3 - Creating Music with Technology - Focus on Composition

A large majority of students are drawn to music courses that do not utilize traditional musical notation as a basis for musical creativity. In his book, Music Learning Today, Bauer (2012) discusses the work of Music-COMP, a program which connects young composers with professional composers for mentoring purposes. Their work is guided by seven principles that can be useful for instructors developing creativity with music students (p. 60):

1. Using notation software develops music literacy

2. Begin composition with structured guidelines

3. Reflect and critique frequently

4. Encourage revision

5. Promote composition for the teachers

6. Provide opportunities for live performance of student work

7. Composition is one element of a well-rounded curriculum

These guidelines serve as a sequential framework for developing the creative process. I find that promoting composition for the teachers is a challenge for most instructors, who seem unwilling to develop their own musical creations in deliverable form. A number of teachers perform with professional ensembles, direct ensembles, or play in various small performing groups, but it is not as common for them to produce works of their own. As educators, we must all endeavor to have our students become literate with our common languages, through reading and writing. Yet, in our music classes, we tend to only work on the performing aspects of our craft, not the creative process. Teaching our students to extend their study of music through composition does not have to be a lengthy process, but we must demonstrate through practice how to capture our inspired thoughts, either in notational or recorded forms. As Bauer states, “Composers and artists often keep sketchbooks where they jot down ideas that come to them, ideas that may later be developed within a larger art form or composition.” (p. 65)

Technology affords students an avenue to master the concepts of recording and creating music without the necessity of becoming a master of an instrument first. For Mac users, GarageBand is a very approachable software program that allows development of musical works without mastering notation or an instrument. The use of loops facilitates the creative process, allowing the user to make choices about how each individual track connects with others. This week, we had an opportunity to use a browser based, multi-platform alternative to GarageBand, called Soundtrap. Soundtrap shares many features with GarageBand, and is a very capable digital audio workstation (DAW), supporting a number of included loops, with the ability to utilize MIDI, direct instruments, microphones, and imported audio files. This platform is quite suitable for students to develop their musical creations, as the interface is intuitive, and the tutorials are quite accessible to novice audio engineers. Soundtrap is a very reasonably priced alternative to more extensive DAWs, such as ProTools or Logic.

Within the music education landscape, care should be taken to ensure that creative projects are given appropriate scaffolding. Loop based projects are an approachable first foray into music creations, but students will need guidance to fully develop their artistic ideas. Student peer reviews and critiques should be an essential part of the process, much as a student in an English class works through several drafts of an essay prior to turning in a “finished” product. Personal technology devices that record ideas can be useful to capture ideas at the moment they are conceived. Teaching concepts about form and structure can aid in project development through reverse engineering musical material from inspirational bands and recordings of performances.

While using DAWs, students should become equally versed in MIDI and pure digital audio. MIDI devices are powered through instructional code, which in turn can play notes or trigger events with a MIDI clock. Digital audio, or real time recorded sounds, are encoded waveforms of sound that can be manipulated, but are bound to SMPTE time. Each technology has benefit, and both are necessary elements to aid in creating music.