interest is concerned), such as the composition of type arranged for printing, the quality or state of being compound (in chemistry), and the notion of composing oneself in the sense of being free from agitation. All these facets of the term
composition
have a common core: the idea of putting things together into a unified, proportionate, and aesthetically pleasing form.
The term was, and is, used to denote a piece of writing in school: a composition on any topic. In England in the 1950s and 1960s, it was the preferred term for school writing exercises. It fell out of use as more specific terms, denoting text types, emerged: essay, autobiography, story, “descriptive piece.” At the same time, more abstract generic terms entered, like “a piece of writing” or the invitation/instruction: “I'd like you to write about.…” The term
composition
fell out of use because it was associated with the narrowly rhetorical approach to the teaching of writing. Its composite origin of “putting things together” was lost, and it became a vestigial term to denote the act of writing and the products of writing in the classroom.
What Is Composition?
In contemporary conditions, why is “composition” worth reviving and remaking as the term of choice for teaching writing and other art forms? In the chapter on framing, we will set out the case for the act of framing to be central to rhetorical practice. But within frames, elements are arranged to convey meaning.
Before we focus again on writing, let us look at other art forms. An artist (principally, a visual artist) can create a work in a number of ways. Most conventionally, he or she will take a canvas and apply paint to it, putting together different colors to create a figurative or landscape depiction or to create an abstract painting. The composition may include other resources than paint; it could include found objects, lines drawn in pencil or charcoal, pieces of fabric or tiles, and so on. All of these are
composed
to convey meaning. Someone engaged in communal or community arts practice would go even further in terms of composition. He or she might decide on a site (e.g., a dilapidated building) around which to build his or her compositional project, interview people who have observations and/ or memories and/or reflections about the site, take photographs of it, look into the history of the building, record sounds associated with it, take map projections, and so on. In order to convey meaning about the building and its associations, the artist/composer puts a number of elements together— and might do so in an art gallery, in a studio, on location, or on film. All of these remakings and re-presentations are composed for particular effect — or for the audience to make whatever meaning of it that they wish (having brought their own frames of reference to the experience).
Similarly, a musical composer, using a different set of resources, can put together a short work or an orchestral work, or any kind of sound composition, by putting together sounds in particular combinations. These can work in relation to a number of different principles (harmonic, melodic, “serial,” rhythmic, via naturally occurring and “found” sounds) used singly or in combination. Within the frame of the musical genre, sounds are put together to make music. Even if the composition is undertaken on a score, without actual sound being made and composed, the act of composition via notation still occurs.
Writing is often underestimated in terms of its compositional nature. Once the system of words; letters (or characters); sounds; the relationship between letters and sounds (the grapho-phonemic relationship); the order of words in phrases, clauses, and sentences (“syntax”); of how sentences relate to paragraphs and other sub-sections of text; and how all these relate to the whole text in a range of genres—and thus to the context and audience—are learnt and become fluent means of
composition
have a common core: the idea of putting things together into a unified, proportionate, and aesthetically pleasing form.
The term was, and is, used to denote a piece of writing in school: a composition on any topic. In England in the 1950s and 1960s, it was the preferred term for school writing exercises. It fell out of use as more specific terms, denoting text types, emerged: essay, autobiography, story, “descriptive piece.” At the same time, more abstract generic terms entered, like “a piece of writing” or the invitation/instruction: “I'd like you to write about.…” The term
composition
fell out of use because it was associated with the narrowly rhetorical approach to the teaching of writing. Its composite origin of “putting things together” was lost, and it became a vestigial term to denote the act of writing and the products of writing in the classroom.
What Is Composition?
In contemporary conditions, why is “composition” worth reviving and remaking as the term of choice for teaching writing and other art forms? In the chapter on framing, we will set out the case for the act of framing to be central to rhetorical practice. But within frames, elements are arranged to convey meaning.
Before we focus again on writing, let us look at other art forms. An artist (principally, a visual artist) can create a work in a number of ways. Most conventionally, he or she will take a canvas and apply paint to it, putting together different colors to create a figurative or landscape depiction or to create an abstract painting. The composition may include other resources than paint; it could include found objects, lines drawn in pencil or charcoal, pieces of fabric or tiles, and so on. All of these are
composed
to convey meaning. Someone engaged in communal or community arts practice would go even further in terms of composition. He or she might decide on a site (e.g., a dilapidated building) around which to build his or her compositional project, interview people who have observations and/ or memories and/or reflections about the site, take photographs of it, look into the history of the building, record sounds associated with it, take map projections, and so on. In order to convey meaning about the building and its associations, the artist/composer puts a number of elements together— and might do so in an art gallery, in a studio, on location, or on film. All of these remakings and re-presentations are composed for particular effect — or for the audience to make whatever meaning of it that they wish (having brought their own frames of reference to the experience).
Similarly, a musical composer, using a different set of resources, can put together a short work or an orchestral work, or any kind of sound composition, by putting together sounds in particular combinations. These can work in relation to a number of different principles (harmonic, melodic, “serial,” rhythmic, via naturally occurring and “found” sounds) used singly or in combination. Within the frame of the musical genre, sounds are put together to make music. Even if the composition is undertaken on a score, without actual sound being made and composed, the act of composition via notation still occurs.
Writing is often underestimated in terms of its compositional nature. Once the system of words; letters (or characters); sounds; the relationship between letters and sounds (the grapho-phonemic relationship); the order of words in phrases, clauses, and sentences (“syntax”); of how sentences relate to paragraphs and other sub-sections of text; and how all these relate to the whole text in a range of genres—and thus to the context and audience—are learnt and become fluent means of
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