Provide your students with the essential and powerful tool of composition to describe who they are and what it is to be alive in this world. This workshop explores the creative journey—from inspiration to expression—through experimentation with musical materials, improvisation, and construction. Topics to be explored include:
- Exploration of musical origins: story, poem, painting/drawing/photograph, experience, emotion, or some other “prompt.”
- Generation of musical expression with instruments/voice
- Notation: recording, transcribing
- Synthesis: putting ideas together, experimentation, weaving, juxtaposition, change/adaptation/growth
- The “purpose” or “path” of a piece may change direction or become more clear as you create your composition
Cooperating Composer:
Dr. Christian Ellenwood, composer, clarinetist and professor at UW-Whitewater. His compositions have been performed worldwide and the United States at international concerts, festivals and conferences. As a clarinetist he performs regularly in orchestras and ensembles and has performed on various recordings.
Composer Responsibilities:
- Gather goals from classroom educator, student role(s) and length of workshop
- Model steps of composition with their own and/or student work
- Lead to a short presentable composition
- Additionally, they may model software/technology used in composing and other skills as they and educator determine
Teacher Responsibilities:
- Contact Wisconsin School Music Association (WSMA) to contract with composer
- Ensure access to and hosting on school’s virtual platform
- Prepare students to work with composer
- Share classroom type, goals, and ideas with composer
- Choose type of project
- individual student project (each student creates their own idea or piece) or
- group project (group creates a piece during the workshop and then performs it)
- Determine length of workshop
- one ninety minute session (or two forty-five minute sessions)
- Schedule date and time with composer
Fees paid to WSMA (includes composer fees):
- $225 for one 90-minute session or two 45-minute sessions
- $250 for one 90-minute session or two 45-minute sessions + discount code*
*For the additional $25, a discount code is provided toward Student Composition Project registrations ($2 off comment only and $3 off competition).
Submit an inquiry form to schedule a workshop.
Payment will be submitted via an online form once the workshop is scheduled with the composer.
Questions about classroom workshops? Contact Victoria Donahue at 608-850-1022.