This year, our studio theme is “Composing: We Can Too!” At the piano, we usually play other people’s written music. By equipping students with a few simple tools and encouraging them to tap into their own creativity, however, we hope to show our Music Makers how they too can be composers! Our group classes and our quarterly newsletter will center on this theme.

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Creative Constraints: Use Words!

 

Creativity often arises from constraints, and sometimes the hardest part of composing is figuring out what constraints to work with! For a professional composer, creative constraints might be the needs of a particular production (soundtrack, musical, ballet, etc.), the pedagogical needs of a student-oriented piece of music, the performing forces available, or even the length of a recording format (i.e. This album must fit on a 33 LP!).

 

For our Music Makers, creative constraints might relate more to their knowledge of music theory: What five-finger patterns do we know? What chords can I play in my left hand and how fast can I move between them? In our last two newsletters, we've discussed ideas on getting started with melody and harmony. In addition to these tools, writing music to words could be just the spark a student needs to start composing. Is there a favorite story they love to retell? Does your family have a favorite poem? While the composition may not ultimately be sung with words, they can be one more parameter in our creative process.

 

Try it out! Choose a five-finger pattern and see if your Music Maker can create a new melody for the popular nursery rhyme, "Pop Goes the Weasel" or a tune for "Humpty Dumpty."