Composition assignments
There are various kinds of activities and assignments you can create in Flat for Education. Create engaging assignments that stimulate student creativity as they learn and advance within music notation. Whether through individual activities or collaborative efforts, students can work on skills ranging from dictation and harmony to transposition.
Creating a composition assignment
Create a composition assignment directly through the Resource Library. Go to the Resource Library and click on +New assignment.
Alternatively, you can create an assignment directly from a class as well. Click on +New Assignment. Please note that the assignments created on the class page directly will only be saved to the Resource Library once they are published, and not if they are in draft state.
1. Name your assignment
Start by naming your assignment. This assignment name will be displayed each time Flat for Education refers to this assignment.
2. For composition assignments: Pick your assignment type
There are 3 kinds of assignments and activities that you can create using our music notation editor.
New score
Your students will have to create a new score, work on it according to your instructions, and send it back to you.
Template
Each of your students will get a copy of one of your scores to start from. You can imagine many different activities from there:
- Find the mistakes
- Complete the intervals/chords
- Write a missing part
- Finish the composition
- Melodic and Rhythmic dictation
- ... The possibilities are endless.
Once your students are done, they can send their work for evaluation with just one click.
You can get more information regarding template assignments on this page.
Shared writing
This is for creating a group activity with all the students working on the same piece in real-time.
While we don't have a limit on the number of participants, we recommend keeping the number of students on the same group activity below 15.
Choose the score(s)
If you choose "Template" or "Shared writing", you will need to select one or multiple scores that will be used for your assignment.
Click on "Select score" and choose a score from your Flat for Education account, either created using our editor or imported to your account.
Once a score is chosen, it will be displayed as such:
3. Add instructions
You can then add instructions to your new assignment. These can either be a bit of text you write directly into your assignment, or an attached file or link. You can attach all the resources you need: documents, presentations, videos, audio files, read-only scores, etc.
4. Extra options
Finally, you can add some extra options to your assignment:
- Toolset: You can limit the tools available to your students when working on the assignment. Learn more.
- Lock Template: If you are using a score as a template in your assignment, you can prevent your students from changing the original notes. Learn more.
- Playback limit: This lets you limit the number of times your students will play the score. You can use this option for your dictation and ear training activities.
- Restrict play-note: Disable automatic playback. Your students won't hear the notes they input automatically.
- Restrict editor playback: Only allow students to listen to the provided audio tracks on the score. They won't be able to use the playback feature in the editor.
- Google Classroom Topic: If you are using Google Classroom, you can choose in which topic your assignment will be created.
5. Post your assignment
Now that your assignment is ready you can post it. If you want to see how your students will experience Flat for Education, check out our dedicated article.
Reviews and follow up
Now that your assignment is available to your students you can follow their progress. Check out our dedicated article to learn more about how to review and give feedback to your students.
Video tutorials
For more information on how to use the composition assignments, watch this video tutorial!
Flat for Education's music editor enables you to compose online, opening the door to collaboration with other students and teachers. Featuring real-time collaboration, edit history, colored notes, and high-quality instruments, the editor is a powerful tool that brings today's technology into the service of music learning. Below are some video tutorials to help you navigate the editor and understand how you can use it to create engaging composition assignments for your students, as well as how your students can benefit from using it on their own!
Editor basics - Video tutorial
Notation tools 1 - Video tutorial