Jane Soyka

My Students' Melodies 10 Jane Soyka

Ten years into the My Students' Melodies project, I believe my students are understanding so much more music theory and how to write music. My purpose in this endeavor has been to demonstrate that in order to really enjoy music in their lives it is vital that they develop a knowledge of music theory as well as a sense of melody and harmony. I hope I have succeeded not only providing a foundation for the fundamentals of music for them, but a curiosity and enthusiasm for music beyond playing their violins. Though they may not realize this now, I'm convinced they will cherish this gift as they grow older into adulthood. This year's edition includes two compositions. The first is a lesson in the interval of a third, in which my students collaborated to write a melody and I arranged a duet part that followed either a third interval below or above their melody. It was eventually arranged as a string quartet. The second piece is a composite of several of my advanced students' melodies in which they had to follow a I-IV-V chord progression. All of the individual melodies were "re-mixed" into a larger composition, stated out basically following that chord progression, and then introduced more complicated chord progressions and a key change. It is arranged as a duet, and an interesting canon develops later in the piece. Each year that I launch a new My Students' Melodies assignment I try and introduce a new music theory concept that will fit the level of playing and understanding that my students have at a particular time. As a violin instructor I hope I'm preparing my students not only for technical advancement on their instrument, but also to give them a broader understanding of music theory as it relates to all instruments and genres.