Gone with the Wind: What Composers Learn from Creating Music for Young Musicians

Abstract

Contemporary Canadian music is rarely performed and studied in school music programs (Bartel, Dolloff, & Shand, 1999; Shand & Bartel, 1998; Varahidis, 2012) and post-secondary institutions (Andrews & Carruthers, 2004; Carruthers, 2000). This is primarily because the music of modern professional composers is inaccessible to students (Andrews, 2004; Bowden, 2010). In other words, composers are trained in such a way that their pieces are only playable by professionals for specialized audiences (Hatrik, 2002; Colgrass, 2004; Terauds, 2011). This study examines what eight wind-composers learned from writing educational music for young musicians. Using a narrative framework, grounded in John Dewey’s theory of learning as expressed by Clandinin and Connelly (2000), data was collected through interviews. These were then interpreted and analyzed with the aid of the composers’ biographies and questionnaires. Four story categories emerged from the data regarding how to write pedagogically valid educational music: 1) The composer must desire to compose technically appropriate, challenging and enjoyable music for young musicians; 2) The composer must collaborate and have direct contact with students; 3) The composer must have a working knowledge of the instruments; and 4) The composer and teachers can use the Music Complexity Chart (MC²) as numerous benefits are associated with it.