“Composers Are Born and Not Made”: Some Preliminary Thoughts On How To Construct A Pedagogy For Music Composition

Abstract

This article explores how pedagogy in music composition in the United Kingdom has changed since the beginning of the twentieth century, and suggests a model which is effective in facilitating the development of today’s student composers in Higher Education, but could also be applicable for younger students. Firstly, I will examine a range of writers’ approaches to outlining how the act of music composition can be taught. I will then suggest a pedagogic model which is based on aspects of these approaches but informed by my own experiences as a composition teacher.