Task Design and Experience in Composition

Abstract

This article describes a study which examines how task designs, the compositional context set by the musical requirements, influence students' experience of composition. A total of forty-four compositions were collected from a class of eleven Year 11 music elective students over one school year. In addition to the analysis of draft and final forms of compositions, data were obtained as self-report documents including 'Composer's Diaries', 'Composer Writes Pages', and questionnaires. Data were presented in two ways involving a larger comparative study and a sampling of several case studies. The findings of this study suggest the conditions set by tasks determine how students relate to composition and the nature of musical outcome. There were indications that students experience task constraints and freedom differently, in part determined by their working style, background, and self-concept as composers. Overall, constraint and freedom were identified as artistically significant in the realisation of a composition. Implications for teaching practice include the suggestion that tasks should differentiate between 'Instructional' tasks for learning and 'Composition' tasks which empower students to participate as makers in the role of artistic creator.