I have several piano students who are constantly driven by their creative forces. They just can’t satisfy their musical appetite by just learning what’s written on the paper. Their sound system in their brain is linked to the ocean of sound they’ve been absorbing on a daily basis listening to the music they enjoy. Soon, they start experimenting with the notes they’ve just learned, saying that sounds like this part of this and that tune.
For a while, I’ve been giving a thought about how I can go about using this creative energy to get them into the world of composing and arranging. I thought I’d share some experiments I’ve done with my students.
Case 1 (elementary):
One of the easiest tunes with which my 7 years old student had a creative experiment was called Slimy and Smooth. It’s from Note Reading Made Fun Book 1 written by Julia and Kevin Olson. All of the pieces in the book are 8-bar long and arranged for piano duet. I always find that the creative process begins with messing about with things put in front of you. This creative experiment was triggered by my student playing the notes in a wrong order and discovering that it actually sounds nice! So, here it goes. Simple melody using 5 notes, using repetition and sequence mixed with variation:
Case 2 (mid elementary):
One day, I introduced a little tune based on a simple rhythm to my 9 year old student to learn it by ear (she kindly gave this tune a title, Wandering Melody):
Once she learned the right hand, I introduced a simple left hand pattern to sing along the right hand melody that she’s just learned. When she heard this simple descending accompaniment creating changing harmonies, she got hooked:
Learning both hands took a little getting used to but she persisted until she got it right.
“Now, it’s time to have fun with it”, I said. “You’re going to creating your own version of right hand melody to the same left hand accompaniment”.
Off she went spending a lot of time having fun with it for a week. Out of many versions she created, she showed me the one that she really liked with a big smile on her face. She went beyond what I asked her to do – instead of changing the right hand melody, she changed the left hand pattern. She found a minor version using a chromatic scale. But then she said, “The ending doesn’t sound like an ending… I don’t know what to do…”, so I helped her out a bit to bring back a bit of original idea into her version of the tune for a happy ending. Here’s the final version:
This idea led me thinking that I should think about start using the pieces that are based on a repetitive chord progression so that my students can experiment with it and create their own version of the pieces they’ve learned.
Case 3 (late elementary):
I first tested this idea with my 8 year old student who is constantly creating his own piano tunes. The piece I’ve chosen for this experiment (considering his taste for pop music) is Knight’s Castle (Alte Ritterburg) written by Oxana Krut (Ukuranian composer) based on a repetitive chord progression. Melodies are mostly made of sequences, so it’s easy to learn purely by ear. He’s learned the piece almost instantly. So, I gave him a challenge to create his version of melodies without changing the left hand accompaniment. He gave me a big smile and he sent me a recording the next day:
Case 4 (late elementary):
This idea can be applied to students who are not normally exposed to creative music making. Here’s one of my teenage students who had his first experience of creating a melody variation using the same piece as above, Knight’s Castle by Oxana Krut.
As he creates his own melody, he started transcribing the note so that he won’t forget:
Here’s the final version:
Here’s what he wrote to me about the experience:
“Playing my own version of the piece gave me a special kind of pleasure. Because I’d contributed to what was already a lovely piece of music and gave it a new quality that was uniquely mine and reflected what I found most beautiful in it.“
Case 5 (late elementary – early intermediate):
I saw another opportunity to use a melody variation idea when one of my adult students were getting ready to embark on some elaborate rhythmic patterns in 3/8 and 6/8. Based on No.52 from Beyer’s Elementary Method op.101, I gave him a modernised version of the piece in D minor.
Modified version of Beyer’s No.52:
Then I introduced two new rhythmic patterns that frequently appears in 3/8 and 6/8. After he’s learned the above piece, I gave him a challenge to create a melody variation using these rhythms shown as below:
My student kindly recorded the result for me:
A little modal twist at the end was a sweet surprise!
Case 6 (early intermediate):
Here’s another piece by Oxana Krut, In the Boat, which I’m experimenting with one of my 9 years old students to teach about phrases to create a musical sentence. During the Skype lesson the other day, we’ve managed to improvise 4-bar musical conversation based on the chord progression from the piece:
Case 7 (early intermediate):
Little pieces by Oxana Krut offer such freedom and flexibility with full of useful composing tools so that the players can be easily challenged to experiment to create their own version of the pieces. Based on my findings, I’ve also tested on a couple of adult students of mine (late elementary to early intermediate levels) – I’m discovering that the minor keys seem to offer more choices in note selection for the learners. Perhaps maybe, the minor keys have more diatonic chords than major keys, hence more colours and moods you can play with:
Autumn Song (Herbstlied)
In this recording, my adult student is mixing his melody variation with the original. Dotted rhythm was a good challenge he gave himself here (the recording shows the second half of the piece):
Nostalgia
Another adult student of mine recorded one for me. She has a good sense of melodic shape using sequences throughout the piece:
By going through such creative process as this, students are discovering to “see” and “understand” the written pieces from the composer’s point of view. This is naturally contributing towards more sympathetic approach in musical shaping when they learn new written pieces. My students are definitely enjoying the opportunity to tap into their creative drive that they didn’t know they had. Some of my adult students comments are:
‘I didn’t think I would like it initially but I really enjoyed this exercise, and would like to explore composing a little more…‘
‘I’m enjoying so much doing this, I’m so free!‘
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The pieces used here are from the books below:
Note Reading Made Fun Book 1 by Julia and Kevin Olson
Children’s Songs for Piano –
for developing hand coordination
(extended edition) by Yukie Smith
Elementary Method for the Piano, op101 by Ferdinand Beyer
Piano Feelings Easy 1 by Oxana Krut
Piano Feelings Easy 2 by Oxana Krut
Piano Solo – Tale of a Knight by Oxana Krut
Piano Solo – Four Seasons by Oxana Krut
Piano Notebook 