Kansas Music Standard #3: The teacher of music has skills in composing and arranging music.
Knowledge
- The teacher knows the ranges and traditional usages of various musical sound sources.
Performance
- The teacher composes music appropriate for various developmental stages.
- The teacher uses imagination and technical skill in applying the principles of composition.
- The
teacher transcribes or arranges selected music for voices and
instruments other than those for which the pieces were written in ways
that preserve or enhance musical expression.
Composing
and arranging in the music classroom is an
important skill because the teacher will experience many situations
which
require composition or arrangement of an existing piece. My experiences
in
theory, instrumental technique, and arranging classes have given me the
opportunity
to increase my abilities to compose new works or arrange existing
works. For
example, each of my theory classes required a composition which was
also
performed for the classroom. My percussion technique class required
many
compositions during the study of the multiple percussion instruments.
This allowed me to apply my theory knowledge in a concrete manner. My
instrumentation and arranging class also required arrangements of
pieces such
as my arrangement of the Bach Chorale “A Child is Born in Bethlehem”
arranged for flute, oboe,
clarinet, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, and glockenspiel. This
allowed me to explore the relationship of an arrangement for a choir,
and how the Bach Chorale can be expanded to an instrumental ensemble.