How do you feel about teaching improvisation? This may relate to how you feel about improvising yourself – if you learnt an instrument as a child, were you encouraged to improvise? Improvisation didn't feature in my trumpet lessons at school, but it hasn't stopped me exploring sound through improvisation in my teaching. And of course, it is in the National Curriculum, so it should be in our curriculums too.
Two questions may come to mind: do teachers need specialist musical knowledge in order to teach improvisation? And do children need to be competent on an instrument before they can learn how to improvise? No is my answer to both points! Improvising is about having a go; we can improvise as soon as we can make a sound, whether it's on classroom percussion, with our voices, or with instruments in Whole Class Ensemble Tuition (WCET).
Call and response
A great way to start improvising is with copy-backs, moving from children clapping back the teacher's rhythm to responding with their own patterns. Progressing on to body percussion allows children to make creative choices about which sound or timbre to use – a stamp is different to a click or a vocal sound. Start by doing this freely, allow children time to create a pattern without the restrictions of a pulse (see step one in the box). As children learn to respond more quickly, introduce a pulse, taking turns to generate a four-beat pattern.
This is also a creative way to practise instrumental technique in WCET; whether tonguing, bowing or plucking, call and response games on one note or more increase technical proficiency as well as musicality. Use a backing track to add structure to the improvisations and establish some rules, for example, always start on beat one, or on beat two. I often ask children to create rhythm patterns based on the syllables of their name; this is a good way to scaffold activities, supporting the creative process until children are confident enough to make up patterns freely. Here is a process to try:
- Start with copy-backs: the teacher claps a pattern, children copy it back.
- Ask children to take turns to clap the rhythm pattern of their name (allow some practice time first).
- Listen to the backing track and feel the pulse – try marching on the spot or walking in time.
- Clap on beat one of each bar.
- Clap name patterns over the track, starting on beat one.
- Move on to practising name patterns using body percussion or instruments.
- Take turns to create new patterns.
Each activity builds on the last and supports musical learning – moving from copy-backs to call and response helps children to develop confidence in making up their own phrases.
© MONKEY BUSINESS/ADOBESTOCK
Improvising over a drone
This is a much freer approach to improvisation, with no pulse and freedom in note choice based on the drone note. There are lots of atmospheric drones available online, search for ‘ambient drone track on D’ and use notes from the minor pentatonic scale, D F G A C. Try the following ideas:
- Play together – leave plenty of space; try not to play all at once.
- Play a slow, spacious phrase and ask children to copy you.
- Play a phrase and ask children to make up a response, together or taking turns.
- Ask for volunteers to play on their own.
- Focus on a particular element of music: pulse, rhythm, pitch, dynamics, tempo, timbre or texture.
- Introduce a subject or a feeling as a stimulus.
- Ask the children how the music makes them feel.
Musical themes in books
At the end of the summer term, some of my trumpet pupils were losing concentration in lessons, so we put the trumpet books down and talked about the books they were reading in class and how we could use them to inspire us to make up some music. They remained enthused by this for a few lessons and eventually performed their music to the rest of the class. This activity also works well in a whole-class situation with tuned and untuned percussion, or with a WCET group. Pick out themes from the book to work on – it could be the mood of the story, features of the characters, or music for action or descriptive scenes.
One story was about a boy whose mother had died and he was being bullied, so we used notes from a minor scale, D E F G A, playing long, overlapping notes to illustrate the sad mood. We talked about using dynamics to shape the long notes and using short notes for the character of the bully. The book ended in a happier, more positive mood, so we switched to C major for a triumphant ending as the bully was overcome. Other short tunes had titles such as ‘mixed feelings' or ‘I am happy’ – we created musical phrases based on the word rhythms.
Another book featured a storm at sea, providing endless scope for dynamics, up-and-down notes/trills for waves and crashing percussion for the thunder and lightning. The mood of the chapter covered fear, despair, hope and relief as the boy was washed up on the shore.
It's a good idea to introduce parameters for your improvisation:
- Use a specific set of notes, perhaps letters related to the book title or main character.
- Assign a group of children with instruments to each musical idea, for example: storm, fear, hope.
- Assign a child to lead each group as the conductor.
- Give each group a different theme from the book and a musical focus relating to the elements of music, for example: dynamics, long/short notes, smooth/spikey notes, fast/slow.
- Advise the careful use of loud instruments like cymbals – they can be effective if used sparingly!
You can then lead the structure of the whole piece, supporting each group leader to conduct their group. Bring each group in and out to create layers, textures and musical shape.
These ideas can be delivered to any age-group; improvisation should follow pupils' musical development and be at an appropriate level for their knowledge and skills. Bear in mind the seven developmental levels of improvisation (right), which John Kratus says, ‘offers an approach for using improvisation throughout a child's education… it can and should be a meaningful part of every student's music education, from pre-school through adulthood.’
Final thoughts
Improvising is a great way to consolidate musical skills alongside creativity and should be incorporated into your curriculum plan. Ofsted is looking for musical progress across three pillars of musicianship (Music Research Review, July 2021):
- ‘Technical’ – development in instrumental playing, singing or technology.
- ‘Constructive’ – using the elements of music with understanding.
- ‘Expressive’ – meaning and creativity.
If your curriculum is well-sequenced and builds on children's skills and prior learning, then the three pillars will inevitably be embedded in your teaching. Listening is essential if the imagination is to be stimulated; include a range of listening in different styles and genres (the Model Music Curriculum has a long list of suggested repertoire for each year group).
Above all, enjoy being creative with your pupils and don't be afraid of being wrong. Ofsted encourages teachers to take creative risks and even quotes Miles Davis: ‘Do not fear mistakes, there are none’. Remember that even if you feel reticent about improvising, children won't naturally be nervous and they are usually full of ideas which you can facilitate, developing creativity and a sense of self-confidence and empowerment in your pupils.
The seven developmental levels of improvisation
- Exploration: The student tries out different sounds and combinations of sounds in a loosely structured context.
- Process-oriented improvisation: The student produces more discernible, cohesive patterns.
- Product-oriented improvisation: The student becomes conscious of structural principles such as tonality and rhythm.
- Fluid improvisation: The student manipulates his/her instrument or voice in a more automatic, relaxed manner.
- Structural improvisation: The student is aware of the overall structure of the improvisation and develops a repertoire of musical or non-musical strategies for shaping an improvisation.
- Stylistic improvisation: The student improvises skilfully within a given style, incorporating its melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic characteristics.
- Personal improvisation: The musician is able to transcend recognised improvisation styles to develop a new style.
– From ‘Growing with Improvisation’ by John Kratus, originally published in the December 1991 issue of Music Educators Journal
