Keep Those Neurons Pumpin'!
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The survey’s findings were published in the July 19th Newsweek article ‘Creativity in America’. The article also highlighted the fact that American students' creative abilities have been on the decline since the early nineties.
These findings must come as a welcome relief to arts educators everywhere, a concrete reminder of the value of arts education that can be shared with administrators during times of school budget cutbacks. But is the mere study and performance of music enough to stimulate increases in creative capacity or do educators need to do more to maximize the creative abilities of their students?
Certainly, music performance stimulates the right, or creative, side of the brain, but incorporating some simple additions to the core curriculum can really get the students’ creative juices flowing.
As you know, composing music involves a series of choices, and though students at a very young age will most likely be unable to make all of the choices to compose a piece from scratch, they can certainly make decisions on some musical aspects from a very early age.
For example, early elementary level students can make decisions regarding articulations and dynamics. Elementary music teachers can allow their students to step into the role of a conductor for a change, letting them decide if a contrasting section of a piece should be forte or piano and whether other sections should be short and staccato, or connected and flowing. Students can be empowered through these choices, and rewarded when their decisions are executed at the concert. With this approach, it might be beneficial for the creative process to be explained to parents at the concert, reinforcing the academic and creative value of music education.
As students progress, teachers can provide creative opportunities at ever increasing levels of complexity. For example, in pieces where an instrumental accompaniment is a possibility, teachers can create arrangements for different instruments that share the same range (one version for trumpet, one version for violin, one for clarinet, one for oboe, etc). Middle school band students can come in and perform the excerpts for the class, and the class can determine which instrument they think best fits the character of the music. As an alternative, a talented high school student could make the arrangements as part of a special growth project.
Another idea is to have a school wide contest for coming up with the lyrics for a second verse of a song that will be on an upcoming concert. This sort of exercise hits on several layers of creativity at the same time (rhythmic, poetic, etc).
Finally, a theme and variations project provides a fabulous growth opportunity. For elementary students, teachers can come up with 7 variations on a common theme, and have the students choose to include only 5 of the 7 in the final version of the piece. The students can also specify the order to execute the variations. If enough time allows, students can also choose the tempo and dynamic level of each variation.
Certainly, music performance stimulates the right, or creative, side of the brain, but incorporating some simple additions to the core curriculum can really get the students’ creative juices flowing.
As you know, composing music involves a series of choices, and though students at a very young age will most likely be unable to make all of the choices to compose a piece from scratch, they can certainly make decisions on some musical aspects from a very early age.
For example, early elementary level students can make decisions regarding articulations and dynamics. Elementary music teachers can allow their students to step into the role of a conductor for a change, letting them decide if a contrasting section of a piece should be forte or piano and whether other sections should be short and staccato, or connected and flowing. Students can be empowered through these choices, and rewarded when their decisions are executed at the concert. With this approach, it might be beneficial for the creative process to be explained to parents at the concert, reinforcing the academic and creative value of music education.
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Another idea is to have a school wide contest for coming up with the lyrics for a second verse of a song that will be on an upcoming concert. This sort of exercise hits on several layers of creativity at the same time (rhythmic, poetic, etc).
Finally, a theme and variations project provides a fabulous growth opportunity. For elementary students, teachers can come up with 7 variations on a common theme, and have the students choose to include only 5 of the 7 in the final version of the piece. The students can also specify the order to execute the variations. If enough time allows, students can also choose the tempo and dynamic level of each variation.
For middle school or high school students, teachers can include an individual component as part of the variations project, where the students come up with one variation that simplifies the rhythm of the theme and a second one that adds additional embellishments to the main theme. Students can even play through their creations on their own band instrument for the rest of the class!
I’ve just barely scratched the surface with some ideas as to how to introduce even more creativity into the music curriculum. Hopefully, these methods can help demonstrate to administrators the valuable connections that exist between music and creativity, and how these connections create real world opportunities for students as they enter the workforce of the future.
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I’ve just barely scratched the surface with some ideas as to how to introduce even more creativity into the music curriculum. Hopefully, these methods can help demonstrate to administrators the valuable connections that exist between music and creativity, and how these connections create real world opportunities for students as they enter the workforce of the future.
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