If you have never hosted a camp for music composing, you are in for a fun ride!
I make no secret that one of my favorite aspects of music is composition. In fact, I’ve already written about it once before (How to Start Teaching Piano Students Music Composition).
Piano teachers liked that post and activity so much that we decided to expand our dice-rolling composition idea into a full-blown music camp.
Before I dig into this camp for music composing, I want to share 7 reasons why I think hosting a music camp specifically for composition is a great idea.
- Music composition is a creative class that encourages students to express what’s inside of them
- Music composing provides a focused time for you to teach students music composition
- Your students will learn to compose music in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, AND 5/4!
- You can offer more value to your piano studio by hosting 5-day music camps
- Music composition strengthens students’ note reading
- Music composing strengthens students’ rhythm
- This music camp is easy to do! (we provide everything you need, even if you’ve never taught music composition before)
A look inside Creek, Crick, Croak Composing Camp
This is so much more than just a music composition camp!
In this 5-day music camp, your students will…
- Learn about a new frog
- Get an interactive theory lesson
- Compose in different meters
- Have listening time that connects with theory lesson
- Do improvisation in different meters
- Play a different music game
Each day has a two-hour recommended schedule.
You can adapt this schedule to be shorter by omitting parts of the camp or make it longer by adding more game and music time (we include tons of song and dance links).
Get Crick, Creek, Croak Composing Camp here
Get Crick, Creek, Croak Composing Camp + Games here (cheapest price!)
Don’t see the video above? Watch Composing Camp for summer piano lessons on YouTube here.
How to use this music camp for any age
We have been asked the ideal age range for Creek, Crick, Croak Composing Camp.
It is easier to answer by level than by age.
Since there are two levels of guided composition sheets, it can cover a broader range of ages.
The youngest student needs to be fluent in reading and writing and know the piano keys (simple rhythms are optional). Most often that covers ages 7-8.
The theory concepts covered are college-level (but written in an easy-to-understand way), so the age range can easily extend up to 18 or older.
A class of adult beginner pianists would also be perfect for Creek, Crick, Croak Composing Camp. This camp for music composition can help them get started with music composition.
We wouldn’t recommend it to students who are fluent and playing advanced repertoire, as they may get bored–unless, of course, they have never touched composing and need a structured guide.
Because this music composition camp includes two levels of guided composition worksheets, you can teach a multi-level class.
We make this especially easy for you by providing explanation videos for each level worksheet.
One group of students can watch a video while you tutor the other group.
Or, if you prefer to be more hands-off, both groups can watch their respective videos to learn how to use the guided composition worksheets.
Sample Day 1 of Creek, Crick, Croak Music Composition Camp
Our goal in creating this camp for music composing was to create something that you could easily use–even if you’ve never composed before!
So, to ease your mind and help you know if this is something that would work for you, here is an in-depth look inside Day 1 of the camp.
All 5 days of the camp follow a similar pattern, with Day 5 being more performance-focused.
You get a recommended schedule for the music camp to last two hours.
This schedule would be great to share with your parents so they can get a glimpse of what their child is learning in music camp that day.
Frog Facts
Every day starts with frog facts.
The frog is a super important character in this music composition camp, because we use the syllables of that frog to help establish the meter for the day.
Day 1’s frog is “Green Frog.” And, you probably guessed it, students will be composing music in 2/4.
But we don’t tell the students that until later (the smart ones will start guessing what meter they’ll be composing in as soon as you announce the next day’s frog!).
After you discuss cool frog facts for the day’s frog, you move to the interactive theory lesson.
Theory Lessons
I’m excited about these theory lessons because I wove in a lot of college-level knowledge that is super important for composing unique melodies.
You can make your kids feel super smart if you let them know they’re learning some stuff college kids learn!
The theory lessons are interactive with a lot of questions and answers as well as samples for you to play (once again, everything is written out so you can just read along if you’d like).
Music Composition
Day 1 composing takes the longest time to explain, because you’re helping your students understand how to compose with the guide for the first time.
The good news is that once they understand how to do it for one meter, they will easily be able to do it all the other days with very little extra explanation.
We provide three videos for the guided music composition worksheets.
- A video for beginner composition guide (spoken to students)
- A video for upper level composition guide (spoken to students)
- A video for teachers with tips about the guided composition worksheets
You can either watch the student videos to help you learn how to teach the guides, or you can just play the videos for the students.
The beginner composition guide has two pages: one page that tells them what to roll a die for and a second paper where they write compositions (it is similar to pre-reading pages in lesson books).
The upper level composition guide has four pages plus a page of staff paper. Two pages are the guide that tells them what to roll for. The third page is an example on how the guide is used. The fourth page is a worksheet they can use as a “scratch paper” to jot down each step of their composition before putting it onto staff paper.
Here’s a look at how the composition guides work.
Watch on YouTube: Teaching Students to Compose Music
Students will take a break from composing for listening time.
Listening Time, Snack Time
We have curated playlists specifically for this class where we encourage the students to listen for theory concepts covered earlier in class.
Music camp wouldn’t be complete without snack time, so midway through, we have time out for snacks and a music theory game (snack ideas are found in the appendix).
Students usually like playing music games more than once, so playing during snack time and also at the end of the class is a great way to help them meet that need.
After snack time, students will have fun with improvisation.
Improvisation
They will improvise in the same meter they are composing in. So Day 1’s improv is in 2/4.
We have included both an “improvisation worksheet” that has five piano parts of varying levels following a chord pattern and backing tracks.
There are so many options for improvisation!
If you need help here, we also provide a video to walk you through improvisation time.
Class wrap-up
The class wraps up with another music composition segment (students are encouraged to write as many songs as they want), performance practice (where students play one composition from the day–even if it’s not yet completed), and game time.
We love celebrating with success posters, so every day includes a success poster your students can pose with–you can send pictures to the parents to brag on their kids’ achievements for the day.
That wraps up Day 1!
Days 2-4 follow a very similar pattern, with…
- Black Rain Frog and composing music in 3/4
- Spring Peeper Frog and composing music in 4/4
- Blue Poison Dart Frog and composing music in 5/4
Day 5 is when students finalize their compositions and celebrate with a performance.
Once all five days of this music camp are completed, your students will each have a nice book of tunes that they’ve composed–plus the knowledge to keep composing on their own!
Get Crick, Creek, Croak Composing Camp here
Get Crick, Creek, Croak Composing Camp + Games here (cheapest price!)
Have you ever taught a camp for music composing?
What was the best takeaway from it?
Did you do a themed music composition camp?
Comment and share!
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