I have just finished creating the following handout for a year 12 class. The class has been looking at “Eize Hu Chacham” by Nigel Westlake and Lior and syncopation has been used significantly. I wanted to challenge the students to compose a piece focusing on syncopation without worrying too much about pitch and was given the great idea to design a composition task which only used unpitched percussion (or as Samuel Z. Solomon calls it: “indeterminately pitched percussion”).
The aim of this task is for students to focus on complex rhythmic ideas rather than pitch.
I am a student at Sydney Conservatorium of Music studying a Bachelor of Music (Education). I major in Classical Voice however throughout my studies I have practiced using a variety of pitched and non-pitched percussion, piano, guitar, and most recently; trumpet.
Throughout my studies I've not only learnt how to encourage my future students to have an appreciation for music but have also extended my own appreciation and passion for music through exposure to a variety of new ways to express my musicality and experience music (predominately through technology and unique ensemble opportunities).
Let's move away from "theory" vs "prac" structured lessons and adopt a more hands-on approach to music education. For a creative subject we should be teaching and learning about it in a creative way!
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Music Teaching 101 