Mr. B's Blog

Young Composers and Improvisers Workshop www.yciw.net Teaching composition is no easy task as the majority of pedagogical resources available lack the understanding of the typical classroom anatomy. Many teachers feel uncomfortable teaching this subject as we were not taught such concepts in our college pedagogy courses and may have never really delved into composition in our own role of music maker.  This really puts us out of our comfort zone, and yet the benefits of a successful composition curriculum can become a catalyst for increased meaningful music making for our students .   A music teacher in New York by the name of Matt McLean set out to debunk the common misconceptions we sometimes envision in classroom music composition.   Matt created the non-profit organization and curriculum called the Young Composers and Improvisers Workshop (YCIW).  He notes that “as a music educator I've seen my students develop their strongest connection to music when they are given

Concert Band Turned Composer Band Create, Perform, Publish to the World! www.composinginband.weebly.com The Why? Elementary general music curriculum has a strong compositional and improvisational background through various teaching methods.  In addition, music technology electives are popping up in many middle and high schools which usually involve music creation as part of its natural being.  But in concert band, a time and place which has trained instrumentalists ready to perform, we usually leave the creative touch to those students who are in the jazz band.  Students who want to dig deeper into music might take a theory class filled with vocabulary and drill.  What if there was a way to marry the performance ability of concert band students with their untapped creativity by channeling their understanding of music through composition? My journey and questioning of  how to run a successful rehearsal began a few years ago. At that time I  faced my band’s bigg