The Creating Child (Reflection on Ch. 10)

p. 248-249 "Teaching music without having children compose would be like teaching art without having children draw or paint, or teaching writing by having children copy other people's work... All children, however, can benefit, both musically and cognitively, from active involvement in the creation, not just the re-creation, of music."

I think I disagree with this statement. I definitely believe that composition, improvisation, and arranging are extremely important parts of any music education program, but I think it's unfair to compare composition to the copying of other people's work. I think this devalues the performance of music by describing it as merely the reproduction of something which already exists. Like dance, music exists in the moment in which it is being performed - visual art does as well, but it continues to exist before and after that point. If music is written down, it continues to exist, but not in the same way in which it does when something is able to perceived aurally. I know this is a really abstract concept, but the nature of music is distinct because of this fact. Is performance simply the re-creation of music? How are they defining music? Side thought: this would be a really great discussion to have with a high school level general music class - what is music?

p. 254 "The possibilities for improvisation are endless."

I like how improvisation is discussed in this chapter - I think it's something that seems a little scary, even though it really isn't when you think about it. Because so often we associate improvisation with virtuosic jazz musicians (as is mentioned in the book), I think it's assumed that improvisation is a skill available only to a talented few, when really we do it all the time, and could do so more purposefully and with a better educational focus.

p. 262 "Children are natural inventors of song."

Earlier this year, I spent a day hanging out with my cousins (ages 5, 7, 9, and 11) during which we played with GarageBand and iMovie, creating songs and videos together. The 5 and 7 year olds worked collaboratively, as did the 9 and 11 year olds. With the younger group, I used the pre-made clips from GarageBand, allowing them to choose whichever sounds they liked in whatever arrangement sounded good to them (the one guidance I provided here was in pitch - I made sure that the clips were all in the same key...). With the older group, they picked out some rhythm clips, arranged them into a specific order, then played guitar and sang over the percussion and bass clips. We were having a great time (and that was the fastest 6 hours I've ever spent with four children under 12...) and I wasn't even thinking of this as an educational experience, even though it was (though highly unstructured). I wondered later whether they would have the opportunity to have similar experiences (composition, using musical technology, etc.) in any of their future music classes. I would hope that they do. All four live in households which value music and music education (and at least one of each of their parents are musicians). Who knows... maybe I could end up as one of their music teachers in the future!