outhful Young People's Concert - Virginia Symphony Orchestra

Composer: Students just like you
What you will hear at the concert:
Staircase to Heaven & Harmony
With a little help from the Virginia Symphony’s Education Department and musicians, students
just like you were able to compose these two pieces you will hear at the concert. Using a musical dice
game and the Finale PrintMusic computer program for music notation (writing), students were divided
into teams to create the rhythms and pitches that make up their compositions. The Finale PrintMusic
program made it possible for them to hear their compositions while they were writing and make changes
easily, simple as clicking on a note with their mouse and hitting the “delete” button. Not all of the
student composers played an instrument or knew how to read music really well, but they were still able
to participate. They worked really hard, played the musical dice game and learned how to use the
computer program. Then, at the end of their project, they had a musical composition they could call their
very own!
Would you like to learn how to compose music like they did If so, take page 18-22 to your
teachers or parents. There are instructions for a game of “Musical Dice” that will allow you to create
music in a random sort of way, like when you play a game of “Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo.” It’s a game of
chance, and you could get any number of rhythm combinations by the roll of your dice. If you have
Finale PrintMusic, great! If not, there is other music software that you can use or obtain. Search with
your teachers or parents to see what might work best for you. However, it will be perfectly alright if you
just use paper and pencil.
Have fun composing!
Note This!
Did you know that composing music using a game of chance isn’t new or even modern
In fact, musical games of composition like the one in this guide were around even during
Mozart’s time! If you enjoy making music this way, you might also enjoy creating music by making all
of the choices yourself- no dice needed... just like Duke Ellington did.
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