Dancing composition: pedagogy and philosophy as experience

For philosopher Gilles Deleuze, the work of philosophy consists of affirmatively and artistically creating and reworking concepts in response to real-life problems in an ongoing process that invites new perspectives and ways of thinking. Carol Matthews's music composition pedagogical practices reflect these processes, arguing that they demonstrate the philosophical construct called 'philosophy as experience.' Through interaction - or dance - Matthews and her students in Primaries (grades K-1, approximately 5-7 years old) and Juniors (grades 2-3, approximately 8-10 years old) engage in philosophy by making informed, mindful musical decisions in response to lived musical problems in the material process of composing two songs, 'Plants, Plants' by the Primaries and 'Remembering Flight' by the Juniors. Empirically enacting philosophy as experience, Matthews's practices and her students' responses reveal ways of thinking and being related to teaching and learning music composition that may inform the practices of other music educators and students, with implications for music teacher preparation.