Mark Hyman

MUSE 2002

Professor Klossner

19 February, 2017

Research Article #2

Menard, E. A. (2015). Music Composition in the High School Curriculum: A Multiple Case

Study. Journal of Research in Music Education, 63(1), 114-136.

doi:10.1177/0022429415574310

Elizabeth A. Menards article in the Journal of Research in Music Education details a

multiple-case study regarding the implementation of composition in the music class room.

Menard used two programs as samples for her study. To conduct the study, she decided to use

Yins Multiple Case Design with Embedded Units of Analysis. One program that she used is a

traditional band class in the high school level that originally provided no instruction in

composition to the students; the other program the she used in her study is an accelerated

learning class at a high school that provides advanced instruction for students in the arts,

including band students. The students in both programs received fifty minutes of composition

instruction each week for a total of seven weeks. At the end of the seven weeks, the students had

to complete a composition assignment that was the assessed by Menard.

The classes at both of the schools found similar difficulties in this daunting task. The

main concern for each school was the time factor. The classes and respective teachers felt that

the seven week time period was not adequate enough to cover materials needed for the
assignment at the end of the experiment. Another huge pitfall that the traditional band class

found was that the students did not have enough prior knowledge in music theory to apply to the

composition exercises and the tests. The students in the general music class did not struggle as

much with this aspect of the class due to prior exposure to composition. The general music class

also did not struggle as much with the setting of the class due to much the smaller enrollment

numbers; the traditional band class, however, had a much harder time administering these types

of exercises and accommodating for various backgrounds and degree of education in music. The

band class teacher also struggled with his own lack of knowledge or background in teaching

music composition. The band teacher expressed his concerns about never having composed

anything. The general music teacher expressed that when he first started teaching, he didnt feel

qualified to teach music composition; but due to his various experiences, he was able to guide his

students through the process.

To monitor the results throughout the study, the students and teachers each had to write

journals about their experiences and how they felt. Students were also asked to and encouraged

to write down any compositional ideas they had outside of the classroom. These journals were

reviewed personally by Menard. Interviews were also conducted with three select students that

the teachers chose. Menard wanted the teachers to be able to choose the students at free-will

without the stress of consequences following evaluation. The students were asked questions

similar to the questions that they were asked to write about in their journals. The students were

also given a final composition assignment at the end of the seven weeks.

The final composition assignment that the students were given was supposed to be one or

two voices and between twelve or twenty-four measures long. The students had their choice of

what instrumentation to use, what time signature to use, and what key signature to use for their
compositions. They were supposed to follow the methods they had been taught over the seven

week period and they were only allowed to use notes they had taken on their own. Notation

methods used included using pencil, eraser, and blank notation paper.

Both teachers found value in the study and instruction on composition in the classroom.

They expressed their desire to continue teaching their kids composition based material and stated

that they believed it would inspire their students creativity and be a useful median to achieve

some state or national standards.

I believe that this was a useful study and should be repeated in a more long-term manner

with more test subjects for more conclusive results. Overall, I am convinced that composition is

an important skill and it should be a part of the national curriculum for the musical arts classes.

Not only does this portion of music education help to achieve a method of meeting the national

standards regarding improvisation, but it also allows the students in any environment to have a

more personal and emotional connection to the repertoire that they are performing in their

ensembles. Composing their own pieces with various expressions allows students to get insight

into the minds of other various composers.