Minds on Music: Composition for Creative and Critical Thinking

Kaschub (music teacher education and graduate studies, U. of Southern Maine) and Smith (music education, Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, City U. of New York) discuss the role of composition in music education and provide methods for teaching it in early childhood, elementary grades, middle school, and high school. They consider the rationale and research on teaching and learning composition; an approach to teaching it; the characteristics, skills, and tools of composing students; how to plan lessons, assess student work, and establish composing communities in schools; and courses and activities for group and individual instruction, with sample lessons. The final section details the components of a full program in composition. There is no index. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Michele Kaschub is coordinator of music teacher education and graduate studies at the University of Southern Maine School of Music. She has actively worked with young composers and their teachers in general and choral settings for twenty years. Janice Smith is undergraduate coordinator of music education at Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, City University of New York. Prior to coming to Queens she had a thirty-year career teaching music in the public schools of Maine.