MUSICAL ARRANGEMENTS ADAPTED TO THE LEVEL OF A GROUP: THE CREATIVE PROFILE OF A TEACHER

The materials and resources in the music room are highly valued by novice teachers since in most textbooks there are very trite examples of the history of music and rarely are found practical exercises with modern music capable to catch the attention and interest of students.

In this paper we present the case of a public High School music teacher whose experience has taught him that the best tool for the student motivation is to create materials that respond to their musical tastes. To do this, each year he asks his group about the pieces they would like to work with. Once consensus about what pieces will be used to practice the language and musical interpretation is reached, this teacher arranges the elected pieces considering the musical level of the concerned group. This is an example of good practice carried out by a creative teacher who each academic year creates new learning materials adapted to the tastes and musical developmental level of their students.

This creative profile and didactical teaching have inspired many teachers, who not only have implemented the way they work in their own schools but also have actively participated in the courses that this teacher has made all over the Spanish country in the last ten years. In these courses they develop basic compositional technique and instrumentation adapted to the endowment of each school. This methodology is interesting not only for the students but also for the teachers because the previous preparation of the work materials makes them feel motivated throughout all the learning process, from the creation of the material up to its put in practice and later presentation to the public.

This work belongs to a multiple case study carried out by a group of teachers of the High School Music Master at the University of Valencia, supported by the Vice President of Research and Science Policy of the university. The purpose of this project is to create some videos, as a result of qualitative research, in order to show the way of thinking and teaching of some High School music teachers who in our opinion and due to their originality and good results with their students, may cause inspiration and consideration to the Master students and future teachers during their training period.