by Melissa Stouffer | Feb 17, 2026 | All, Composing
I think one of the things that I’m “known for” is composing activities because I have a bunch. Composing activities are a great way to let students be creative, with parameters, as well as let them practice rhythms and rhythmic writing. But there is...
by Melissa Stouffer | Sep 28, 2021 | All, Composing, Dance/Movement
Creativity should be an essential part of music education. Not only can we include small creative elements into our lessons, but we can include bigger creative activities for our students as well. For ideas to incorporate small creative elements into class, check out...
by Melissa Stouffer | Sep 21, 2021 | All, Composing
Composition and creativity sometimes seems like it is a checklist item. It’s a standard, we did it, now we can move on and don’t have to do it anymore. But that’s SUPER not true. We can include a creative element in our students’ class every...
by Melissa Stouffer | Mar 16, 2021 | All, Composing, Season: Spring
An Intro To Composing First up, this lovely book by Vicky Weber. The Song Garden is a perfect introduction to a composing lesson. (Full disclosure: some affiliate links but it won’t change your price. No pressure!) This book is about a girl name Calla who plants...
by Melissa Stouffer | Oct 6, 2020 | All, Composing, Dance/Movement, Distance Learning, General Music Lessons, Music Games, Music History
Teaching in a restricted environment is no fun at all. I get it. This is why I think it’s important to have awesome lessons that don’t even feel like the students are missing out on anything. I wrote these 6 lessons for COVID teaching to help you out. ...
by Melissa Stouffer | Feb 25, 2018 | All, Composing, Solfege
Sometimes I think teaching composition is really easy, and then I try to teach my kids to compose melodically. The first time I did it, I didn’t give strong enough parameters, and the kids came up with everything under the sun, which was GREAT, except they...
