Christmas Is Composing

'Tis the season to play Christmas carols. But how about creating an opportunity for your students to compose their own carols?

My older students have been working on all kinds of creative projects related to playing lead sheets, composing and arranging. This project began with lyrics, a short little Christmas poem that I found online.

Christmas is a time of joy,
A time for love and cheer,
A time for making memories,
To last throughout the year.

1. The first task was to say the poem and find the rhythm of the words. We underlined the strongest syllables to identify the beat 1s, which revealed the bar line placement. Next we marked the syllables of the words, determined the note values and the time signature. We did all of this during lesson time.

2. Students went home to work out a C Major melody to fit the lyrics. They wrote in the notes, rhythm and lyrics on staff paper.

3. Then it was time to choose chords. They had already learned to study the notes in each measure to determine possible chord choices. They wrote in the chords to create a lead sheet.

4. And finally practice. Students created an intro, a suitable left hand style and a creative ending for the song.

Nice work students! Here are some of the carols that came in last week.