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Community Music Project | "Composing in Color"

A screenshot from the digital interface in which students will create musical scores for Community Music Project "Composing in Color"

The Community Music Project supports the Center for the Arts' mission to foster creativity and artistic exploration among PK-12 students from a variety of schools and districts. This year students will create their own musical compositions using a colorful, grid-based digital interface to compose within selected genres. 

Students will learn that engineers and composers are closely connected: both rely on structured thinking, pattern recognition, and combining creative and technical skills to build something that works as a whole. In both fields, individual parts — whether mechanical pieces or musical notes — are put together, tested, and adjusted to create a finished product that is both functional and expressive.

In this project, students will use musical elements as building blocks, arranging them into compositions that become both visual patterns and sound-based creations.

From Friday, October 23 to Monday, November 23, visitors can experience selected student work in a featured gallery of audio and visual displays. A full digital collection will also be available, showcasing the range of student compositions for the broader community to explore.

Submission Instructions

Students must utilize Google Chrome Music Lab’s SongMaker to create their original composition, incorporating the following:

  • A clear melody, accompanying harmonies, and optional percussion
  • Notes only from the C Major scale within at least one octave
  • 4–30 measures in length
  • A style based on one of the following genres: classical, hip-hop, Afro-Cuban, or jazz
  • Repeating musical ideas or patterns (encouraged)

All compositions must be entirely student-created. Once submitted, no edits may be made.

All compositions must be emailed to bethanycostello@vt.edu by Friday, October 9, 2026, with the following information upon submission:

  • Student's first name
  • Student's grade
  • Student's shool
  • Genre

Selected workd will be featured in the center's lobby, displayed with a QR code for listening. All submitted works will be included in a digital collection, where patrons can explore and listen to student compositions.

Go Further

Additionally, we encourage schools to arrange a tour to see their submitted works on display, to provide educational insights and enrich learning experiences. Please contact bethanycostello@vt.edu for more information.