Teaching Music Through Composition

Named a TI:ME Music Teacher of the Year, Barbara Freedman has been teaching music since 1997 and currently teaches Electronic Music & Audio Engineering at Greenwich High School in Connecticut. She is an author, consultant, trainer, and frequent presenter/clinician at local, state, and national in-service conferences and events.

• Introductory material ; Introduction to Music Composition ; 1. Tour of the Software for Music Creation ; (a) Lesson: Creating Software Instrument Track ; (b) Lesson: Tour of the Loops Library ; 2. Using Loops ; (a) Lesson: Creating Melodies with Loops ; (b) Lesson: Understanding Song (AB) Form ; (c) Lesson/Project: Creating a Piece Using the Software's Prerecorded Loops in AB Song Form ; 3. Recording Drum Tracks ; (a) Lesson: Understanding Rhythmic Notation with Rhythm States ; (b) Lesson: Reading Graphic Rhythms with Rhythm States ; (c) Lesson: Rhythm Dictations ; (d) Lesson: Drum Beats ; 4. Composing Drum & Percussion Beats ; (a) Lesson/Project: Composing Drum & Percussion Beats ; 5. Writing Melodies ; (a) Lesson: Understanding the Piano Keyboard ; (b) Lesson: Melodic Dictations ; (c) Lesson: Evaluating Melodies ; (d) Lesson: Composing a Melody in D Dorian ; 6. Melodic Variations Using Rhythmic Alterations ; (a) Lesson: Melodic Fragments, Rhythmic Augmentation, And Rhythmic Diminution ; 7. Creating More Variations ; (a) Lesson: Manually Changing the Pitch Level of Regions ; 8. Composing with Original Regions ; (a) Lesson/Project: D Melody Piece in Modified Sonata Allegro Form ; 9. The Sound FX Piece ; (a) Lesson: The Sound FX Piece: How Ideas Evolve Over Time ; (b) Lesson: The Sound FX Project: Creating Two Dimensional Sound Image & Creating Sonic Space ; (c) Lesson: Using Reverb to Create Three Dimensional Space ; 10. Basic Keyboard Theory ; (a) Lesson: Whole & Half steps ; (b) Lesson: Generic Intervals Lesson Plan ; (c) Lesson: Basic Keyboard Theory: Understanding Major Scales ; 11. MIDI Remix ; (a) Lesson Plan: Analyzing a Remix 1 ; (b) Lesson Plan: Analyzing a Remix 2 ; (c) Lesson Plan: MIDI Remix ; 12. More Rhythms ; (a) Lesson Plan: More Rhythms ; (b) Rhythmic Improvisation ; 13. Dictations ; (a) Lesson Plan: Melodic Dictations ; 14. Melody Writing Drills ; (a) Creating Melodic Motives Lesson Plan ; (b) Lesson Plan: Motive Variations ; (c) Lesson Plan: Motive in Sequence ; (d) Lesson Plan: Improvising Melodies ; 15. More Melody Writing Drills ; (a) Lesson Plan: Compose to a Given Rhythm (Rhythmic Continuity) ; 16. Melody Forms ; (a) Lesson Plan: Question & Answer ; (b) Lesson Plan: AB Tonic/Dominant ; (c) Lesson Plan: Rondo ; 17. The Ringtone Project ; (a) Lesson Plan: The Ringtone Project ; 18. More Basic Keyboard Theory ; (a) Lesson Plan: Major & Minor Thirds ; (b) Lesson Plan: Understanding Triad Qualities ; (c) Lesson Plan: Building Triads on Scale Degrees ; 19. Chord Progressions ; (a) Lesson Plan: Basic Chord Progressions ; (b) Lesson Plan: Twelve Bar Blues ; (c) Lesson Plan: Given Chord Progressions from the Simple Map ; (d) Lesson Plan: Common Chord Progressions Not on the Simple Map ; 20. Accompaniment Patterns ; (a) Lesson Plan: Accompaniment Patterns ; 21. Putting it Together ; (a) Lesson Plan: Composing Four-Measure Melodies ; (b) Lesson Plan: Drone ; (c) Lesson Plan: Generic Parallel Intervals ; (d) Lesson Plan: Counter Melody ; (e) Lesson Plan: Adding Chords ; (f) Lesson Plan: Understanding Bass Notes ; (g) Lesson Plan: Creating a Bass Line Part 1 ; (h) Lesson Plan: Creating Bass Line Part 2: Root and Fifth ; (i) Lesson Plan: Adding Drums and Syncing the Bass ; 22. Melody ; (a) Lesson Plan: Melodic Non-chord Tones ; 23. Composing Instrumental Music for Live Performance ; (a) Lesson Plan: Solo Flute or Violin Piece Project ; 24. The Art Project: Rondo Form ; (a) Lesson Plan: The Art Project: Rondo Form ; 25. Introducing Audio and Audio Editing ; (a) Lesson Plan: The Speech Project ; (b) EQ ; 26. More Advanced Audio ; (a) Lesson Plan: The Radio Commercial Project ; (b) Lesson Plan: The Podcast ; 27. Aural Reporting ; (a) Lesson Plan: Aural Reporting ; 28. Music for Video ; (a) Lesson Plan: Music for Video ; Appendix ; Reading Rhythms with Rhythm States ; Piano Supplement Printed Material ; Piano Supplement Video Lessons ; Index

Barbara Freedman has created the go-to resource for music educators, providing classroom tested lessons, projects, tips, and materials that will get any music educator up and running with a comprehensive approach to facilitating creative and relevant music-making experiences for their students. Freedman, a singular force in music technology thinking and practice, writes in an approachable, clear, and jargon-free style that will take the fear out of the equation for newcomers while also providing terrific projects and a unique perspective for experienced teachers. 'Teach music, the technology will follow' has become Freedman's rallying cry, and with Teaching Music Through Composition she has put her motto into practice. Every music teacher should add this incredible resource to their library.