Summary and Reaction #3: Chapter 4

Chapter 4 is about teaching improvisation and composition. It starts off by discussing

how to incorporate improv and composition into a rehearsal. The text talks about ways to take

time and add non-performance activities into the rehearsal. You can substitute different

aspects of the rehearsal for improvisation or compositional activities. These substitutions can

be during warm-ups, a full day of rehearsal, taking ensemble time for collaboration, or schedule

activities directly after a concert. Giving students opportunities to compose and share their

music with their peers is a good opportunity. This can also be taken further and program one of

the student pieces on a concert. Improvisation is seen as scary and unfamiliar to a lot of

musicians whether that be students or teachers. However, if you take the sound-before-sight

approach that has been established you can reaffirm that improv is a natural and essential part

of making music. Improvisation in the public-school setting is seen mostly using jazz

improvisation. This is not the only way to utilize improvisation. Improv is used in classical, jazz,

rock, pop, folk, world music traditions. Music is a language like any other and students can be

taught that language to create musical words and ideas that will allow them to develop

improvised musical sentences. The trick to improvisation is getting students to think like an

improviser and not worry about being wrong, mistakes are okay, and the knowledge will come.

Teaching the musical language and words to utilize in improvisation can be taught by rote,

singing, and as a game (call and response, etc.). Teach how to construct a musical sentence with

the ideas they learn. This can be done through repetition, variations in tempo and rhythm,

dynamic changes, meter changes, modifying the motive, and adding dissonance. Challenge

students by having them continuously adding new musical ideas and constructing phrases with
only new material. The text notes that when getting students to improvise and compose for the

first time, they should be given a bit of time to think it through a bit and not just putting them

completely on the spot. The next part of the book talks about how teachers can use

improvisation to teach music fundamentals. Aural skills are extremely important for musicians

and are not always addressed until late in the musical journey if not until post-high school

studies. Improvisation forces musicians to rely on their ears and their musical minds so it will

develop their aural skills in a great way. Improv also can help teach form so that they know how

long to improvise, about melodies, A and B sections, and other forms of music. Lastly, improv

can also help introduce and teach the idea of layers in an ensemble. The text describes this as

layers of melody with the rhythm taken over by a rhythmic element like a jazz drum set player

keeping time and tempo while the soloist would worry about the melody. Composition has a lot

of similarities in the teaching of improvisation. One of the important notes is that it is good to

set limits and simplify the composition process before developing more advanced skills.

Teaching vocab, form, and other musical building blocks. Individual teaching is important for

improv and especially composition while also giving the time to develop their skills rather than

expecting them to excel right away. Also, encourage collaboration and get students to work

together in small groups to help create something musical while also teaching them different

compositional techniques for developing understanding and content usage.

Improvisation and composition are two incredibly useful tools for teaching music. I want

to utilize them in my future classrooms a lot because I want my students to be exposed to a

wide array of musical related activities. I do not want my students limited to just performing

and allow them to explore the world of music rather than be pinned down to just play one
instrument in band. Improv is a good way to help students realize that mistakes are okay and

regardless of what you play it can work out and improv is just a way to vocalize your musical

thoughts. In my classrooms, it will be beneficial to my students if I allow them to improvise

more often and take time to really learn it (not just the jazz centered improv) so that they can

become more well-rounded musicians. Composition is something that not a lot of people got to

do and learn in my school band experience and the only time we really did anything like it was

during music theory class. However, music is a large world and I wish there would have been

more opportunities for my directors to give students time and the idea that they could

compose at any point in time. I want my students to be free to compose at any age level and

especially work with other students to bounce ideas and get inspiration for musical ideas. These

two essential aspects of music can seem daunting to students and to teachers so I want to be

able to get over my fears of them and develop my understanding more so that I can teach

effectively to my students.