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.

Rationale

It is important for teachers of music to have skills in composing and arranging music in order to be successful in the classroom. Without understanding how composition works, it is nearly impossible for a teacher to fully analyze pieces they have selected for their students so that they can teach them well. By being unable to decipher why a composer made the compositional decisions he or she made or the specific sound the composer was going for, it will be difficult to be true to the music and will likely cause a disconnect between the conductor and ensemble and the music. Composition and arranging skills are also important for teachers to have so that they can rewrite parts in order to fit their student clientele and capabilities. Having the ability to arrange music also makes so many more pieces of music accessible to students. This way, for example, a very important piano or orchestra piece can be arranged for band students, or vice versa so that students receive a more well-rounded music education.

Artifact #1: Theory IV composition project

This is a two-part piece I wrote for an a cappella treble choir or a soprano/alto duet. The text comes from the Kyrie movement of the Mass Ordinary. The piece might be something to incorporate when teaching about early music, as I have incorporated some elements of chant into the piece. Writing this piece taught me a lot about writing for voice, modal writing, and early music.

Artifact #2: Instrumentation and Arranging Final Project

For my final project in my instrumentation and arranging class, I arranged Béla Bartók’s piano piece, “Diminished Fifth” from Mikrokosmos, for oboe, Bb clarinet, vibraphone, viola, and cello. As I arranged this piece, I learned about the capabilities and ranges of each instrument and how to take a musical idea and transform it into something that could be conveyed in a different way through different instrumentation. My experience arranging music will help me arrange music that does not have the right instrumentation for my ensemble to fit my ensemble. It will also help me to modify any parts that my students may be having difficulty with to help scaffold their learning as they work toward playing the written part.