Date

5-2020

Department

School of Music

Degree

Master of Arts in Music Education (MA)

Chair

Monica Taylor

Keywords

College, Composition, Elementary, Music, Teaching

Disciplines

Music | Music Education

Abstract

The 2014 National Music Standards emphasizes the importance of the three artistic processes of creating, performing, and responding. The Massachusetts Music Standards follow both the 2014 and the 1999 standards. The 1999 music standards are as follows: singing, reading and notation, playing instruments, improvisation and composition, critical response, purposes and meanings in the arts, roles of artists in the communities, concepts of style, stylistic influence, and stylistic change, inventions, technologies, and the arts, and interdisciplinary connections. Both standards mention either creating, improvisation, or composition, but are music educators emphasizing the importance of these standards? In Massachusetts, following both sets of standards, many educators feel it is a challenge to successfully meet all the standards in a full school year for each grade level, hence, educators will often focus on other standards such as singing, playing instruments, notation, and critical response. The research for this project was focused on creativity and composition in the elementary music classroom with a curriculum to help prepare future music educators on how to teach these concepts to elementary school aged children. Early exposure to composition techniques will provide students with a knowledge foundation that will encourage musical creativity.

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