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Thursday, March 24, 2005
Notes on Teaching Composition

There are probably as many theories of teaching composition as there are composers. I will give you a few of mine, and I�d like to hear yours.

My first comp teacher in college was an old German gentleman, a disciple of Richard Strauss. Would you believe that the only instruction he gave me pertained to my calligraphy. My second teacher, at the University of Texas at Austin, didn�t do much more. For the first assignment he assigned the writing of a passacaglia, all without any background or specifics. He was furious when everyone brought in pieces in the style of J.S.Bach. A year or so later, another teacher instructed us to go out and write something and he would critque the pieces.

It wasn't until I attended Eastman that I began to get some real composition instruction. Wayne Barlow had us begin with the old Percy Goetchius books, supplementing them with study and writing examples using modal and synthetic scales, extended tertian harmony, secundal, and quartal-quintal harmony. It opened a whole new world to me, and set me on the creative and teaching course I have followed since I graduated. Of course, at that time (the late 40s), there was no teaching of atonal theory. I had to investigate that myself some time later.

In the years since, I�ve used a number of different composition texts, and learned by trial and error what works and what doesn�t. Ellis Kohs had an interesting approach, but proved too complicated for my students. Persichetti�s book was interesting, but, again, more as a compendium of techniques. I found what worked in my classes was to be as specific as possible. For example, I began by giving students 2 or 3 notes to use in short projects for their own instruments. I preceded this by devoting some time to techniques of motive variation. I showed them that, even with material as limited as this, it�s possible to employ unity, variety, and contrast. When the pieces were finished, the class heard and evaluated each student�s efforts. Later, we wrote examples of formal units- phrase and period construction, part forms, sonatina, and the variation forms. More advanced students studied and wrote using the ideas of Paul Hindemith and the Second Viennese School.
posted by Robert Jordahl 3/24/2005



 
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