An Investigation into the Effectiveness of a Mixed Economy Approach to Classroom Songwriting
An Investigation into the effectiveness of a Mixed Economy approach to Classroom Songwriting
Introduction
Within this research assignment I wish to investigate whether it is possible to develop a curriculum for musical composition using a combination of approaches to content and pedagogy. Whilst much has been written about the prevailing virtues of compositional practice upon a child’s development, relatively little has been written upon the actual implementation of composition in practice.
As we shall see, the gulf between approaches to composition may have led to confusion and a tendency towards incorporating a restrictive framework for its teaching, and ultimately a wide disparity in approaches to assessment.
From my previous research, I have encountered various ideas and practices in delivering composition lessons in music:
Clearly children cannot ‘create’ or ‘compose’ out of nothing. They need plenty of background ideas and suggestions; the teacher has a central role [in]providing pupils with guidance and direction. (Plummeridge, 1991: p52)
The above quote suggests a need to provide a clear framework when designing composition practices in the classroom. Savage suggests that too firm a framework only serves to stifle creativity:
…too often pupils’ latent interest is suffocated by on over-prescription of content and formalisation of ideas. (SAVAGE, informal approaches online from his blog sort)
I have chosen to design and deliver a composition scheme of work, which allows the pupils to tell their own story and set out their own creative path, which for the purposes of this assignment will be called the Inspiration model. However I am conscious that this model may not be suited to all pupils, so will design this scheme to swiftly identify these pupils and provide a prescribed song-writing brief to reflect this. This model will be called the Commission model. These two approaches will be designed to run concurrently. This
Introduction
Within this research assignment I wish to investigate whether it is possible to develop a curriculum for musical composition using a combination of approaches to content and pedagogy. Whilst much has been written about the prevailing virtues of compositional practice upon a child’s development, relatively little has been written upon the actual implementation of composition in practice.
As we shall see, the gulf between approaches to composition may have led to confusion and a tendency towards incorporating a restrictive framework for its teaching, and ultimately a wide disparity in approaches to assessment.
From my previous research, I have encountered various ideas and practices in delivering composition lessons in music:
Clearly children cannot ‘create’ or ‘compose’ out of nothing. They need plenty of background ideas and suggestions; the teacher has a central role [in]providing pupils with guidance and direction. (Plummeridge, 1991: p52)
The above quote suggests a need to provide a clear framework when designing composition practices in the classroom. Savage suggests that too firm a framework only serves to stifle creativity:
…too often pupils’ latent interest is suffocated by on over-prescription of content and formalisation of ideas. (SAVAGE, informal approaches online from his blog sort)
I have chosen to design and deliver a composition scheme of work, which allows the pupils to tell their own story and set out their own creative path, which for the purposes of this assignment will be called the Inspiration model. However I am conscious that this model may not be suited to all pupils, so will design this scheme to swiftly identify these pupils and provide a prescribed song-writing brief to reflect this. This model will be called the Commission model. These two approaches will be designed to run concurrently. This