ABSTRACT

The Routledge Companion to Teaching Music Composition in Schools: International Perspectives offers a comprehensive overview of teaching composing from a wide range of countries around the world. Addressing the current state of composition pedagogy from primary to secondary school levels and beyond, the volume explores issues, including different curricular and extracurricular settings, cultural aspects of composing, aesthetics, musical creativity, the role of technology, and assessment.

With contributors from over 30 countries, this volume encompasses theoretical, historical, empirical, and practical approaches and enables comparisons across different countries and regions. Chapters by experienced educators, composers, and researchers describe in depth the practices taking place in different international locations. Interspersed with these chapters, interludes by the volume editors contextualize and problematize the teaching and learning of composing music. The volume covers a range of contexts, including formal and informal, those where a national curriculum is mandated or where composing is a matter of choice, and a range of types, styles, and genres of musical learning and music-making.

Providing a wide-ranging and detailed review of international approaches to incorporating music composition in teaching and learning, this volume will be a useful resource for teachers, music education researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, and all those working with children and young people in composing music.

chapter 1|17 pages

Battle Dances and 808s

Teaching music creation in Australia

chapter 2|11 pages

From Composing Project to University Course

Formal and informal pathways of learning to compose in music classrooms in Austria*

chapter 3|12 pages

Expanding Analytical Eyes and Ears on Compositional Processes

Alternative musical pedagogies on Brazilian education

chapter Interlude I|6 pages

What is Composing?

chapter Interlude II|11 pages

Creativity and Composing in Education

chapter 7|12 pages

Composing in the Classroom

The case of the Czech Republic

chapter 8|8 pages

Mapping the Field of Composing Pedagogy in Finland

From musical inventions to cultural participation

chapter 9|13 pages

As for us in France

Why do we call it creation?

chapter Interlude III|5 pages

Starting Points of Composing

chapter 10|15 pages

Composition Pedagogy in Germany in its Fledgling Stages

Between extracurricular projects and school music classes

chapter 13|12 pages

Composition Pedagogy in Italian Schools

A model for teaching music composition through processes

chapter 14|16 pages

A Sheet of Paper Considered an Instrument

Examining the separation of form and content in creative music education

chapter 15|11 pages

Did you Write that Song?

Learning composition in the Kenyan secondary school

chapter 17|12 pages

Music Composition as Playful Activity

Perspectives on Teaching Composing from the Netherlands

chapter 18|16 pages

Home-Grown Progressivism

Composing in Aotearoa New Zealand primary and secondary schools

chapter Interlude VI|9 pages

Hegemony and Axiology in Composing Pedagogies

chapter 19|13 pages

Teaching Music Composition in Nigerian Classrooms

Current practice, training, and creative developments (with particular reference to institutions in southern Nigeria)

chapter 21|12 pages

Creativity in the Polish Music Classroom

Historical perspectives and recent actions

chapter 22|13 pages

Making a Difference in the Music Classroom

The role of music composition in reframing pupils' attitudes toward music education in a Portuguese classroom context

chapter 24|14 pages

Music Composition in Spanish Schools

Towards student-centred pedagogies

chapter Interlude VIII|6 pages

Why Compose in Music Education?

Arguments between Curricular and Extracurricular Settings

chapter 26|14 pages

Composing in Schools

A perspective on the multilingual context of Switzerland

chapter 29|8 pages

Teaching and Assessing Composing in English Secondary Schools

An investigation into music teacher confidence

chapter 33|13 pages

When Creative Stars Align

Music composition in K–12 schools in the US