Music Composition, Beginners

This 9 page PDF file will help you guide your beginning piano students through a compositional project. Page 3 includes a set of rhythms that the students cut out. They then pick their four favorite rhythms, arrange them in the order that they want, and draw them in a set of boxes on pages 2, 4, and 5. On the staff line below, they are given a set of notes for each measure to choose from in their composition (for example, C E G for measure 1). They then pick the notes that match their rhythm, using the notes in any order that they choose. *Note - for early beginning students, you can limit their notes to a C Pentascale (CDEFG) so that there is no hand movement when they perform the piece.

When all 3 lines of music are composed (12 measures total), the students copy their melody line to one of the left hand patterns included at the end of the PDF file. There are three different left hand patterns to choose from: a single bass note, an open fifth, and a broken fifth. As a teacher, you can guide your students to pick the left hand pattern that best fits their skill. A "ticket" is included for students to fill out, and hand to someone for the final performance of their composition.

If you are a studio piano teacher, you can spread this assignment out over 1-4 lessons, using a portion of each lesson time to complete different steps. Classroom teachers can also use this with their students, with a performance with any pitched instrument (xylophone, handbells, boomwhackers, etc.). Even if you aren't familiar with composition yourself, this PDF guide will help you guide your students through the process. The end result will be a composition that they will be proud of!

The digital PDF can be used for online lessons as well, shared over zoom and/or annotated with a PDF annotation program. Studio license allows you to print and distribute to all of your students.