hands, staccato versus legato, reharmonize, considerably different tempo and possibly meter, etc.
5. How to Encourage Students
a) Train them on the basics behind composition as early as possible to enable them to experiment on their own at the piano
(playing scales, ET/solfege, theory)
b) Build student's skills up a little at a time. Never ask student to "paint on a blank
canvas." Instead, give assignments in suitable size and scope, with very specific
directions and/or constraints with lots of examples.
c) Buy students a small, composition notebook with staff lines of the appropriate width. Younger students need wider lines!
d) Never force a student to write things down if they can't yet. Allow them to compose and perform their work by improvisation until they have developed the ability to write their music down.
e) Never discourage a student from "fooling around at the piano" or "playing stuff that is not part of the assigned homework".
f) Put their pieces on a recital program to encourage them.
g) Serve as a role model by performing your own work at recitals for your students and invite students to come to recitals/concerts where your work is being performed.
h) Serve as role model by writing music suitable for your students to perform at recitals.
Submitted by Linda Vieira
New England Piano Teachers' Association 
