Reflection – Comp Ed Assessment 1 – Technology in Music Education

For the first of our assessments for Composition in Music Education, we were asked to create a mixed-bag arrangement in a way that essentially any teacher could pick up the arrangement and use it. For context, a mixed-bag arrangement (or open orchestration, free orchestration or similar term) is a piece that has been written or arranged to be used with any combination of instruments.

For this task, I decided to create an arrangement of France (The Medieval Era) from the video game Civilization VI. I chose this piece for 3 key reasons:

The piece is contemporary, yet uses musical ideas from the medieval period. Students will normally engage with content better if they have some level of connection or interest to it, and video games are an effective and popular way to tap into this interest. This piece is one step better than the average video game soundtrack however, as the music is inspired directly from music written in the location and time period given in the title (Medieval France). This arrangement can then be used as a link between new and old, and discussions about context and musical techniques through the ages can take place.
The melody has a limited range and is modal. This means the melody is easily approachable by a wide range of students, as proficiency on their instrument of choice is not as important. There is also the added benefit that the small range fits well onto Orff instruments, and the chosen key (D minor) uses Bb’s, which can be used on Orff instruments. Furthermore, the limited range and modal nature of the melody allows for greater ease in aural learning and reproduction by students, as well as making approaching improvisation easier for students.
The piece is one in a series of works. France (The Medieval Period) is one work in two series of works: in the France soundtrack series and in the overall Civilization VI soundtrack series. This provides ample opportunity for discussion of cultural representation in media and music, how progress is portrayed musically in media and how changes in musical style occur over time. All of these points allow for deeper discussions into the music and its place in the wider world, which is a vital aspect of music that is sadly often given not enough time in the classroom.

There were three main considerations I had in mind as I approached creating this arrangement: ability to learn parts aurally, opportunities for improvisation, and differentiation and accessibility.

Aural Learning. As mentioned earlier, the piece is naturally suited to aural learning. This has a lot to do with the fact that it is based of French Medieval music, which was usually transmitted aurally. The simplicity of the chords again makes aural learning very approachable.
The piece as written is already quite approachable to aural learning, as the bass and percussion lines remain nearly the same throughout the whole piece. I made a small change in keeping the same percussion and bass lines going through the B section, rather than changing to something new like in the original piece. This means that the bass and percussion players only need to learn 16 bars in order to perform the piece, making aural learning very approachable for these parts.
When writing the harmony parts, I wanted to keep them simple to make aural learning as effective as possible. Again, this was helped by the limited chord changes, but by keeping rhythms repetitive and the harmony the same when each section returns, the amount of material students had to learn was reduced.
Opportunities for improvisation. The most obvious opportunity for improvisation is the improvisation section at E. D natural minor and D minor pentatonic are recommended for this section and the notes in these are provided for students. Of course, students do not have to use these scales but they are there if students need them. However, the part I am proudest about are the opportunities to add ornaments. When listening to the original work, the melody was often ornamented, but to notate these ornaments would add unnecessary complexity. I therefore simplified these small parts to their bare bones and notated and asterisk, giving the student the opportunity to add their own improvisation. This is great in two ways. First, students who like to have some more creative freedom in the melody have the opportunity to do so without other students feeling pressured to do the same. Second, to add ornaments at the performers discretion is stylistic of music of this period, and again allows discussion around performance practice and culture to take place.
Differentiation and accessibility. This is basically the key reason to create a mixed-bag arrangement. Differentiation is important as it allows all students to engage with the task at a challenge level appropriate to themselves (Standerfer, 2011). The arrangement was differentiated both between and within parts. For example, The A section uses 2 chords which change quite slowly, whereas in the B section there are 4 chords, usually changing ever half bar. Simplified parts are provided for the melody and bass lines, as well as TAB for guitarists and bass guitarists, and chords for piano and guitar. The arrangement was also moved from A minor to D minor to allow notes to sit more comfortably in most instruments ranges. Where is this was not ideal, such as for brass bass instruments, small notes have been added so that the part is still playable.