Creativity in the Classroom—From Re-Creation to Creation
"In order to be creative, you have to know how to prepare to be creative."
-Twyla Tharp
Dancer/Choreographer
As music educators, we spend our lives in creative spaces. Making music with our students is our calling and reflecting the music literacy standards is what we innately do. In our K-5 classrooms, creativity may be nurtured through call and response and improvisation games. Student creativity is front and center. As our students enter into large ensembles, the creative activity primarily takes the shape of re-creativity; interpreting the works of others in group settings with you, the director, front and center.
Finding ways to implement all three of the Artistic Processes; Creating, Performing, and Responding in the large ensemble setting, "Creating" is especially valuable to all of our students and can be implemented into daily routines.
With a few moments of scaffolded plans, leading students through creative exercises and games can be fun and generate focus, technique, and music literacy on a deeper level while preparing your students for the repertoire in the next concert.
For example, if you’re performing a composition in a ⅝ time signature and this meter is less familiar to your ensemble, create an exercise as part of a warmup. Here are nine steps to consider:
1. Begin by setting a metronome or sequencer app to represent the time signature.
2. Include a drone to provide an aural guide.
3. Establish a 3+2 or 2+3 grouping, as found in the piece, to reinforce the feel.
4. Sing or play simple rhythms on a single pitch from the composition in call and response fashion.
5. As the students gain comfort with the meter and the simpler rhythms, add another pitch within the key of the piece and gradually increase the rhythmic complexity.
6. For students needing a mental break or to differentiate instruction, have them articulate the first note of each grouping with the metronome or simply contribute to the drone.
7. As the process continues, you may wish to add more pitches to the exercise, appoint leaders to provide the call for others to respond, and have students contribute their own games.
8. As students gain comfort with this process, divide the ensemble into different fixed ostinatos.
9. Encourage students to improvise over these ostinatos and the drone with a fixed set of pitches and rhythms from earlier in the exercise.
Experiment and have fun! The benefits of these short exercises are immense and the students will relate to the game-like approach, gain comfort with group risk-taking, and thrive on the positive reinforcement. With each exercise, your students are able to experience different approaches to music-making in a structured, guided session of creativity, certain to enhance the re-creative skills needed in the large ensemble performance setting.
--The above was written for a NAfME emailing for November, 2021.
Helpful videos about the piece will be added below throughout the week!
The Music of the Americas Project
The Music of the Americas Project is a 15-member ensemble at Adams State University.
Click here for our Colorado Music Educators Association Conference (CMEA) program
Music of the Americas Project Performances, January 20-25, 2020:
January 20th Adams State University, Alamosa, CO
January 21st Buena Vista High School, Buena Vista, CO
January 22nd Denver School of the Arts, Denver, CO
Littleton High School, Littleton, CO
January 23rd Fountain-Fort Carson High School, Fountain, CO
January 24th Palmer…
Read morePASIC 2019 Presentation
PASIC Lightning Session B
November 16, 2019, 3pm-3:50pm
Room 201
Indianapolis, Indiana
Presentation Resources:
Woman-Identifying Percussion Ensemble Composer Database:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1omcWh2w_seOUX8_xD_hKDcvHcVTvbIN9nmwtXQ3B6Eo/edit?usp=sharing
“Portable” Percussion Ensemble Database:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1l9LqHDYeeC_JNrrtRhFBJSq5FVPPTN_FCjn3yxqVS90/edit?usp=sharing
Composers:
Gemma Peacocke
https://www.gemmapeacocke.com/
inti figgis-vizueta
Read moreASU Fall 2019 Percussion Extravaganza
Join the Live Stream here at 6:50pm MST.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpusuQBRvowFlfWkXw9iUnQ/live
Program info below!
Click here for program information:
11.12.19_Percussion_Extravaganza.pdf
Program Notes:
Tonight marks a return to the Percussion Extravaganza concept of our percussion concerts. What this means for you as audience members is the opportunity to enjoy a sampling of what defines Adams State Percussion all at one time in one place. First and foremost, we value collaboration and…
Read moreASU Spring 2019 Percussion Ensemble: To Give You Form and Breath
Director’s Note:
The Spring 2019 academic semester began with a percussion ensemble clinic/performance at the Colorado Music Educators Association Conference (CMEA) at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs on the topic of portable “backpack” percussion works. The students on stage this evening are composing a collection of beginner to intermediate works for portable percussion to be available this summer. This project is for directors and students to have affordable and accessible…
Read moreApricity Trio CD Release Concerts
Two CD release concerts coming up with Apricity Trio--both benefitting student and faculty exchange between Gunma University, Japan, and Adams State University, Colorado.
Join us in Alamosa, CO
or
Santa Fe, NM!
Works for Portable Percussion, Volume One
In an effort to make chamber percussion music more accessible to all, the Adams State Percussion Studio is embarking on a multi-year project to create several volumes of works for “portable” percussion ensemble. Young percussionists, regardless of socio-economic factors, rehearsal space availability, and instrument inventory should have the opportunity to rehearse and perform works written solely for percussion. This project intends to address the needs of percussionists of all levels and add to the…
Read moreCMEA 2019: FUNdamentals, Portable Percussion, and Chamber Music
Below are links to pdf's pertaining to three of my clinics for the 2019 Colorado Music Educator's Conference at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. Also below is a database link for percussion ensemble works that fit in a backpack (or close to it!). Check back frequently for updates, share, and feel free to add to the list.
Please feel free to email me with any questions!
Plays Well with Others
"Practical Applications for Chamber Music in Your Band Program"
Snare Drum FUNdamentals Clinic
…
Read moreASU Fall Percussion Ensemble Presents: "Affinity"
The Adams State University Percussion Ensemble Presents:
“Affinity”
Director’s Note:
Programming for ensembles should carry a heavy burden. Asking students to commit untold hours of individual preparation, sectional rehearsals, instrument building, mallet selection, full ensemble rehearsals, research, recording sessions, and post production work for a single performance requires consideration worthy of their education and artistic growth. As an educator, I first consider the individual students…
Read moreWhat Does Your Programming Say About Your Ethos?
If you see a problem, engage to find solutions.
A few months ago, I was casually perusing social media over my morning coffee. It was the height of the fall semester “concert season" in academia and numerous concert programs were being posted by directors of percussion ensembles, wind bands, and the like.
A quick calculation of the composers represented—38. Of those composers, 38 were male. Of the 38, 37 were white males.
Did this come as a surprise?
An examination of Steve Weiss's catalogue of…
Read more