Listening to the Music: Compositional Processes of High School Composers

The purpose of the study was to investigate the compositional processes of adolescents to clarify effective strategies for implementing composition activities in high school music programs. The study charted the progress of four high school music students as they completed two separate composition tasks. Data collection techniques consisted of semi-structured interviews, observation, and document analysis. Analysis consisted of studying the field note and interview texts, making marginal notes, sorting, and coding. A model was constructed that reflected the common processes of composition used by the four student participants. Important features of the model are the role played by listening, the necessity of individual thinking time, and the improvisatory character of the final products. Findings from the study suggest that although there may be common elements in student compositional processes, the nature of the compositional process is idiosyncratic.