Piano Compositions with Fifth Graders

I have just returned from the Memorial Day long weekend, and I am very excited about the project for the fifth grade music students today.  The past three weeks we have been learning to play songs on the piano in C position: CDEFG in the right hand and CDEFG in the left hand.  These students have taken the piano lab by storm!  Many students have learned to play notes at the same time with both hands, others have learned to play chords in both hands, and several of them have learned to play in other positions for their hands.

So today we are beginning to compose pieces of music for the pianos.  They know the C position notes, so they will  I told them that it is like when you are planning to give a party at your house.  The notes we know well, the c position or the g position represent your closest friends, and you would use them in your compositions, and invite them to your party because you know them really well.  Other notes and symbols you would leave for another time, because if they represent people you don't know, they could really wreak havoc on your party, you are taking a real risk to use those notes, or to invite those people.  For example, they might not sound good together, they might create chaos in your song, just like if you have them at your house they might break things or throw things or eat all your food and leave a mess.  It is a little bit confusing, but once you understand this analogy, and you understand where you are going with the song, you can think about where to put silence, (rests) where to hold notes longer, (whole notes, half notes) and where to skip around the piano quickly, (eighth notes.)  It is a wonderful process.

I am also assessing them this week on asking questions that help them further their growth in music literacy.  This works well with the piano lab, because everyone needs a little bit of help when they have never composed a piece of music ever before.  Many students are afraid to ask questions with the fear of looking not so smart, so this is a great way to give them license to ask any question they want and need to have answered.  I encourage them at the beginning of the hour also, to help them believe that it is always all right to ask questions, even if I just explained something.

I am thrilled that my students this year have not only taken so naturally to playing music on the piano, but also are willing to take risks to use what they know and transfer it to a higher, more creative level of thinking.  And then, after they have finished their sixteen measure piece, they will run to the piano lab to play it, and continue to "fine tune" it, as it were, as they learn to play their own compositions.  This will set them up for next fall when they continue their exploration with musical ideas and vernacular to compose songs for an opera story that they have created.  Never a dull moment!