Developing Engaging, Enriching, Empowering, and
Creative Composition Projects for Your Classroom
ILMEA Summer Learning Series
Jesse Rathgeber
Kinesthetic Projects
Composers and dancers work together regularly in creating their crafts. The following projects encourage students to think through their bodies and then create musical works.
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Spark: Two or more choreographed body sculptures that are connected through a process of melding from one to the next. Record the melded body sculptures for each group. Provide each group a video that is not theirs. Consider discussing movements according to Laban's Effort Analysis, to the right.
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Prompt: Create a musical representation of the form, line, shape, and space of each sculpture. Find a way to transform from one piece to the next in a way similar to the melded transition provided.
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Extension: If you use one book for an entire class or grade level, record the works to include with the book or have a live reading/performance of the work.
Melding Body Sculptures
inspired by the work of Joshua Block
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Spark: Objects with interesting textures. Consider woven fabrics, different types of play balls, sandpaper, vinyl, bubble wrap, and other textures available in your classroom.
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Prompt: Pick some interesting textures around you. Is it thick, thin, bumpy, sharp, smooth, or something else? Describe your texture in words and with sounds.
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Extension: Find other textures represented in sound. What would it feel like if you combined their feel? What would it sound like?
What does It Feel Like?
What does It Sound Like?
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Spark: A dance step. Examples include: the Dougie, the Jerk, the Walk It Out, the Brooklyn Dance, the Soulja Boy, Shufflin, etc.
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Prompt: Learn the dance but put it on mute so you can’t hear the music if it has a music track. Now, create a piece of music using ostinati with a form that works well to convey the sound of your dance.
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Extension: Teach the class your dance and then have a dance party where you play your music for them. You may also organize a few dances into a sequence and adapt the musical accompaniment so the end product sounds like a cohesive whole.
