Improvisation can be beneficial in enhancing listening skills, fostering social connections, and supporting emotional expression in music. Learn about these benefits as well as some practical suggestions on how to integrate improvisation skills into your classroom.
by Dr. James Oshinsky and Mary Knysh
In part 2 of this 2-part series, Dr. James Oshinsky and Mary Knysh provide examples on how to apply improvisation to the music classroom.
Music teachers have a hard job. They are beholden to their departments and districts to deliver an expected curriculum of content, provide instruction on a variety of instruments, prepare students for local music competitions, and curate seasonal programs of public performances. How they go about doing that leaves little room for student individuality and creativity. In the course of teaching historical and culturally important music, the creative side of student musicianship can get neglected. But no need to despair. In this article, we will suggest practical ways to get students happily improvising and help create an engaging, supportive and creative classroom atmosphere.
There are large and significant differences between how visual art and creative writing are taught and how music is taught in K-12 schools. Every child, from kindergarten through high school, comes home with original artwork and original writing. We encourage students to write and illustrate their stories without telling them what to draw or what narratives to follow. And in music classes? Students learn to read from printed pages and rarely learn how to make and preserve their own music until the most advanced music classes in high school.
While we value social coordination and cooperative learning, students rarely learn how to combine their instrumental and social skills to make spontaneous improvised music with peers. Improvisation in solo and group settings seems to be a missing element of music education, even though all composition begins as improvisation. For language learning, we listen, then speak, then read, then write. In music learning, our education system has modified this order in ways that disrupt the development of expressing musical ideas fluently and socially.
It can be costly to neglect improvisation as an area of instruction. The listening skills that are awakened when improvising are essential components of musicianship when playing written music in solo and ensemble situations. Not coincidentally, improvisation skills are essential components of socialization and self-esteem as well. Every verbal conversation is an improvisation. Learning to skillfully listen and appropriately speak one’s mind is emotionally healthy in words, in artistic images, and in music.
There are ways to address the relative absence of improvisation instruction. On the basis of our experience as teachers of music improvisation to adults and children, in this article we offer ideas and activities to integrate improvisation skills into large and small ensemble settings within the existing structures of public-school music. The potential benefits are many. We often hear teachers’ anecdotes and testimonials about the positive transformations they have experienced from allowing improvisation into their musical lives.
We are not seeking to provide a complete improvisation education in one short sitting; however we can offer some entry points that build on common class practices. For example, teachers have the most flexibility to modify instruction at the opening and closing of their classes. We expect the bulk of their time will likely be spent on either curriculum delivery or practice related to performances. But relatively small changes to the ways classes open and close can provide experience with improvisation that can improve listening, strengthen a sense of ensemble, and also satisfy mandates to address improvisation skills as a state arts standard.
Improvisation can lead to more intensely emotional sounds, more social connection, and better attunement to support musical themes and statements when the students are performing written music. In other words, improvisation supports emotional literacy, social bonding, and empathic responses to musical expressions. You may recognize these as key elements of Social Emotional Learning, which music improvisation is especially suited to address in non-threatening ways. For a more detailed discussion of the SEL elements of improvisation learning experiences, there is a chapter in Simple and Daring, a collection of essays by the authors, that presents the social emotional components of lessons in improvisation from kindergarten through adult level.
In most ensemble rehearsals, the first activity is tuning. The group receives a reliable reference note, and each player makes his or her own individual adjustments to attune to a common tone. It is likely that some of the players are improvising while tuning – they are free to explore whatever notes they can produce. Some run through scales, some play passages from familiar pieces, and some just make stuff up. If the teacher’s goal is to increase the amount of student improvising, tuning presents a perfect opportunity.
Another way of conceptualizing the reference note that groups use for tuning is to think of it as a drone note. Drones are common in the music of India and Gaelic countries, where there are specific instruments dedicated just to providing an atmospheric drone. The music takes place with a constant ongoing drone as part of its mood and tonality. (e.g. – bagpipes).
The simplest way to capitalize on the usefulness of a drone note is to extend the tuning period by a few minutes and encouraging more free exploration. To take the pressure of “soloing” away from this suggestion to explore, one can call it “noodling,” or any other term that connotes playfulness. If your ensemble has 40 members, divide them so that half are joining in on the drone note (in any octave), and half are noodling. Let them “noodle” for a few minutes, or about four or five breaths. Then switch which half of the group is holding the drone note and which half gets to noodle. For a smooth transition, designate the halves of the group before you start tuning. Give your normal reference note, allow tuning as usual, then bring half of the group into unison on the reference note while the other half noodles. After the first noodling period, bring the whole group back to the reference note by gesture. There is no need to stop the group and restart, which would interrupt the momentum of the activity. Then the second half of the group noodles while the first half provides the drone. Bring the group to unison and for variety, conduct some dynamic variations, all on the drone note. Go very loud and very soft before picking an ending point, either whisper quiet or booming loud.
If your normal practice is to begin rehearsals with scales, try dividing your group in half and singing or playing scales over a drone note. Be sure to switch the groups so that each half has the chance to be the drone. Then divide the group in thirds. One third holds a drone note, one third plays scales following the leader’s conducting, and one third is free to “noodle” over the scales. There will likely be some very interesting harmonies and counter melodies generated. Once again, be sure to switch up the groups so that each section gets to be the drone, the scale, and the noodlers. For smooth transitions, bring the whole group back to a unison drone before shifting roles.
To introduce more rhythmic variations into this activity, start with vocal call and response over a drone note. Divide your group in half. Have half of the group join the reference note you use for tuning and sustain that note as a drone. Have the other half of the group echo you as you give them rhythmic calls in call-and-response fashion. Give them simple calls at first, then give them more challenging calls as their listening skills permit. Bring the whole group back to the drone and switch the group roles. Give new calls to the second half of the group.
At the next level of complexity, give the group a signal for repeating a call over and over as a loop. Start out as before, with half the group holding a drone note. Give a few calls to the other half of the group and have them repeat one of the calls as a loop. When they are secure in repeating the loop in rhythm, select a subgroup to be the new call and response section. Give this new section a few calls to repeat. You will have three parts going – a drone section, a repeating loop section, and a call and response section. Turn one of your calls into a loop to add a new layer to the sound. Lastly, ask for volunteer soloists to improvise over the piece you have created. Once you and your group are comfortable with these roles – drone, call and response, loop, and solo, you can combine them in a great variety of ways. You can also invite students to give calls and create loops once they have understood the structures.
To make the above activity work with instruments, the calls have to be simple enough for the players to imitate them accurately without too much struggle. Start with calls of only a few notes in familiar scales or include the note names in the call itself. The idea is to make sure the students are successful.
You can borrow terms from the drum circle community and call the students holding the drone “homers” and the ones noodling “roamers.” If you adapt this activity for smaller groups, you can present this in duet format: one person holds a drone while their partner roams, making up melodies. When the roaming is over, the roamer holds the last note, creating a new drone. Now the homer becomes the roamer. Let the duet exchange roles a few times, and progress into an open duet improvisation. This activity can also be done in rhythmic format, in which the soloists end with a looped melody in place of a drone.
At the closing of class sessions and rehearsals, there are often announcements and bustling chaos as instruments are stored and students head off to their next classes. One can make announcements more salient and memorable by using call and response to support the content. For example, at rehearsal’s end, start a pulse using body percussion or foot taps. Give a rhythmic call that the group will answer. Make the calls accessible and work up to calls that challenge their listening and repeating skills. Embed announcement information in the calls. Call: Wednesday the 16th (group repeats); During 3rd period (group repeats); Band trip sign up (group repeats); What’s the day? (Wednesday the 16th); When do you come? (During 3rd period); Why are you here? (Band trip sign up).
Every improvisation starts with a single note. One simple improvisation game is structured like this: every player prepares and breathes together, and on the exhale, comes out with their own unique note. The aim of the activity is to not change the notes, no matter how discordant they sound. Just like soundtracks that create atmospheric moods, the tone clusters will have their own unique energy. The tensions that may be created out of the unplanned chaos of random notes are a good thing. Because when you repeat the activity with another breath, the group will adjust when they independently choose new notes. They may go for more tension, or more harmoniousness. But either way, it is part of a process of group attunement and unconscious consensus. Each singer or player is improvising their one note, without the pressure of having to “solo,” or chain many notes together.
The group can also play these tone clusters with whatever energy the leader’s body language communicates. By facial expression and gesture, the leader can conduct sounds that are soft, tentative, blaring, angry, ecstatic, surprised, etc. As the “splashes” of sound are repeated, different clusters will emerge each time.
If a teacher wanted to capitalize on the social-emotional metaphors inherent in this vocal exercise, they might use the language of ArtsEdSEL: the ability to have each person express his or her own unique note represents Identity; the blending of all of the tones together is a reflection of Belonging; and the ability to express a variety of emotions intentionally reflects Agency.
Some improvisation activities work well in lessons and rehearsals for smaller groups such as same instrument sections. One small group improvisation form capitalizes on the way popular music uses looped patterns to create a platform for the song that follows. For this activity, you need four volunteers, each capable of holding an independent melodic pattern. The first player sets up a short repeating looped melody, like a bass line. The second player adds a complimentary looped melody, which may take some coaching to find and refine. When the two patterns are established, the job of the third player is to exactly match one of the first two patterns, in harmony. Again, assist and coach to help make this successful, or allow the third person to play or sing in unison. The fourth player is free to solo over the pattern that has been created by the first three players. Make the pieces short and switch the roles so every player gets the chance to start something, to jump in with a complimentary melody, to support a part by harmonizing, and to stand out by soloing. You can find more vocal improvisation activities in the books and CDs of Rhiannon, one of the singers in Bobby McFerrin’s “Voicestra.”
Another small group activity is shadowing. This is an intensive listening game in which the group is set up as duets. One person in each pair makes up a slow-moving melody. Their partner’s job is to exactly copy that melody, in real time, as they are hearing it. The key is to go slow and not try to fool your partner. The first player is improvising, and the second player is fully lending their voice to their partner’s sounds. Be sure to have the players switch roles after a minute or two. Odd as it may seem, this activity works well with multiple duets of singers. They will be influenced by each other’s melodies without consciously focusing on their neighbors.
Slow and simple improvisation is presented in a game called the Stately Dance. This works very well with winds and strings and can be done with voices as well. Player one repeatedly plays a short-long, short-long, rhythm on one single unchanging note. Player two then enters and plays the same rhythmic figure, but on a different note of their choosing. This creates a repeating interval, played in rhythm. Players three and four enter in turn until there are four notes in the cluster (more players can be included if necessary). After the last player enters, the first player changes his or her note, which changes the harmony of the cluster. This can be a very dramatic moment. Next, the second player makes a change in their note, all the while staying on an unchanging rhythmic figure, slow and stately. As the turns pass around the ensemble, each player changes their note, which affects the overall harmony. Various tensions and resolutions occur. For extensions of this activity, on the last round each player can take a short solo, ending by returning to the short-long rhythm. Or the group can trade solos and then open up into free improvisation as an ensemble.
Activities like Shadowing and Stately Dance are described in detail in the book “Return to Child,” about the engaging approach to improvisation created by cellist David Darling.
The games described above will introduce improvisation into the fabric of your classes. There are further worlds to explore in the area of improvised music, including improvised ensembles that interact and self-regulate. This has been the stock in trade of the organization Music for People for over 30 years. Their version of Social Improvisation accepts players at all levels of experience, and provides them with playing opportunities in which every player can succeed at improvising, learning to be “a master of what they can control.”
For information on how to create improvised pieces that can be featured in performance settings, contact the authors. For over a decade, James Oshinsky’s college improvisation class has ended with a concert that was entirely self-directed and spontaneously improvised by the students. For two decades, Mary Knysh has led summer workshops with a culminating improvised concert, curated on the fly. They both owe their education in this area to the pioneering teaching of the late cellist, David Darling and the organization he founded, Music for People. The activities above, and ways to present them in music classes, performing ensembles, and workshops, are described in detail in books and articles available from the authors.
The activities above, and ways to present them in music classes, performing ensembles, and workshops, are described in detail in books and articles available from the authors.
Oshinsky, James with Knysh, Mary. Simple and Daring: Teaching Social Music Improvisation Using Facilitation and Flow. Book in preparation, 2023.
Oshinsky, James and Knysh, Mary. Original Art, Original Writing, Original Music – making room for improvisation in school music. Article in preparation, 2023.
Oshinsky, James. Return to Child. Goshen: Music for People, 2008.
Oshinsky, James. Music Doctor Improv Cards and Picture Prompts. Self-published, 2021.
Knysh, Mary and Bevan, Betsy. BoomDoPa. Bloomsburg: Rhythmic Connections, 2000.
Oshinsky and Knysh: Original Art, Original Writing, Original Music – Making Room for Improvisation in School Music 02/01/23.
Knysh, Mary. Innovative Drum Circles: Beyond Beat into Harmony. Millville: Rhythmic Connections, 2013.
Knysh, Mary and Leathley, Lulu. 1,2, Let’s All Play. Bloomsburg: Rhythmic Connections, 2015.
Hull, Arthur. Drum Circle Facilitation. Santa Cruz: Village Music Circles, 2006.
Rhiannon. Vocal River: the Skill and Spirit of Improvisation. Hawaii: Rhiannon Music, 2013.
www.ArtsEdSEL.org
www.musicforpeople.org
www.musicconstructed.com
Contributor
James Oshinsky, Ph.D. is a psychologist and musician. He teaches improvisation at Adelphi University. Jim is the author of Return to Child, a book detailing the improvisation pedagogy of the late cellist David Darling and the organization, Music for…
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Contributor
As an author, Mary has penned five books which assists and instructs educators, therapists, parents, and anyone interested in music, on improvisational drumming; Innovative Drum Circles: Beyond Beat Into Harmony; 1*2 Let’s All Play; Rhythms All Around: Sing It, Clap It, Move…
Discover more from Mary
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