The purpose of this research study is an examination of a music artist-teacher’s pedagogical approaches and practices in teaching composition to a Year 5 IB (International Baccalaureate) class in a Singaporean specialized arts school. The study is approached as a qualitative case study spanning a 5-month period involving observation and recording of weekly classes and interviews with both the teacher and students. Analysis of the data suggests that a key attribute of the pedagogical approach to composition in this classroom is embodied in the notion of ‘struggle’, which encompasses i) the struggle of compositional process in finding one’s own composition voice through constant contextual exploration, experimentation and reflection, and ii) the struggle of creating the compositional product in terms of notating, performing and recording.
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