Demonstrating well done projects has a list of pros and cons in my mind. A student who hears a completed project can respond in one of two ways, either they understand it as something they are capable of doing also, or it becomes something that they feel is too complex to mimic. It is healthy for students to be exposed to creative ideas that they can work off of and create from or with. I believe that a student should be exposed to many different types of creative medias to ensure that all potential is exposed.

The projects explained in this chapter are all useful in engaging students in creative ideas which is very important to me, but the Percussion Sounds Improvisation lesson is something that I could easily use and it involves concepts that I already try to teach my students. The are able to apply the concept of rhythm that we practice in class in a fun and creative way

Using the favorite sounds lesson in my class could be something of an ice breaker. Students personalities and unique preference to music can be revealed when they share their favorite style of each musical instrument. I would also like to use the Blues Keyboard lesson in my piano class to help encourage kids to learn the patterns of the piano quickly. The call and response section of the lesson can help spark their interest in other piano sounds.

In the past when I have shared creative ideas or creations with people they either enjoy the idea and encourage the behavior or the creative thought or creation gets lost in translation and as the creator I’m left defending the importance of the thing created or simply enjoying it alone.

I have shared creative writings to music when I was younger at my church. At the time I was playing guitar more frequently and enjoyed the freedom that came with expressing myself on a new instrument. The music I was writing was not for the people I was performing for but it was an expression of my own beliefs and understanding of the ideas that we shared as a community. This was less musically creative and more poetically creative but the final product required both.

When I shared the music with my community it was interesting to see how people did not seem to understand my thoughts as well as I did. They made no comment to the music itself and simply encouraged the attempt which encouraged me to continue pursuing this type of creativity and even set motion to me getting a music degree to further my understanding of the sound I could use to create with.

Students use internet media: blogs, social networking sites and others to express themselves. The popularity of these types of expression are often times narrowed down simply into expression through word or photos. Students are not allowed to easily express themselves through music because it seems that expression on the internet is limited to these two concepts unless you are famous. Students need to be taught that a level of musical creativity can be done using technology and shared to their blogs, social sites and media messages. Giving students a musical outlet that is directly related to how they already communicate may increase their engagement and in turn increase their achievement in an area that they may have no idea they could succeed in.

I believe that every human has a sense of creativity but can only express it depending on how the individual nurtures the creative interests. If you will notice a small child and how the beginnings of speech children experiment with sounds and consistently make the sound they enjoy the most. Children express creativity when observing the world in front of them. Problem solving when learning how to walk, stand up, ride a bike. A child must do more than just watch the other humans in front of them but they must also adapt what they see to what they are capable of. This to me is creativity at its most basic form. I believe any attempt at being creative is creativity and how it is nurtured and understood by the individual defines its growth in the persons life.

A student who is encouraged to be creative musically has at one point listened to a type of music and imagined themselves doing the same thing or something similar. How often do people joke about only singing in the shower? Everyone wants to be musical, everyone imagines a life of “creativity” when they listen to singers that they like. What they don’t know is that they could be just as capable if given the guidance to nurture their interest in creative things.

When I was learning music in school not much technology was used to encourage learning or creativity. The teaching style was for the most part expressive because I was brought up with private lessons style teaching which taught me a level of collaboration. In the future, I want to use a lot of technology in my music class because this is how students speak to each other now. The kids who will never be exposed to formal music training can all see a keyboard on a computer and use it to blend sounds together in a musical form. Using technology as a gateway into learning formal music seems to be a way to build a foundation of creativity, and interest in formal music training.

Including technology in my music teaching is something I strive for but may not execute well. I like to encourage my kids to think of how they would modify a completed piece to their tastes. For example, when I exposed my students to Blackbird by the Beatles, and asked them what they would have changed about the song they said they would have preferred to have a more full drum style behind the song, much like what the Beatles have done in other songs. I also like to encourage kids to create rhythms over a steady beat. I first wait and see what they might come up with on their own but then I slowly show them the breakdown of rhythm using the different notes and and I can easily teach them quarter, half, whole, 16th notes and even triplets and then encourage them to use those concepts in creative ways.

These activities don’t require much technology. A devise to listen to a recording and maybe a piano if I’m asking them to modify a piece of music we are singing in class. I would love to incorporate more technology in the class especially since so many schools have access to computers and mine in particular has enough for each student in the entire school to use one.

I could include technology in these exercises by using the midi keyboard and a program like garage band and have them create rhythm using the sounds they have access to.

My concerns about these creative projects are breaking down the concept enough for the students to not feel overwhelmed by their freedom. In most of their classes they are required to react according to a certain set of standards that each teacher has set forth for them in order to learn the concepts thoroughly. As teachers, we stress the importance of routine and keeping things consistent in the beginning, middle and end of the class every day because it increases thorough student learning. To ask a student with so much healthy structure to create something without first giving them guidelines of what to create with can be a shock to the system. I hope that when I encourage creativity I will not only allow freedom of expression but also foster it in such a way that it is not anxiety inducing to my students.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton