Selecting music for young people…..
April 10th, 2006 by etobias
Belinda Reynolds, a composer who I have referenced in previous posts, now has a column on newmusicbox focusing on issues facing composers writing music for young people. I think this is a great initiative to encourage some dialogue between educators, composers, performers, critics etc. We can certainly learn from each other. Her most recent post deals with the question of what teachers are looking for in selecting music for young people focusing mostly on the issue of quality.
One of the most important decisions we make as music teachers is the selection of music we present to our students. Have you reflected on these decisions lately? Here are just a few questions that might be beneficial to think about:
What do you look for when selecting music for your students?
What are your criteria for considering a piece of music written for a young person to be “quality” music ?
What advice would you give to composers considering writing music for young people?
What advice would your students give to you as the person selecting the music or to the composer writing it?
Do any of your students play a role in selecting the music they perform?