What has not changed is how composers compose. It is a creative process, and as such, it has more to do with the nature of the human mind than with details of syntax and idiom. Fundamental to this process is one central idea that all composition students must discover. It is an involved state. So, the first step in teaching a student composer must be to encourage only that music with which the student has had an intense emotional involvement.
Several things follow from that simple statement.
One is that the teacher must sense the emotional involvement, both in the intrinsic quality of the music and the attitude of the student. It is, from the beginning to the end, a subjective experience. And, if the teacher adopts an attitude which is critical, or intellectual, or superior, or in any way emotionally and musically distancing, then the teacher will not be able to help the student to learn how to compose. Teaching composition is a participatory process that respects the student's worth and integrity. Another thing that follows from this simple statement is that the device through which the student's process is shaped is encouragement .