A classroom activity - composition task (developing creative skills)

Talented pupils may quickly show an aptitude for creating their own music and may very well excel in composing and creating rather than performance. However, it should be noted that most successful composers do display considerable instrumental or vocal skills although, with the rise of the creative use of ICT, this may not always be the case at a professional level.

In developing composition work with children, teachers will need to plan a progressive and developmental programme of musical ideas and techniques. Many teachers do map the musical skills and knowledge to be learnt over time, and this offers a useful aide memoire for planning extension work. For the most able child, the teacher will need to provide these as extension ideas which will challenge their creative processes. In this way, the teacher differentiates by pre-designed task, although outcomes will vary according to the creative and technical abilities of the pupil.

In many composition lessons, the teacher may wish to develop a particular musical idea or concept. This may be related to harmonic or melodic work or to a particular style or genre from a particular time or place. For example, a teacher may wish to develop a pupil's harmonic understanding by devising a task using chords, and in particular chord clusters. The pupils listen to some music by Debussy, Keith Jarrett and Ligeti, and a set of chords which feature different chord structures, as prepared by the teacher. These may range from simple chords (consisting of three or four lettered notes) to complex chord changes (up to three or four chords). The very able pupil can be further challenged by being asked to compose for a variety of media, score the parts, prepare the work for performance and conduct the final piece.