Composition

I came across this webpage recently, which discusses how to teach composition to piano students. It occurred to me, is it really necessary or possible to teach composition? Can we actually teach people how to be creative? I think there are often attempts to do this - courses on teaching people how to write fiction, or how to paint - but ultimately what actually happens is that the student is taught how to mould their efforts into an already recognised and accepted structure. What is taught is convention, not how to create something new and different, nor how to express that unique individual's persona.

We always incorporate composition into my son's practice. Depending on his mood, this can form the largest or smallest part of the session. Sometimes he'll really enjoy himself and create something pleasant to listen to, other times you can clearly hear him saying 'why do I have to do this again!' through the keys.

Of course, it isn't enough just to say to a child: right, compose something. For a start, if composition hasn't been built into practice sessions right from the beginning, the child will be confused. They will be used to learning how to play other people's songs, which, once they've mastered them, sound quite good. Faced with the prospect of playing something of their own, they might not know where to start. Also, some children (and some adults!) find creating something from a blank slate quite daunting. How will they know if what they're doing is right?

The answer to that is there is no 'right'. If a person expresses themselves in some kind of creation, who are we to say whether it is 'correct' or not. It simply is. Whether it's beautiful, or pleasing, or meaningful to others are the questions that we can attempt to answer, if we want to, but there is no need to take that path with children's exploration of music until they want to.

Trying to convince a child of this is not always easy, though. Children are brought up to obey, follow instructions and learn. We try, often as part of 'good' parenting, to suppress their natural impulses. This is a great shame because children are the most naturally wonderful creators of all human beings, in their play and discovery of the world around them. This is why I believe that allowing them free rein on the piano during composition is paramount. If the child's natural impulse is thwarted, what they're doing ceases to be a true expression of themselves and instead, like so many aspects of children's lives, becomes another thing under the control of an adult.

In our efforts to make learning the piano something that children enjoy and want to do, we can use composition as an opportunity to hand control over to them completely. Some children may find this daunting, but there are ways we can spark them off and help them feel safe that I'll talk about in my next post.