Music Improvisation and Composition in the General Music Curriculum

Abstract

This article describes an approach to general music where assignments in music improvisation and composition are embedded into the curriculum, that is, creative assignments are given as an outgrowth of curriculum content and directly related to instruction and activities in conceptual learning and skill development in the classroom. Such an approach to general music education can make possible the teaching and learning of standards-based, sequentially-designed curriculum and the nurturing of students’ creative thinking in music, an almost simultaneous process. Included are practical suggestions for meeting National Standards Three (Improvisation) and Four (Composition) by embedding composition assignments into the general music curriculum per age categories of elementary, middle, and high school learners supported by descriptions of examples from the field.