Composer Timeline

I want to introduce everyone to our composer timeline! Each week on the Studio Facebook page I've been sharing a 'hand-washing song' chosen by one of our students. And today's post is a closer look at what that means, and how that plays into our lessons and musical study.

I have a cup full of composer cards (from Vibrant Music Teaching) and when it is a student's turn, they draw a card, and we search up that composer on Youtube. The student gets to pick a piece from the list of selections available, and that becomes the week's hand-washing song! That music then plays for the next week while students are coming into the studio, I am sanitizing pianos, they are washing their hands, and getting their books prepped for lessons, etc. With the few extra minutes of cleaning procedures that come with operating our studio in a pandemic, this has added a sense of musical purpose and routine to our slightly longer transition time. After we are settled and ready for lesson to start we find the composer on the timeline and have a short discussion about what we're hearing in the music. We might discuss: 

• Which musical period & genre the music is, and what characteristics of that music we are hearing. 
• If it's a certain musical form, like a Symphony, Sonata or Nocturne, we might talk about what that means.
• What instruments we hear playing.
• How the music feels.
• (And one of my personal favorites for younger students especially) If this was a movie, what would be happening right now? -or- Can you make up a story for this music?

A couple things that I'm really noticing is that many students are become more comfortably aware of the musical periods, and how long ago some of them actually were as we check in to the timeline each week. 

I am also noticing that the observations we are able to make about the music have gotten a little more sophisticated as the year has progressed. In practicing listening closely to these pieces each week, students have become better analytical listeners and have learned how to interpret and express what they are hearing in the music, and even remembering some of the musical forms that have come up more than once at this point. 

All in all, I'm really happy with how this has added to our musical growth by placing what we do into a larger musical tradition and history. What started out as a way to try and fill time during necessary cleaning procedures has become a really fruitful way of settling into our lessons each week and preparing our minds to make music, and I fully intend to keep our weekly composer going even when we do not have quite as extensive cleaning to do between students.

Would you like to see what some of our selections and composers have been this past year? Just head over to the Facebook page and search 'hand washing'!