Dear NWSMTA members,

Working with Children Who Have a Natural Proclivity for Music Composition: Part 1

Lois Veenhoven Guderian © 2025

“The process of skill-learning and the act of musical creation are closely connected, even in some sense identical.”

(Loane, 1984, p 205)

At times, private piano educators might receive a call from a parent who is looking for an educator who teaches both piano and music composition. The call might go something like this: “We are looking for a piano teacher for our 7-year-old, Bobby. We have a piano and Bobbie wants to learn how to play. Bobby is very musical and loves to sit at the piano and make up music. Can you teach them how to play the piano and can you help them with their composing?” Or perhaps the call is from a parent looking for a teacher for an older child in the middle school grades. “We are looking for a teacher who will give our child piano lessons and who can also help them with their composing and writing down their compositions. Our child has had piano lessons before but did not really do well. It takes them a long time to figure out a piece of music. They love music, love to play the pieces they have learned how to play and spend hours at the piano making up their own music. In fact, our seventh-grade child wants to be a composer!”

Although there are many versions of the two scenarios presented here, over the course of many years of teaching, for many teachers of piano, periodically, similar calls are not uncommon. As educators, we are aware that taking on the younger child as a student will likely be doable. There are no established habits to address. Hopefully, from the first day, we can help the child have a good start in both areas of study.

First, we are aware that by nature young children make up their own songs and are drawn to playing musical instruments. Whether or not a child has an unusual natural tendency for composing will, in time, be revealed; especially if the child’s interest in music and creating music is nurtured. As private teachers, we are in a good position to nurture children’s musical and creative potential in improvisation and composition. Right from child’s first lesson and learning in piano, along with teaching the piano lesson content we have planned, if a child wants to play one of their own pieces for us, we can show interest by taking the time to listen to their piece, and to show our appreciate for and enjoyment of their music. We can brainstorm ideas with them for making new pieces. For their ongoing progress in piano, and for their development of compositional skills and knowledge in Western music styles, week to week, along with the piano lesson content, we can consistently work in short composition assignments that are related to the piano studies content. Some piano teaching series include composition in the piano method books. However, whether or not this is the case, composition assignments that are an outgrowth of the lesson pieces can always be added. For example, if a child has learned how to play a piece with quarter and half note values using the tones/notes that are in the C Major 5-finger hand position, one could ask them to write their own piece with quarter notes and half notes using the notes of the 5-finger pattern in C Major. Preceding the assignment, improvisations in the 5-finger pattern, some as duets with the teacher, are also essential to developing the child’s facility in playing, their ear, creative thinking, and knowledge in music for completing the assignment.

With an interrelated and interconnected approach is used for learning how to play the piano, learning in theory, and learning in how to write music, the skills and knowledge learned in each area of musicianship reinforce learning in the others. The writing will reinforce the theory, and when the student plays their own piece, they are reinforcing their sight-reading and playing ability.

Alternating a semi-structured creative assignment like this with an assignment that provides a child with open-ended creative freedom makes for a balanced approach to nurturing the child’s creative potential in music and music composition. For example, if a child is learning how to play pieces on black keys, an educator could ask them to compose their own piece on the black keys. To provide the child with some idea of how to approach the assignment, an educator might brainstorm ideas with the child for what the piece might be about and improvise the ideas together on the keys. “Shall we try to make music that sounds like a bunny hopping? How about soft rain in the forest? Shall we see if we can make some music that would help a baby fall asleep? Would you like to tell a story with your music? When you go home, please explore some ideas for a new piece. I would love to hear them next week.”

Assignments like this are doable within the time frame of the private lesson. They are building blocks for ongoing assignments in improvisation and composition. We might even be in the practice of offering all of our students this kind of approach to teaching and learning in music whereby there is emphasis in both learning how to play the piano and developing creative thinking in music for improvisation and composition. How much or how often we incorporate teaching and learning in all the areas of study that build comprehensive musicianship and playing ability will depend on the interests and potential of the children and youths we teach. Most children benefit from music lessons that include opportunities for creative thinking and creative application in music through music improvisation and exercises and assignments in composition. For children who have a natural proclivity for creative music making, it is essential to their musical growth and joy in learning. 

Part II: In a follow up to this article, Part II will have suggestions for working with youths in the age group of the second example given in this article, the middle school age private student.

Based on the following research, writings and many years of experience teaching piano and composition.

Guderian, L.V. (2014). Creative application: A way to include music improvisation and composition in comprehensive general music curriculum, In J. Barrett & P. Webster (Eds), The Musical Experience: Rethinking Music Education (pp. 183-204). Oxford University Press

Guderian, L.V. (2012). Music improvisation and composition in the general music curriculum. General Music Today: 25 (3)

Guderian, L. V. (2009). Music improvisation and composition: essential strategies for developing musicianship and engaging the creative minds of children in the music education classroom. In J. Smutny & S.E. Fremd (Eds), Igniting Creativity in Gifted Learners, K-6 (pp. 270-279). Thousand Oakes, CA: Corwin Press, a Sage Company.

Guderian, L. V. (2009). Effects of applied music composition and improvisation assignments on sight- reading ability, learning in music theory and quality in soprano recorder playing. Dissertation Abstracts International, 69 (11A). (ProQuest, formerly UMI, No. 3331120)

Loane, B. (1984). Thinking about children’s compositions. The British Journal of Music Education, 1(3), (205-231).

Lois Veenhoven Guderian, PhD President, NWSMTA