Middle School General Music: Composition Friday, June 08, 2018
recommended by Jen Sper and Alissa Ruth, School Choral and Classroom Music Specialists
The middle school general music classroom can be an exciting (and/or terrifying) place! Throughout this school year, we’ve been sharing with you some valuable resources to help you develop enthusiasm and skills in your middle school musicians! Today, here are some great new options for teaching composition in the classroom:
Composing Under Construction by D. Brian Weese
Teaching composition is easy and engaging with this step-by-step workbook that guides your students through writing notes, analyzing music, and composing their own. It begins with simple notation practice, and by the last page, students will be composing six-measure melodies using a variety of notes and pitches. This book is especially effective in classrooms using the recorder, but flexible enough that students’ compositions can be played on any pitched instrument you choose.
Mission: Composition by Matthew C. Cremisio
Your mission, should you choose to accept it: develop music literacy that won’t self-destruct! Beginning with steady-beat development and progressing through improvisation to reading and writing standard notation, this comprehensive music literacy program culminates in student composition. To assist your mission, manipulatives, play-along tracks, reproducible worksheets, and assessment rubrics appear on the included CD.
Find more classroom music resources on our website, and contact us for more information. Shop Stanton’s for all your sheet music needs!
About the Authors:
Jen Sper has been with Stanton’s since 2006. A former middle school and high school choral director, she holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Baldwin Wallace College Conservatory of Music. An active choral singer and accompanist throughout the Central Ohio area, she also enjoys good food, running (to counteract the good food…) and the Muppets.
Alissa Ruth began working at Stanton’s in the summer of 2016. She is a former middle and high school choir director and holds a Bachelor of Music in Education degree from Capital University. She is an active choral singer in the Columbus area, and spends her free time running, doing yoga, cooking, and watching Netflix.