My students are hard at work this month preparing for the Texas Music Teacher Association Original Composition Contest and Music Theory Exam. For the Composition Contest they compose a piece for soloist or ensemble including a score and CD recording. The local contest deadline is October 15th. Student's who earn a Superior rating are eligible to submit their pieces to the state level contest in January.
The TMTA Music Theory Exam is held at the University of Texas at Austin in early November. Students usually take the exam at grade level. Topics range from basic note-reading and key signature recognition in the early grades to 4-part harmony and composition of simple melodic lines for upper grades. All students must pass rhythmic and melodic dication from the simplest interval recognition to four measure melodies. It's a great way for them to understand not only how to read music fluently but how music is put together.
As a rule I include lots of theory and composition exercises in my lesson plans. It seems strange to me that other teachers don't. We expect students to learn not only how to read but how to write in language arts classes. Why not teach music students not only how to read and analyze music but how to write it as well? Writing music is very much like writing an essay or poem or letter. You take it one note at a time, scribble a draft and refine. Understanding that process is vital to really get inside music. A student who has learned to compose even a simple 8 measure melody will have a much keener understanding of her piano pieces, how music is divided into phrases that relate to each other and create a sense of progress through time. Theory isn't busy work, it's vital to an appreciation of the very nature and structure of music without which it is, to quote Shakespeare, just "sound and fury signifying nothing."
The TMTA Music Theory Exam is held at the University of Texas at Austin in early November. Students usually take the exam at grade level. Topics range from basic note-reading and key signature recognition in the early grades to 4-part harmony and composition of simple melodic lines for upper grades. All students must pass rhythmic and melodic dication from the simplest interval recognition to four measure melodies. It's a great way for them to understand not only how to read music fluently but how music is put together.
As a rule I include lots of theory and composition exercises in my lesson plans. It seems strange to me that other teachers don't. We expect students to learn not only how to read but how to write in language arts classes. Why not teach music students not only how to read and analyze music but how to write it as well? Writing music is very much like writing an essay or poem or letter. You take it one note at a time, scribble a draft and refine. Understanding that process is vital to really get inside music. A student who has learned to compose even a simple 8 measure melody will have a much keener understanding of her piano pieces, how music is divided into phrases that relate to each other and create a sense of progress through time. Theory isn't busy work, it's vital to an appreciation of the very nature and structure of music without which it is, to quote Shakespeare, just "sound and fury signifying nothing."
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