Should even first year students be taught to invent?

[starstruck5]

Since I have began composing pieces of my own, I have noticed that I have become far more inventive and insightful when learning the works of the masters.   I also like to make up my own studies and exercises.

I actually gave up the piano when I was just 7, because my teacher was a monster. However, hard I worked, she always accused me of not practising when I made the slightest error - and lessons became a thing of dread for me. I believe, that had I been encouraged to make up my own tunes, while being taught the fundamentals of harmony and composition - I would not have given up music and this would have been infinitely positive in many other aspects of my life.  I was given the option of switching to a different teacher, but being 7 -  I had already associated music with unfulfilling dread.

My question essentially, is how many of those here who teach - include creative elements in their lessons?  Maybe this won't suit every child, but I believe it is well worth finding out if the aptitude is present. ?

[quantum]

Focusing on creativity such as composition, improvisation, and the exploration of the piano's timbres is certainly a benefit to the beginning student.  However, in your case I believe the teacher was more of the mitigating factor in your dislike to take part in lessons.  No matter the subject matter, if a student and teacher do not form a mutual bond the efforts will be less than satisfactory. 


In my own teaching I very much incorporate improvisation at the instrument.  The study of classical piano in my area does not place a lot of focus on this rather essential skill.  Often I find students in the beginning stages much more open to improvising than those established players that grew up in the conservatory system. 

[pianoplayjl]

I think they must because i think it expands the child's creativity and imagination.

[cjp_piano]

So unfortunate that you had that awful teacher!

Beginning students should DEFINITELY compose, create, and invent! I teach this way from the very first lesson. You don't have to wait until you are familiar with theory, chord progressions, scales, etc. You can start with "imitate a lion's roar" or "what would raindrops sound like?"

When you create and invent your own sounds at the piano (or any instrument), you have a better understanding and prospective when it comes to playing something that someone ELSE created. You start to think "hm, why did they want it to sound like this?" because you've experimented with different sounds yourself.

[lovelandpianoacademy]

Absolutely, encourage invention and experimentation!  And let the parents know that "creative" time is important at home during practice, or they may curb it.  Beginning students are much more willing to do this than ones who have learned the classical method.  It is so freeing -- and good for the brain -- to think outside of the box and make up something new!  I have students make up new endings for established songs, make up a pattern and then sequence it into a song, create a pattern using a set chord ("let's make a song with the notes of the C major chord"), or create a song about a particular topic ("a Haunted Forest song").... use your own imagination!
Karen

[pianoplayjl]

They must be taught to compose too!

[lostinidlewonder]

It is a great idea and perfect for the student that enjoys this creativity. You cannot give it to ALL students because some are not interested in composition and just want to learn to play the instrument. Also many beginner students have much more important tasks to complete before they should go about learning to compose anything. Learning how their fingers work, coordination, sight reading, technique, expression etc, these should be learned from professional compositions. The more experience the student has with good writing the more they will naturally understand perhaps how to do it themselves, however trying to teach how to write before they have read multiple works and learned to play them seems backwards for most students.

There are particular students who are much more inventive and creative compared to other students and I think teaching them to "invent" can be beneficial. I would think that the creative side should be tied into other important aspects of learning, for example you could ask them to compose something in a particular key and what highlights a particular technique they have experienced in another piece. The problem with inventive students is that they can sometimes become overly interested in their own creations and invest too much time, where they should be focused on the standard learning tools which will help them become more creative in the future.


All students however are asked to invent ideas perhaps not compositions as such when they are learning pieces. A beginner going off and teaching themselves passages may have to experiment with fingering and movement options and try to discover what feels the best and why. They also will to do the same with sound, what sounds better and why. So we are always asked creative questions when learning a musical instrument and the solution needs to be one that reflects us  investigating the issue on our own terms.

"On our own terms" means a student learns understanding things that they can explain to themselves based on their past/present knowledge. Those that attempt to learn a musical instrument like a parrot type non-intelligent mimicing tend to not have an explainable understanding of what they are actually doing are often mistaken to not having learned something on their terms, but they actually have, it is just displayed as raw muscular memory (I say "raw" because they may not understand the application of the muscular memory when they come across it in another piece and need to be spoonfed the information before they can make that connection that they have past experience associated with the task). I find it very important as a teacher to try and encourage the student to be inventive with these muscular memory tools, so we should encourage the student to create exercises and patterns over the piano which highlight technique they have learned, if only it makes them observe it in new pieces at least they understand how to apply past knowledge.

Some very young students learn best with this parrot learning which is not suprising, they merely understand what they are doing based on the muscular memory and sound associated with their actions. They do not need to connect a logic or conscious understanding of exactly the patterns they are creating and how it relates to their overall musical knowledge although getting them to sometimes explain it in words can yeild facinating answers!

Musical games for the young children encourages thinking, whether it is strategical, inventive or guesswork, they have to make decisions themselves and face challenges on their own (with the teachers assistance as required). So all in all I think that inventive thinking is something that exists in all musical lessons, the student needs to be able to invent a solution to deal with learning a new piece. if they approach every piece without trying to invent solutions then they are dealing with learning everything as if it was all completely new material. Unfortunately this is a limiting issue in students progress, some simply cannot apply past knowledge or there is a saturation point where they can no longer control all their past knowledge to learn "harder" pieces that build upon their knowledge. Once a student reaches a saturation the teacher needs to consolidate what the student has learned, that is make stronger what they know, make it more routine and natural for them. If a teacher notices this saturation in the student they getting them to take a more creative approach to their learning, composing, improvising, inventing paterns/exercises etc can solidify their current knowledge.

[pianoplayjl]

Great insight, Lostinidlewonder!

[cjp_piano]

It is a great idea and perfect for the student that enjoys this creativity. You cannot give it to ALL students because some are not interested in composition and just want to learn to play the instrument. Also many beginner students have much more important tasks to complete before they should go about learning to compose anything. Learning how their fingers work, coordination, sight reading, technique, expression etc, these should be learned from professional compositions. The more experience the student has with good writing the more they will naturally understand perhaps how to do it themselves, however trying to teach how to write before they have read multiple works and learned to play them seems backwards for most students.

Although I agree that they need to learn coordination, reading, etc, I disagree and believe that ALL students SHOULD invent and create from the beginning. They don't need to know what a major chord is or how to do multiple rhythms in each hand in order to explore. Even though some students are more inclined to invent, from my experience, they all benefit. Even if it's just something like taking a piece they've learned that someone else wrote and thinking of a way to change something in their own way.

It's true that some students aren't interested in composition, but I don't say, "now you have to compose a piece." I do it much more indirectly and subtly as mentioned above.

Musical games for the young children encourages thinking, whether it is strategical, inventive or guesswork, they have to make decisions themselves and face challenges on their own (with the teachers assistance as required). So all in all I think that inventive thinking is something that exists in all musical lessons, the student needs to be able to invent a solution to deal with learning a new piece. if they approach every piece without trying to invent solutions then they are dealing with learning everything as if it was all completely new material. Unfortunately this is a limiting issue in students progress, some simply cannot apply past knowledge or there is a saturation point where they can no longer control all their past knowledge to learn "harder" pieces that build upon their knowledge.

yes, this is very good insight!

[pianoplayjl]

I think it is essential to be taught to invent. I think the younger the person taught to invent, the more imagination he/she has. The lessons taught seve as a basis and foundation for when the student grows up. I'm sure the student will take the advice into account when asked to compose a piece of music. A young person has so much potential to compose. Composing will stimulate the brain, adding more creativity and freedom.

[lukebar]

So I think we can all agree that beginning students benefit greatly from creativity, exploration, and experimentation. I think most of my very young students are natural at this. They are still at an age (4-6 yrs old) where exploration and experimentation are their primary methods for learning about the world around them.

Where we start to lose this is as the students get a little bit older. If we're not careful, the art of making music at the piano becomes more of a craft. In other words, the focus becomes being able to replicate a performance as prescribed by the composer with a high degree of technical mastery, and "some" of our own interpretive ideas added into the mix, much the same way that a seamstress follows a particular pattern, but needs to have the technical skills to execute it well. The pursuit ceases to be a very creative one when most of the choices are being made for you.

The student ends up in the role of trying to get everything right. Music is about much, MUCH more than just getting it right.

[pianoplayjl]

So I think we can all agree that beginning students benefit greatly from creativity, exploration, and experimentation. I think most of my very young students are natural at this. They are still at an age (4-6 yrs old) where exploration and experimentation are their primary methods for learning about the world around them.

Where we start to lose this is as the students get a little bit older. If we're not careful, the art of making music at the piano becomes more of a craft. In other words, the focus becomes being able to replicate a performance as prescribed by the composer with a high degree of technical mastery, and "some" of our own interpretive ideas added into the mix, much the same way that a seamstress follows a particular pattern, but needs to have the technical skills to execute it well. The pursuit ceases to be a very creative one when most of the choices are being made for you.

The student ends up in the role of trying to get everything right. Music is about much, MUCH more than just getting it right.

Ithink a person is  at it's most creative stage when an infant. that's what I think.