composition

I’ve got a question for you. During each lesson, I have my students do an improvisation or play their composition. I just received a short composition in which the piece doesn’t end on a tonic key. I texted her mom about that, and she said…

• Last updated 6 months ago
• chord, chord theory, chords, comp, comp & improv, comp and improv, complex chords, composing, composing with chords, composition, compositions, deceptive cadence, ending, ending chord, final chord, imperfect cadence, last chord, Neil Moore, scale theory, student composition, theory, tonic, writing compositions

How would you explain to 12-14 year old kids why learning to improvise and compose songs is part of the simply music program? How does it help them learn to play songs, if that is their goal? Do you have the Tune Toolkit Program? The…

• Last updated 2 years ago
• #ttci, arranging, benefits of improv, C & I, C&I, comp & improv, comp and improv, comp/improv, composing, composition, composition skills, CP, creative projects, creativity, cross-pollinate, developing creativity, developing generative skills, expression, fun, generative, generative learning, generative students, Gordon Harvey, handling mistakes, improv, improvisation, improvise through mistakes, improvising, interpretation, interpretation of classical pieces, jazz interpretation, keep going through mistakes, mistakes, musical expression, playing through mistakes, refusing to compose, refusing to improvise, resistance to c&i, self expression, self generative, skills, Tune Toolkit

Since my email last night regarding the “Swim Coach” reference to teaching students who play better than you do, I’ve had a couple of emails asking about what exactly “Self-Generating” or “generative” teaching or learning is. What it means, in a nutshell, is the ability…

• Last updated 4 years ago
• arrangements, comp, comp & improv, comp and improv, comp/improv, composing, composition, compositions, developing generative skills, generative, generative learning, generative students, generative tools, identifying patterns, improv, improvisation, improvising, patterns, Robin Keehn, self generating, self generative, self-generate, self-generation

I’m having my students compose and notate a piece. Of course notating rhythm is a challenge for some, but a wonderful way to have them ‘self generate’ as best they can. We do a ‘back in forth’ where I help them tweak it so it…

• Last updated 4 years ago
• C&I, comp, comp & improv, comp and improv, comp/improv, composing, composition, composition projects, compositions, notating compositions, notation, notation software, remembering compositions, student composition, transcribing composition, writing, writing compositions, writing rhythm, writing rhythms, written music, written rhythm

Pick 1, 2 or 3 cards — create a melody with these notes Pick a card: For non readers: teacher can point to the key and student can name a song that has this note in it Pick a Card, name a song that has…

• Last updated 4 years ago
• 3-note improv, arpeggios, buggzart cards, C&I, chord games, chord progressions, chord voicings, chords, comp & improv, comp and improv, composition, composition projects, finding I IV V in all keys, games, I-IV-V, I-IV-V chords, identifying notes on keyboard, identifying notes on piano, identifying notes on staff, identifying written notes, inversions, musical games, naming keys, naming notes, note naming, playlist games, scales, sharps and flats, teaching scale, transposing, triads, writing notes

I’ve been trying a few of Kristin Fairfield’s song writing tips lately. I tried to do the group chord progression where I ask my students to give me 4 random chords. I actually forgot to limit it to all whites or all blacks but anyway,…

• Last updated 4 years ago
• chords, composition, composition projects, compositions, flash cards, group

I have increased my own composing recently using the “Family of Chords” that Miss Murphy sent awhile back. I have found it really helpful to make songs I could sing (contemporary), blues/jazz, hymns, and accompaniments. I am now wondering about ideas to help me make…

• Last updated 4 years ago
• Canon in D, chords, classical, classical music, Classical Pieces, composition, composition projects, Family of Chords

Below is an email from a parent. Any advice on strategies I could suggest? This student has been with me for about 6 months. He is in first grade and is moving through Foundation pieces at a just-under-average pace. I have noticed memory is an…

• Last updated 3 years ago
• #ttci, 3:1 2:1 1:1 ratio learning paces, 50 lessons per year, a year of lessons, audio recording, Audio recordings, benefits of improv, breadth vs depth, C&I, comp, comp & improv, comp and improv, comp/improv, composing, composition, composition skills, compositions, creative projects, creativity, depth vs. breadth in knowledge, developing creativity, diagram, diagrams, improv, improv at lessons, improv for beginners, improving teaching, improvisation, improvising, Laurie Richards, learning pace, lessons per year, Neil Moore, Neil's Responses (YouTube Videos), normal progress, pace, pace of learning, pace of teaching, progress, rate of learning, rate of progress, record students, recording, recording comp and improv, recording pieces, recording students, remember, remembering, remembering compositions, remembering patterns, resistance to c&i, resistant students, simplified melody, simplify this, slow pace, slow progress, speed of learning, speed of progress, student composition, student processing and resisting approach, student progress, student recordings, student reluctant to improv, students progressing differently, students speed of progress, taking videos, toolkit, Tune Toolkit, Tune Toolkit Teaching Techniques, video, video recording students, writing compositions

Neil Moore – can we share the videos of you telling the stories behind your compositions? If so, what’s the best way to access them? Any chance they could be on the website for students to easily see? I’ve made the videos public. They’re in…

• Last updated 5 years ago
• 57 12/8 Blues, Beautiful Boy, Can I Share My Heart, Caught Between the Daybreak, Chorale, Church Song, Classical Pieces, composition, D-Part, dev 10, dev 11, dev 12, FL1, FL2, FL3, FL4, FL5, FL6, FL7, FL8, FL9, foundation, foundation level 1, foundation level 2, foundation level 3, foundation level 4, foundation level 5, Gold, Home, Level 10, level 11, level 12, Level 6, Level 7, level 8, Level 9, Lost, Miles, Moonlight, Neil Moore, Neil’s compositions, Old Man Whistle, On This Day, One More Time, Panther, Pauly's Patter, Shadow, shoo-fly, Sit By My Side, Sky High, Soliloquy, stories behind the songs, The Gaz, the stories behind the songs, Time for More Music, Walk at Eleven

When you teach projects from Tune Toolkit, are you assigning them as improv projects or composition projects? Do you have the students come back and play something or report on what they did? How do you keep accountability that they are trying the projects? In…

• Last updated 5 years ago
• benefits of improv, comp & improv, comp and improv, comp/improv, composing, composition, composition skills, compositions, ideas for improvisation, improv, improv at lessons, improv for beginners, improv ideas, improvisation, improvisation ideas, improvising, student composition, student reluctant to improv, toolkit, tracking Tune Toolkit projects, Tune Toolkit, Tune Toolkit Teaching Techniques, writing compositions