The aspiring composer's development is commonly described using the metaphor of finding one's own composer voice. A central goal for teaching composition in higher music education is to guide students toward finding such a voice--toward personal expression and creativity. In order to shed light on the teaching strategies associated with this goal,…

This study aims to assess personal creativity and the development of higher-order thinking skills in improvisation. The authors evaluated higher-order thinking skills in music improvisation and creativity of improvised musical compositions. The results of the t-test showed significant progress in both creativity and thinking skills among students…

Making Music: Composing "with" Young Musicians is a multi-year, multi-site research project partnered with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and the Canadian Music Centre to commission composers to collaborate with teachers and students (age 11 to 18) to write a piece of music. This article outlines findings on the analysis and…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the process of composing educational music. As part of a research project titled "Sound Connections: Composing Educational Music" Canadian composers completed email interviews, responding to semi-structured questions about the process of composing educational music. Using…

Musical composition is widely considered to be a fundamental component of good musicianship. Recent state and national standards make it clear that preservice music teachers will be expected to include the teaching of musical composition in their curricula when they enter the field. The purpose of this study was to investigate the integration of…

Evidence found throughout the history of Western European art music reveals traditions that encompassed improvisation. This furthers the idea that without improvisation, music education based on canonized works of Western European art music is incomplete. When the goal of music education is to preserve works exactly as notated, improvisation…

This study explores learners' perspectives on the prevalent pedagogy being followed in an institutionalized setup in teaching Hindustani music; their preferences for learning (one to one, one to many, etc.) and the importance of riaz to them; the dynamics of teacher-student relationship; and the factors contributing to their creative music making.…

Interdisciplinary teaching and interpretation of technology for various applications provides a challenging and engaging environment for students to enhance their creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. This paper presents results of a joint effort between faculty in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology and the…

The purpose of this research was to investigate teachers' beliefs about compositional experiences in the elementary music classroom. Elementary music teachers (N = 176) in Michigan completed a researcher-designed questionnaire, which included a combination of forced-choice and open-ended questions regarding how teachers define composition, why…

Some educators have expressed a belief that smart phones and tablet devices will revolutionize teaching in technology-based music instruction. Arguably, such devices are the next step in music pedagogy. Some have suggested that the emergence of the iPad in the music technology landscape will democratize music making further in the same way that…