“Music notation is not music. Music is sound, and notation provides a means for representing that sound, mostly for the purpose of re-creation by others” (Hickey, 2012). The focus of a compositional project should be helping students to think in sound and expressing themselves through sound. As such, adding stipulations that compositions must be notated can have a negative affect upon the creative output of groups and/or individuals, even when students are allowed to use their own notation symbols (Wiggins, 1999). Yet, when students compose over class periods, having a means for preserving their ideas can be very useful. To develop notational skills, teachers need to help students explore different means of preserving their work through symbolic, descriptive, and aural means. 

 

If notation of their work is a parameter from the beginning, students will often only create what they can notate (Wiggins, 1999) in the same way that we can often speak in much more complex language than we can write. Therefore, it is often helpful not to bring up notation at all or, if you do, only after the works are completed and recorded. When students are asked to notate after their work is completed, others can then perform their work. A great discussion can also occur between the performers and the composers regarding the clarity of the notation.