Innovative education happens wherever students have space to tap into new ways of thinking and understanding their world—whether that’s on stage with classmates, in reading discussions with older adults, or alone at a keyboard, composing an original piece of music.
Near West music teacher Erica Zappia was recently featured on Soundtrap’s education blog as a standout example of how student-centered music instruction can build confidence among K-8 students.
In her classes, students in grades 5-8 split time between violin instruction and original song production using Soundtrap, a browser-based music creation platform. The results, according to the post, have left teachers moved to tears and parents asking for the playlist.
Zappia’s approach is deliberately open-ended. She requires a minimum length, a set number of tracks, specific instruments, but creative decisions belong entirely to the student. “If this isn’t their jam, they can just follow the requirements to a great grade,” she explains. “If it is their jam, they can push their Chromebooks to the max with the level of detail they put into the song.”
Students work independently, problem-solving with each other rather than depending on the teacher to help them follow a pre-determined path to success. The less she directs, she says, the more creative the outcomes.
Exercising this creative freedom through open-ended music composition is a powerful way to teach innovative thinking and build confidence that echoes far beyond music class.
Hear for Yourself! Listen to two students’ projects created for this assignment:
Elijah Peoples, Sample Project
This article was featured in Lifelong Learning, our quarterly school newsletter. Explore the full issue here!