056 - The Valentine Composition Project

From 1997 to my studio today

Episode 56 of the Field Notes on Music Teaching & Learning podcast, hosted by Ashley Danyew, titled "056 - The Valentine Composition Project" was published on February 8, 2023 and runs 11 minutes.

February 8, 2023 ·11m · Field Notes on Music Teaching & Learning

Summary

It was 1997. My piano teacher had just shown us a picture of Belle, Bonne, Sage, a rondeau about love written in the shape of a heart by 15th-century French composer, Baude Cordier. This signaled the beginning of the annual studio-wide Valentine composition project. Every year around this time, my piano teacher invited us to write our own piece of music, a "musical Valentine," as she called it. The idea was to not only write an original piece, but gift it to someone—maybe a grandparent, friend, or neighbor—and perform it for them. We worked on these compositions for several weeks, usually starting right after Winter Break, making a little progress with each lesson so that we had a finished work to perform for someone by Valentine's Day. This is a story about writing my first Valentine composition project, how I remember the creative process, and how I modified this project for my own studio all these years later.

Episode Description