Composition in the Music Curriculum: A Study of the ... · will look at the challenges of including music composition in the choral and instrumental classroom. The literature review

Running head: COMPOSITION IN THE MUSIC CURRICULUM 1

Composition in the Music Curriculum: A Study of the Challenges Facing Middle Level and

Secondary Choral and Instrumental Music Educators

Kathy Winghart

Northern State University

COMPOSITION IN THE MUSIC CURRICULUM 2

Abstract

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to look at current music educators and their

inclusion of music composition in their music curriculum. There were three areas studied: (1)

composition inclusion in the music curriculum, (2) challenges facing the inclusion of music

composition in the curriculum, (3) is pre-service teacher preparation adequate for teaching music

composition? and (4) is there if there is a connection with pre-service training and choosing to

include composition in the curriculum? Participants in the study are current middle level and

secondary instrumental and choral directors. A survey was distributed to the participants. After

all data was collected and analyzed, interviews took place with participant volunteers. There

were many challenges facing teachers regarding music composition. There is evidence that more

training for pre-service and current music educators is needed.

Keywords: music composition, music curriculum, pre-service music teacher training


Background

The inspiration for this research project was a result of two previous studies. One was

written in 2013 by Michael T. Hopkins (2013) and the other study was written by Elizabeth

Menard and Robert Rosen (2014). Hopkins’s study was published in the String Research

Journal, Factors Contributing to Teachers’ Inclusion of Music Composition Activities in the

School Orchestra Curriculum. Menard and Rosen’s study were published in the Journal of

Music Teacher Education, Preservice Music Teacher Perceptions of Mentoring Young

Composers: An Exploratory Case Study.

As a result of reading these two articles, the study will specifically look at current music

educators and their inclusion of music composition in their music curriculum. The goal of the

research is to determine why music educators do or do not include composition in their

curriculum, and do they as instructors feel equipped with the proper skills to teach composing to

students. The goal is to see if there is a connection with music educators that have experience

composing or training in composition, and if they are more likely to include composition in their

music curriculum.

The benefits of this research will be to identify why educators include or do not include

composition in their curriculum. The study will also seek the challenges of including music

composition in a music curriculum. Another benefit of the research would be to distinguish if

current music educators feel they were well prepared in their preservice teacher preparation

program before entering the teaching field. The final benefit would be to find a connection if

preservice music teacher preparation plays a part in a music educators’ choice to include or not

include composition in their curriculum.


Methodology

During the mixed methods research process, online surveys and individual interviews

will be conducted collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. All survey data will be kept

confidential and anonymous. Interviews will be strictly on a voluntary basis. After the data is

collected, analysis will be done to seek connections in the data before conducting interviews.

Individual interviews will be conducted to seek more information and clarity to the connections

found within the data.

Participants in the study will be middle level and secondary music educators using the

mixed methods approach to the research. Both large and small school music programs will be

surveyed from South Dakota, Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Individual

interviews will take place with those participants that volunteer to answer additional questions

beyond the survey that will see even more detail in regard to the topic of music composition in

the music curriculum.

Table 1

Demographic questions:

a. How many years have you been teaching in the field of music education?

b. Do you teach choral or instrumental music?

c. Do you teach middle or secondary level music?

d. Do you currently include music composition in your music curriculum?


Table 2

Composition Inclusion Questions: (1=Strongly Agree, 2-Somewhat Agree, 3-

Slightly Agree, 4=Do Not Agree):

a. Composition is a beneficial tool to include in the music classroom.

b. I feel that my undergraduate preparation as a preservice teacher prepared me

fully for teaching composition to my students.

c. I feel that composition is not an essential component to include in the music

curriculum.

d. It is challenging to find time to teach music composition.

e. Music composition work will enhance the student’s overall performance

skills.

f. Assigning a composing project to students would require too much

preparation and outside classroom time.

g. I wish I had more training in teaching composition to students.

h. I feel teaching composition will enhance the overall experience of a music

student, but unsure of how to fit it in to the current curriculum.

i. I have teaching resources such as method books and technology to effectively

teach music composition.

The goal of this research is to see why music educators are or are not including

composition in their music curriculum. If it is found that most music teachers do not include

music composition in their curriculum, it is with hope that the data and interviews will shed light

on what can be done to increase the use of composition in both instrumental and choral music

classrooms.


Literature Review

There are many challenges that face music educators in the classroom. One of these

challenges is including all music standards within the music curriculum. This literature review

will look at the challenges of including music composition in the choral and instrumental

classroom. The literature review will also investigate the research of Michael T. Hopkins (2013),

Elizabeth A. Menard (2014), and Robert Rosen (2014). Their research looks at the challenges to

teachers and the benefits to students that music composition brings.

All three researchers found that most music educators believe that including composition

in their curriculum is important. However, many of the instructors that found composition

important did not include composition in the music curriculum in their classes. Some of the

reasons of not including composition is no access to technology, limited time available, low self-

confidence in teaching composition due to lack of training, and lack of time in the classroom to

include composition (Menard, 2015).

When asked, music educators feel that music composition is of benefit in the music

curriculum (Hopkins, 2013). The findings of the research were that 90% of those responding to

the survey agreed that composition is a good learning tool to include in the curriculum. Of the

90% that feel composition is a beneficial learning experience in the music classroom, only 30%

include composing in their curriculum. Of those educators surveyed that do include music

composition, only spend 1% of the time in class is used in teaching composition.

The first challenge that music composition brings is time (Menard & Rosen, 2014). The

choral and instrumental classroom can easily be viewed as primarily focused on performance.

Often, music educators state that there are too many other educational undertakings that are

happening in the classroom to offer music composition. Music educators are concerned that


taking time away from rehearsals will cause a decline in their performance quality. Instructors

also found it difficult to find time to prepare for teaching composition and time to work with

students on their compositions. Finally, music educators did not know where it was suitable to

put music composition into their curriculum (Hopkins, 2013).

The second challenge was lack of confidence in teaching composition (Menard & Rosen,

2014). There are several reasons why there is low confidence. Many educators feel they are not

well prepared to teach composition and if they have never composed themselves, how can they

teach their students to compose? Preservice training of music teachers is focused on progressing

skills in performance. Ten percent of those surveyed in Hopkins study said that they had

teaching composing in their preservice teaching programs (Hopkins, 2013). It is also difficult to

find student teaching experiences for preservice teachers that offer broad experiences in all

aspects of music education to include music composition. Others felt they did not have the

proper pedagogical resources to teach composition. Yet others felt that their lack of knowledge

in technology keeps them from effectively teaching composition.

The third challenge was that teachers felt their students did not possess the needed skills

to compose (Menard & Rosen, 2014). In Hopkins (2013) study, he found that one of the

instructors in the study felt strongly that the students did not have the basic music theory

knowledge needed to compose. Hopkins said that the teacher in the study felt his students were

also trying too hard or were scared of the composition process and often displayed frustration.

The instructor in the study found it difficult to help those students that were struggling. Another

challenge for instructors of composition is finding a way to keep creativity open for students and

not limit or impede a student’s creativity and yet support with nurturing guidance the

composition learning process.


In the study of Menard and Rosen, they were able to show that studying composition in

the classroom has many benefits to the students that participated in composition within their

schools (Menard & Rosen, 2014). Students experienced social development and acceptance by

working together and supporting each other in their compositions. Students also had increased

sense of self-esteem as well, through the process of learning composition by watching their

music creations come to fruition. Another benefit is that students had a new-found appreciation

for composers and what they do. Students found that by having the chance to create

compositions of their own, that they paid closer attention to the details of the music they

performed which in turn created a high quality of performance. Finally, students also discovered

a fresh perspective of creativity and problem-solving skills through doing composition in their

music classrooms (Menard, 2015).

There are two objectives explored in this study. The first objective explored is music

educators including music composition in the music curriculum. Beyond the point of inclusion

is determining the why or why not of music instructors including music composition. The

second is to determine what training music educators have had to prepare them for teaching

music composition in their classrooms. This study will explore what preparations music

educators have received to prepare them for composition instruction and if an additional study

should be completed to determine additional training for preservice music educators.

Description of Procedures Followed

A survey of questions was composed to gather quantitative data. The survey was

centered around a comprehensive review of previous research done on this topic through

literature reviews. The survey began with questions regarding demographic information on years

of teaching experience, choral or instrumental teaching assignment, and whether or not music


composition was currently included in their music curriculum. The survey continued by asking

questions on the opinion of the importance of including music composition in the music

curriculum, as well as if the instructor felt that they were well prepared in the preservice teacher

training programs to teach music composition. The survey also looked at the challenges and

benefits of including music composition in the music curriculum. Participants were then asked at

the end for the survey if they would be willing to volunteer for additional interview questions.

After the quantitative data was collected, those willing to participate in additional questions were

interviewed to gather a deeper understanding of music composition in their music curriculums

and to gather qualitative data.

The survey was sent to thirty current choral and instrumental music instructors from

South Dakota, Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The background of teachers

participating in the survey had varying years of teaching experience and areas of teaching.

Survey participants were sent an initial email asking for participation in the survey. Of the thirty

emails sent, 14 individuals responded to the initial survey.

Table 3

Demographic Data

How many years have you been in the field of music education? % of Teachers

0-5 years 14%

6-10 years 14%

11-20 years 36%

21-30 years 36%


Do you teach choral or instrumental music? % of Teachers

Choral 35.70%

Instrumental 71.40%

Do you currently include music composition in your music

curriculum? % of Teachers

Yes 57.10%

No 42.90%

Analysis of Data

All teachers asked to take part in this study hold valid teaching licenses and have a

minimum of a bachelor’s degree. The analysis of the quantitative data collected indicates that

70% of the respondents have taught music for eleven years or more. The survey also indicated

that 57.1% do include some music composition in their current music curriculum.

Participants were asked if they felt they were well prepared during the undergraduate

training to teach music composition. 35.7% felt they were well prepared for teaching music

composition in the music classroom while 42.9% felt they were not well prepared and trained to

teach music composition to their students (Figure A).


Figure A

Respondents also indicated that they wish they had more training in teaching music

composition to their students. In fact, 71.4% either strongly agreed or agreed that they wish they

had more training in teaching music composition (Figure B). It is strikingly clear that teachers

are seeking a desire to learn more about the pedagogy needed to effectively teach music

composition in their music classrooms.

Figure B

35.70%

14.30%7.10%

42.90%

Percentage of teachers that feel their undergraduate studies

prepared them fully to teach music compostion in the music

classroom

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree

71%

29%

DESIRE FOR ADDITIONAL TRAINING TO TEACH

MUSIC COMPOSITION

Desire more training No more training needed


It is clear that music teachers feel strongly that music composition is a beneficial tool in

the music classroom. Nearly 93% strongly agreed or agreed that music composition is beneficial

to include in the music curriculum. No respondents strongly agreed or agreed that music

composition should not be included in the music curriculum. However, when asked if teachers

felt that music composition would enhance the overall performance skills of their students the

opinions were quite varied (Figure C).

Figure C

Respondents certainly have concerns and challenges to face with including music

composition into their curriculum. Those surveyed teach performance-based classes and the

biggest challenged faced was time. 100 % of respondents agree that time is a factor in fitting

music composition into their music curriculums. But when asked more detailed about the use of

time in their classrooms, 50% of those surveyed felt that music composition would be too taxing

on their time in class and in outside preparations. Only 21.4% disagreed that time was not a

factor of them preparing and using classroom time to include music composition in their

curriculum. There is also a strong showing from respondents of how they are unsure of how to

21.40%

42.90%

28.60%

7.10%

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Music composition will enhance student performance skills


include music composition into their music curriculum and how to connect it to their

performance-based classes (Figure D).

Figure D

There is a desire for students to benefit from experiencing music composition, as teachers

indicated that they feel it is beneficial. There are the challenges of time, but there is also the

challenges of equipment and material to teach music composition such as technology or method

books. Some teachers felt they had the resources available to them to teach music composition

effectively, but others felt they did not (Figure E).

7.10%

64.30%

21.40%

7.10%

Unsure How to Include Music Composition in Curriculum

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree


Figure E

After all quantitative data were collected and analyzed, music teachers who participated

in the survey were asked if they would voluntarily be interviewed with additional questions to

collect qualitative data. All of the teachers interviewed said that they had no formal training in

music composition during their undergraduate studies. While all stated they had some training

during their theory classes in college, none had classes dedicated to teaching music composition.

Every teacher interviewed also stated that they would welcome more training on teaching music

composition as a professional development opportunity.

When the participants were asked of their comfort level of teaching music composition,

there was a mixed response. Some felt as though they were quite comfortable teaching

beginning music composition only. Conversely, others were quite uncomfortable with the idea

of teaching music compositions to students. Those not comfortable teaching music composition

said that they do not see themselves as composers and have struggled with compositions

themselves. Due to this struggle, those teachers just don’t feel confident in teaching music

composition to students.

14.30%

35.70%

14.30%

35.70%

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Have the resources needed to effectively teach music composition


Materials and technology were challenges that many stated added to the difficulties in

teaching music composition. Interviewees generally did not have the technology to offer

students to do their compositions, while others used pencil and paper. But all agreed that having

the technology is certainly a beneficial tool for the students. However, one individual

interviewed felt uncomfortable with using technology as a means of composing themselves, thus

the difficulty in teaching others to use technology to compose. All but one individual

interviewed had no access to prepared materials for them to use in teaching music composition.

Only one interviewee used a prepared music curriculum geared to music composition called

“Breezin Thru Composition” (McKen & Helstab, 2018).

The interviews found within the qualitative data shows that there is a strong concern of

lack of time. As all teachers have performance-based classrooms, they felt they had the

pressures of time against them to get ready for the next concert. Some interviewed do not see

their students every day and adding composition into their music curriculum would be

impossible. One interviewee stated that as a performance-based class, time spent on music

technique was more pressing than adding music composition into the music curriculum.

Synthesis of Data Collected

The data collected uncovered commonalities among respondents. One commonality was

time and the lack of instruction time available to teach music composition in the performance-

based music classroom. Another commonality is no formal training in music composition

pedagogy classes in preservice teacher training programs. The survey and the interviews showed

a desire for more training in the area of teaching music composition. The responses and

interviews held during this study are in line with previous studies and this study.


Discussion

In the results of this study, music teachers view composition as a beneficial and valuable

tool for students to experience within their music education. But when it comes to teaching

music composition to students, the teachers feel they have not been trained enough to effectively

teach music composition to their students. Nearly 90% of respondents are unsure of how to fit

music composition in to their curriculum. Is this because of the lack of training in this area of

music pedagogy or lack of time?

Lack of time is an issue in the performance-based music class. Teachers feel pressure to

prepare for the upcoming concerts and feel strongly they do not have the time to dedicate to

teaching music composition. However, when asked if music composition would benefit the

students’ performance skills, it was clear that there was a varying of opinions. Nearly 65% of the

respondents feel music composition will help the performance skills of their students, but lack of

class time to teach composition prevails. Yet, one teacher stated they felt if they had to choose

between including music composition or music technique, they would choose music technique

over teaching music composition to the students.

There is a shortage of teaching materials available to teachers to help assist with planning

how to teach music composition in the classroom. Only one of the interview volunteers said

they had access to an online composition curriculum. However, not all respondents have access

to technology in their classrooms. Ease of availability of a music composition curriculum would

help to bring music composition into the classroom. However, both text based or online

curriculums should be readily available to teachers to help with ease of resources.


This study has brought an awareness that music teachers believe that students do receive

benefits from having opportunities to compose music, yet only 57% include music composition

in their current curriculum. As a result of this study, it has brought attention to several areas of

further study. First, clearly current teachers feel under prepared to teach music composition from

their pre-service teaching training and 71% desire to seek additional training in teaching music

composition if the opportunity was afforded to them. Second, an additional study of how music

composition fits in a comprehensive music curriculum. Nearly 90% of respondents are not sure

how music composition can fit into their current curriculum. Do they need more resources for

them or more training or pedagogical materials? Third, are there enough resources for current

teachers to access for their classrooms and the school resources to bring those pedagogical

resources to the students? Some examples of resources are smart boards for presentation of

material, computer access for students and a comprehensive musical curriculum to go with the

classroom resources. The final area of further study is the pressure of performance-based classes

and the limited time for teachers to include other areas of music study that may help to improve

the performance skills of students.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this study’s findings were similar to previous studies. What this study did

bring is more questions that afford opportunities for further study. It is clear that time

constraints, performance pressures, and teachers not feeling trained fully to teach music

composition is an area exploration. Findings from additional research in the area of preservice

teacher training could alleviate the challenges of how to fit music composition into a curriculum.

Further study could also show the cross-curricular benefits of students studying music

composition may support and enhance their performance skills. Additional study in the area of


development of music composition materials for teachers to use as resources would benefit not

only teachers, but also students to enrich their music education.


References

Hopkins, M. T. (2014). Collaborative Composing in High School String Chamber Music

Ensembles. Journal of Research in Music Education,62(4), 405-424.

doi:10.1177/0022429414555135

Hopkins, M. T. (2013). Factors Contributing to Teachers’ Inclusion of Music Composition

Activities in the School Orchestra Curriculum. String Research Journal, 4 (1), 15-36.

doi:10.1177/194849921300100402

Love, K. G., & Barrett, M. S. (2015). A case study of teaching and learning strategies in an

orchestral composition masterclass. Psychology of Music,44(4), 830-846.

doi:10.1177/0305735615594490

McKen, J., & Helstab, N. (2018). Introducing new Breezin' Thru® Composing. Retrieved

December 3, 2018, from http://breezinthrucomposing.com/

Menard, Elizabeth A. (2015). Music Composition in the High School Curriculum: A Multiple

Case Study. Journal of Research in Music Education, 63(1), 114-136.

doi:10/1177/0022429415574310

Menard, E. A., & Rosen, R. (2014). Preservice Music Teacher Perceptions of Mentoring Young

Composers. Journal of Music Teacher Education, 25(2), 66-80.

doi:10.1177/1057083714552679

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Composition in the Music Curriculum: A Study of the ... · will look at the challenges of including music composition in the choral and instrumental classroom. The literature review