A. What was the focus of the workshop?
What specific strategies did the
presenter suggest for use in the elementary general music classroom?
During the workshop called, Improvisation in the Elementary Classroom,
the main focus, as the title suggests, was including improvisation at the earliest age
possible. When we think of improvisation however, its not just jazz and soloing.
Improvisation is creation on the spot of any kind. The guest lecturer, Roger Sams,
uses this focus to give his main goal called purposeful pathways. Purposeful
Pathways is mainly saying that if you teach students little by little about
improvisation and make it custom in your classroom, they wont be afraid to create
because it will become normal to them. Some strategies that he suggests in order to
start students at an early age (1
st
grade is best) are as simple as having students play
on an instrument what something sounds like, a 4-beat rhythmic patterns that
they create on their own, or create their own movement. Students will need some
preparation and suggestions before they start creating on their own, but little
improvisational aspects can be included everyday in at least one lesson.
B. What musical materials were used to illustrate these strategies in practice?
Some of the musical examples discussed in this workshop were
Cinderella, Rain on the Green Grass, Wee Willie Winkie, Fais Dodo, and
Lil Liza Jane. Sams gave full lesson plans and we went through all the steps
acting them out, but for the purposes of the main focus of improvisation, Im
going to stick to those aspects only.
In the song Cinderella, there is a question at the end of the song: How
many kisses did he give her? What Sams suggested is that you hand out a triangle
to one student and at the end of the song the student plays the number of kisses
while everyone else counts. He called this an opening door into the world of
improvisation because the student gets his or her own musical choice.
Wee Willie Winkie, and Rain on the Green Grass, were both used in
similar ways. These were the examples for the 4-beat rhythm improvisation. He
included 4 beats of rest during certain parts of the song where either everyone in
the class at the same time, or just one single student has the opportunity to create
his or her own rhythms. In order to prepare them for this step, the students need to
know rhythm patterns that they may be able to do. Sams suggest that the teacher
improvises first and the students have to either echo or discover in some way what
rhythms the teacher was using. The next step would be for all the students as a
group to try, and then finally break it down so individual students could play their
rhythms for the class.
Fais Dodo was used as an example in order to get students to create their
own musical movements (in this case beat patterns) with a partner. The song is in
three so eventually, after setting up the students to succeed, the teacher asks the
students to create their own 3 beat pattern with a partner doing anything they can
think of. This now gives the students a little improvisation to create some form of
beat pattern.
Lil Liza Jane, was used to conclude the entire session. Sams suggest that
after you have established enough improvisation, you can have the students
improvise to more tradition music. In this song Sams suggested adding the 4 beat
pattern improvisation to add underneath the song and create an atmosphere of
different instruments, recorders if they are at that age, and singing.
C. How does the information relayed in this session compare to your own
knowledge and experience in this field (similarities and differences)?
My knowledge of improvisation mainly stems from the jazz world in high
school as well as my student teaching ability. I would consider myself to a
musician that is scared to improvise. This I believe is because of the fact that I
didnt start improvising until jazz band my sophomore year in high school when I
just started to learn how to play the trombone. By this age our instructor also
wanted correct improvisation because of chord structure etc It was so much
information thrown at me all at once that I felt like I couldnt do it and would just
give up. Every time I am asked to do this in front of any other musicians I still get
very nervous. I learned during my student teaching that about structuring
improvisation so that the students dont fail. Sams made this a point throughout
the entire workshop and I guess I just never had the opportunity to think about that
at the elementary age.
D. Provide 1-2 insights that you gained from attending this workshop.
The one main insight I gained is how simple it is just to get students to do
some form of creation in any lesson. In order to do this though you have to build up
towards it so the students arent set up to fail like I previously stated. The other
insight I took away that is not as direct is to have students improvise as a whole
class. This means that all of the students create their own music, whatever it may be,
but they are doing it at the same time as others. This gets rid of the solo aspect at
first so students dont have to be so nervous about playing in front of their peers.
