Composing Music with Westlawn Elementary Students

I had the opportunity to teach some amazing students this year through the Mobile Symphony’s Preludes music program. This program is designed to give first and second graders weekly instruction in basic music concepts, and I had a blast working with the children at Westlawn Elementary!

Through the school year we studied a variety of things including music with a steady beat, call and response, basic rhythmic notation, and a variety of other musical terms and concepts. As the year drew to a close I decided to have a little fun with these creative students. We took some of the tools we learned and put them to good musical use. We composed music!

I first thought to myself, “How in the world am I going to direct eight classes of 15-20 students in a music composition project?” Then I thought to myself, “Maybe we shouldn’t do this.” Then I thought to myself, “No, this is going to be FUN!” And off we jumped into the wide world of music composition.

If you are interested in how I approached this project then feel free to continue reading. If you are ready to hear to the two pieces of music we composed together as a group then go ahead and scroll to the bottom of this page. Two audio files are awaiting your ears…

Approach and Implementation

I initially approached both grades the same. We listened to a short piece of music entitled “Red” that I had composed a few years ago. I wanted the students to hear this music because I approached the composition from the aspect of rhythm.

“Red” is part of a composition about color that was commissioned by the Alabama Contemporary Dance Company. It was performed by The Silverwood Quarter and has accompanied multiple dance performances. I was happy to learn another choreographer used the piece for a completely different dance concept a few years after Alabama Contemporary Dance had commissioned it.

Red:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Creating Rhythm…

So if you just listened to “Red” then you heard a piece of music that was very repetitive and rhythmic. This is exactly what the children heard. After listening to “Red” we reviewed the music notes we had learned, (quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes and quarter rests). I then brought in three djembes and a cajon. From there I brought up four students at a time and had each group of four create a four beat rhythm using the previously mentioned rhythmic notes.

Creating Melody…

This is where the first and second grade approach became different. With the first grade classes I decided to focus on rhythm. Well, in all honesty we started their composition project after the second graders and we ran out of time to review all the first grade pitches we had studied. So, in light of the time limitations I decided that I would pick the pitches to accompany the first grade rhythms.

In the second grade classes I began reviewing the pitches we had learned which basically made up the pentatonic scale. We reviewed the notes through a call and response vocal game, (SO LA SO LA, DO RE MI — MY NAME IS DAVID, WHO ARE YOU?) I then played them the very famous pentatonic melody, “Amazing Grace” and continued a few more solfege vocal games to help them internalize the notes. After the pitch review, I called upon each group of four and had them match pitches to the rhythms they had created.

Completing the Compositions…

After obtaining all of this information from the students I then took each four beat rhythm from the first graders, each four beat melody from the second graders, went home, locked myself in the studio for one day, and had fun putting together two musical puzzles. I believe all of the students had fun and enjoyed the opportunity to create music. I know I had a wonderful time with these children, they taught me a great deal and I learned a ton through implementing this composition project.

Tremendous Thanks…

A tremendous thanks to the first grade teachers, Mrs. Bilbry, Mrs. Hetzman, Ms. Shipman, and Mrs. Cooper, and the second grade teachers, Mrs. Rogers, Ms. Phillips, Mrs. Mather, and Mrs. Fowlkes for allowing me to invade your classrooms on a weekly basis. I know I occasionally left your students a bit overly energized but I sincerely thank you for letting me come in and teach music to your students. I would also like to thank Mrs. Lynda Finley, Westlawn’s Principal, for opening your doors to the Mobile Symphony Preludes Program.

And Finally, The Compositions…

First Grade:

Audio file of the first grade composition:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you would like to download the first grade audio file to your computer then right click here and choose to save the file to your computer.

Second Grade:

Audio file of the second grade composition:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you would like to download the second grade audio file to your computer then right click here and choose to save the file to your computer.