Constructing a Pedagogy for Music Improvisation and Composition

Abstract

Abstract The inclusion of an increasingly expansive array of repertoires informs how we teach music in the twenty-first century. Creating effective pedagogical paths that guide students to audiate and perform these repertoires in authentic and culturally appropriate ways has become a standard practice for music educators. This has created an opportunity to reimagine how music teacher’s musicality and musicianship can be transmitted to their students through the teaching of repertoire using the skill of audiation. One of the end goals is to develop students’ improvisation and composition voice. We use the Performance Through Sound Analysis model for learning repertoires through recordings or live performances. This model adopts practices that folk and commercial musicians use to audiate, learn, and perform the repertoire. The Houlahan and Tacka Model of Learning and Instruction is used to develop audiation and strengthen music literacy by improving aural and visual fluency with rhythm and solfège syllables. This model adopts practices that classical musicians use to audiate, learn and perform repertoire through notation. We use the Performance Through Sound Analysis and Notation model for learning repertoires through both aural analysis and notation. This model adopts practices that classical musicians use to audiate, learn, and perform the repertoire. Using these pedagogical models, students discover their unique improvisational and compositional voices.