Zeist I have always wondered why most musical instruction for children focusses primarily on two areas – learning to play the instrument and studying some form of musical theory.
What about teaching children (or at least encouraging them) to ‘compose’?!
Just as children first learnt to scribble, draw, then eventually read, imagine growing up where they were never allowed to learn to print letters, to write words, or to put down ideas in writing?
It’s a bit like stopping them from speaking or singing!
Children often sing or hum to songs they have heard before (how often do you catch your little one humming to a familiar tune in an unguarded moment).
But we also hear children singing and making up their own tune as they go about playing with their toys… So right from an early age, children have the ability to ‘compose’ through singing!
If your child is learning to play an instrument, it is just as important that they also learn to make up songs as early as possible, using whatever level of music they already know. Composing has many benefits! Why?
- It makes them even more confident and inspired to get better at their instrument.
- Composing reinforces their ability to read music – they need to write down (to notate), the notes they are using, correctly on the Staff paper, so they can then play it.
- Making up a song encourages musicality – they learn intuitively which cadence or chord progression goes well together, which is dissonant, which notes when played sequentially make a nice melodic line, and so on.
- Composing allows them to use their imagination! I always ask my students what scene are they thinking of in their song? What is it about? Is it sad, happy, is it about friends or their favourite pet?
Remember, there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ composition – as children get older, their music teacher will most likely go through the more technical details like harmony, chord progression, relative scales and musical form.
For now, encourage and enjoy your child’s music compositions. You can ask them to play it for you on their chosen instrument, and… don’t forget to record them on your phone! Children simply love watching themselves ‘perform’; it also helps them to listen back to the kind of musical form they have chosen to create.
Composing is very much like story-telling for children – in musical terms!
