Developing Engaging, Enriching, Empowering, and
Creative Composition Projects for Your Classroom
ILMEA Summer Learning Series
Jesse Rathgeber
Tool-Based Projects
The beauty of basing a composition on the actual tool (an app or an instrument) you are using is that the tools themselves tend to scream their own prompts. As such, it is nearly impossible to create a prompt without exploring the tool yourself.
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Spark: Your instrument.
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Prompt: Create a musical passage that makes use of the specific sonic characteristics of your instrument.
What Can Your Instrument Do?
An Idiomatic Instrumental Piece
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Spark: The app, itself. For apps and ideas see this handout (Rathgeber, 2013).
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Prompt: What musical dimensions does your app address? How could you create a piece that highlights many of the musical dimensions that your app allows you to play with?
Tech-Based Tunes
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Spark: The app, itself. For apps and ideas see this handout (Rathgeber, 2013).
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Prompt: Create a brand new musical instrument and a piece of music that makes use of it. What musical dimensions will your controller address? How will you and others work your controller (movement, touch, sound command)?
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Extension: Sound controller creations can be displayed as sound installations in an afterschool exhibition. For an entire project idea with final exhibition, see SOUND+CODE+TEST (Rathgeber, 2014).
