Music students & living composers…
April 21st, 2006 by etobias
Belinda Reynolds recently wrote about young performers playing music by living composers. A look through a catalog for music being composed for school ensembles will result in many names of living composers. These composers, for the most part, write specifically for school ensembles. Do our students realize that there are living composers who write for ensembles other than the ones they play in?
More often than not we present composers as historical figures. If the only composers students hear about are ones who are no longer living, they have every reason to believe that composers no longer exist. The more we as teachers are aware of living composers and present their music to our students, the more our students will be aware that music is still being written.
Besides performing music by living composers either through commissions or already existing pieces, another way for students to get a sense that composers are still creating music in our society is to have them create music themselves.
What do your students have to say about composers writing music today?