Synthetic activity: Semiosis, conceptualizations and meaning-making in music composition

This article is about composition learning of two students in a music programme in upper secondary school with a special regard to how they develop conceptual structures within the musical form of expression and understanding. Semiotics, spectromorphology and cultural historical theory are engaged to discuss the empirical findings that are collected through observation and interview. The compositional task in the study regarded sound-based composition within the field of electroacoustic music, more specifically applying additive synthesis to make raw material for composition, preparatory exercises and finally compositions. Musical meaning-making and compositional creativity were triggered by the encounter of newly learned concepts with internalized and familiar musical thinking. The learning process could be understood in terms of a concept development process (CDP) in language-based learning.