Description

Music Outside the Lines is an informative and practical resource for all who are invested in making music composition an integral part of curriculum. Author Maud Hickey offers both a well-grounded justification for teaching music composition and also a compendium of useful instructional ideas and classroom activities. Hickey begins with a rationale for teachers to begin composition activities in their own classrooms, with a thoughtful argument that demonstrates that all music teachers possess the skills and training needed to take children along the path toward composing satisfying musical compositions even if they themselves have never taken formal composition lessons. She also addresses some of the stickier issues that affect teaching music composition in schools such as assessment, notation, and technology. Most importantly, she introduces a curricular model for teaching composition, a model which provides an array of composition activities to try in both the music classrooms and studio. These activities encourage musical and creative growth through music composition; while they are organized in logical units corresponding to well-known teaching modules, they also offer jumping off points for music teachers to exercise their own creative thinking and create music composition activities that are customized to their classes and needs.

As a whole, Music Outside the Lines both successfully reasons that music composition should be at the core of school music curriculum and also provides inservice and preservice educators with an essential resource and compendium of practical tips and plans for fulfilling this goal.

Features

• A practical way of implementing composition in a curriculum in K-12 music classrooms
• Based on classroom-tested situations
• Organized into activities for beginners, intermediate, and advanced students

Reviews

"This book is unique in helping music educators recognize and appreciate children's remarkable musical intuitions. Maud Hickey teaches us how to nurture children's natural abilities for creative learning as they make music their own." --Jeanne Bamberger, Professor Emeritus of Music and Urban Education, MIT

"Music Outside the Lines is an indispensable manual for teachers of K-12 and beyond for the long overdue integration of composition and improvisation in a deep, useful and beneficial level for all music courses. Hickey guides the reader into an irresistible process that is creative at the core. There are easily understandable exercises that will instill confidence in both the instructor and student. Those that go forward with this wonderful guidance will be richly rewarded." --Pauline Oliveros, Professor of Practice, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Executive Director, Deep Listening Institute, Ltd.

"Dr. Hickey has produced a superb volume that combines her expertise in children's compositional strategies with practical examples for classroom applications." --Harold F. Abeles, Co-Director, Center for Arts Education Research, Teachers College, Columbia University

About the Author(s)