#1: Composition Versus Improvisation: What Are the Implications?

Burnard (2000) aims to understand the relationship between composition and improvisation in children's musical experiences. For me, Sidin's feelings about music provide the most fascinating and relatable outlook on the topic. In her earlier years, she appears to suffer from an external locus of identity — that is, she bases her self-worth on her ability to follow standard compositional practices. However, as she begins to treat music as a more social activity, she becomes more focused on improvising what she feels is best musically. This example makes composition and improvisation look like contrasting ideas.

However, one must remember that although she is consciously concerned about improvisation as opposed to compositional structure, there is always some facet of order in music; yes, some elements are improvised, but in my opinion, she is subconsciously following her preconceived notion of what she wants to say musically. She understands the mood she wants to set through the music and plays accordingly. Hence, this example has caused me to consider composition and improvisation as two interdependent ideas rather than distinct ones.

Most educators teach performers to follow every instruction that is on the sheet music or obey the stylistic standards of our audiences. There is a good chance Sidin learned this philosophy. This learning, in my opinion, damaged her approach to performing music, not allowing her to flourish as a well-rounded artist — a conundrum many musicians face. In the future, she will be more reluctant to depart from sheet music, not allowing for any original, unique performance. Overall, similar to how the article views the issue, I feel that educators must introduce both concepts to students as equally valuable to allow them to build musical maturity while not stifling their creative voice. This approach is challenging to execute due to students' and teachers' previous assumptions about this topic. However, it is necessary to create a balanced approach to music creation.

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