Student Critiques
Over the years, I’ve had my students critique each other a number of times. Mostly its been for their performances of pieces in our group Performance Classes. We’ve used a variety of materials to do this from the Performance Class Worksheet (there are 4 of them on this page) to a simple piece of paper on which students write 1 thing they liked and 1 thing they think could be improved. I think I am like most teachers when I say that sometimes this process makes me a little nervous.
by Oude School
Perhaps this nervousness is why I’ve been more reluctant to use peer critiques of composition and creative projects. But, I know that my use of student critique in regular piano performance is not as extensive as it could be. This quote from the Vermont MIDI Project is making me rethink my cursory use of student critiques:
Students should view and listen to each other’s work frequently. They learn new ideas from each other and use them in their own pieces. As they develop more musical vocabulary, they discuss the music itself, not individuals, and this helps to depersonalize the critique. It takes time to teach critique, and it may seem that the investment is not worthwhile at the beginning, but as the class builds skills in this area, their comments are more insightful, the process runs more smoothly, and the impact on their future work is significant.
“The impact on their future work is significant…” I think that sentence is enough to make any of us rethink how often and how deeply we use student critiques in the studio. I wholeheartedly agree that this sentence is true, but the fact that “it takes time to teach critique, and it may seem that the investment is not worthwhile at the beginning” keeps me from committing wholeheartedly to making this an integral year round part of my studio routine. Students are extremely influenced by their peers, so why not tap into this in our teaching?
I’d love to know your thoughts on the usefulness of critiques. How have you used them in your studio? Have they been beneficial?
Read More20th C Scandal: Performing but Not Composing?
Thanks to a teaching friend* on Google+, I was alerted to a short article by Stephen Hough called Can You Be a Musician and Not Write Music? which talked about how the 19th century public would have viewed musicians who performed, but didn’t compose. I’m not alerting you to this to make you add “compose major work” to your New Years resolutions, but I did think his observations were quite interesting.
I have often written about and spoken about the issue of pianist-composers, pointing out that until the 2nd World War it was virtually unheard of for someone only to play the piano and not to write music as well. To arrive in a town to play only someone else’s compositions in the 19th century would have provoked a raised and not entirely approving eyebrow. Every great instrumentalist was not a great composer, but each one wrote music, published music, performed their own music. Learning how to compose musical notes is no more difficult than learning how to write words – it is a technique.
The article gives one excellent point about the benefits of helping our students compose music with which I wholeheartedly agree. Stephen says,
I do think that music students should be required to write music. We look at other composers’ notes on the page in a different way when we have struggled to write our own. If we have spent time debating where exactly to place a certain dynamic marking or how to space a chord I think we will look at those same issues in the music we play by others in a different, in a more intelligent way.
I’m looking forward to reading his follow-up post about this which has has promised. I’ll pass it on when it’s posted.
*Thanks LaDona Ahenda! *photo by rockmixerRead More
Judge these Lyrics Please?
Okay, my fellow teachers, musicians, and friends, we need your help! Would you be willing to judge my student’s lyrics for our lyric writing contest this year? Here are the details:
Our Christmas recital theme is “My Favorite Things” and each student was asked to write new lyrics to that tune that is in every elementary Christmas book, but which no student ever knows. You know the one…Good King Wenceslas, or better known as “Good King W” in my studio. The original lyrics tell a great story, but again one that no one knows, so I thought it would be fun to show the students that they could be lyricists as well as musicians. I asked them to write a verse about some of their favorite things at Christmas time. I will have someone sing the winning lyrics at our Christmas program while 2 of my older students accompany them using lead sheets, which is a skill we have worked a lot on in the last 6 months.
I divided the students into 2 age groups: 6-11 and 12-19. Would you help choose a winner from both groups? To do so, simply take a look at the music/lyrics and leave a comment about which number you like for the older students and which you like for the younger students. Please simply choose the best lyrics (whether they are about things you like or not) for the music. In all cases, you will have to mentally insert a few eighth notes to make the lyrics work, but it should be self explanatory.
I have to say this was a super fun activity and I loved how I could see the personalities of each student in their lyrics. They were quite creative!
Thank you for helping me find a winner! Here are the 2 pieces of music with all the verses to choose from. Please leave a comment about which verse you like best for both the elementary and older students. Thanks!
Elementary Students_Good King W
*Thumbnail image by GryffindorRead More
The End-of-Project Sharing Element
Do you ever wonder why there isn’t more excitement about what you think are fun projects in your studio? Shouldn’t art projects, composing their own music, sight-reading challenges, etc. be thrilling for students?
I’m reading a book called Using Technology to Unlock Musical Creativity and the author Scott Watson talks about 8 principles for unlocking music creativity. I think his principles are fantastic and every teacher should read the book to improve their teaching. Just now I was struck by principle #8 just now where he states,
One of the best ways to ensure that students are motivated to work earnestly toward a good end product is to include an end-of-project sharing element into the plan…During these presentations students can share the fruits of their labor and feel a sense of celebrity for their creative efforts.
I think that the reason that more students aren’t interested in creative music projects is that there is no end-of-project sharing that is promised. I’ll give you an example.
Read MoreA Fun Christmas Project
This year, I’ve decided to make “Creativity at Christmas” my theme for this year’s Christmas recital. I have a whole list of creative projects that students will be encouraged to participate in and many of these will be shared at the recital. But, as I was brainstorming for this, I was reminded about how much fun it was when my kids did their Jingle Bells Variations a few years ago.
I found that this was a great way to introduce students to the theme and variations form as well as help them take what they were learning about alberti bass, seventh chords, ostinatos, etc. and apply them to their own creation (a great way to reinforce a concept!) Here’s the video along with a link to the previous post describing how we did this. You’ll notice that the students don’t play perfectly…that wasn’t the goal here. (It’s a long video, but feel free to skip around to get the idea.)
Read the Jingle Bells Variations post from a few years ago for details about how to do this project.
Read More
Instrument Ranges Chart
I was teaching a few short term composition students this summer and came across this wonderful chart of instrument ranges that so beautifully illustrates the ranges of most instruments. I love it that it also further emphasizes to the student how powerfully broad the piano is in its own amazing range.
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