With the new Music TEKS, Texas public schools have the potential to create music environments that foster imagination and creative expression in student demonstration of the TEKS. Music teachers who actively explore and develop their own ideas of what it means to be creative will, in turn, model their beliefs and practices for their students. The following teaching strategies and suggestions are intended to help students develop emergent creativity.

The music classroom

• Design music environments with natural light, harmonious colors, and comfortable work areas.
• Create climates that encourage risk-taking and expressive freedom within the structure of the Music TEKS.
• Incorporate a variety of instructional materials into projects. Try to use inexpensive, found, or recycled materials for projects such as making instruments.

Creative teaching and learning

• Provide concrete sources of inspiration.
• Include students in class decision-making, giving them many opportunities to form and express their own ideas.
• Allow time for students to explore, research, and complete projects. Encourage them to revisit earlier compositions and revise original ideas.
• Promote long-term, open-ended projects that utilize collaborative modes of work and study. Encourage students to share and understand others' perspectives.