Music examples are a great way to teach students how to write a compare and contrast composition. Sometimes my students are nervous about writing and sometimes they are not sure about what exactly a compare and contrast composition is. Facts and figures? Bar or pie charts?
Musical examples work well to illustrate compare and contrast. The easiest way is to find two different versions of the same song and let your students watch and listen. They will see and hear the differences. Tell your students to write a description of what they hear. How are the melodies different? How is the instrumentation different? Tempo? What they write illustrates the basics of a compare and contrast composition.
The following YouTube videos illustrate this technique. Both videos present two very different interpretations of the Beatles song, Let It Be.
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