Hi All,
This week in reading Music Learning Today
by William Bauer the importance of encouraging creativity and the power
improvisation was discussed. Bauer suggested, “Creativity is almost
always a process that takes time, preparation and persistence.” (Bauer, 2014,
p. 50). This is a great way to help all
students realize that they all have the potential to be creative and have
creative thought. In my experience I
have noticed when students start their new instruments they think they will
“magically” be amazing. When they
realize that they need to put time and effort into the instrument it will fast
track them to success, which will lead to them being able to think more
creatively.
Improvisation is another great way to help
build student creativity, comfort and confidence. Bauer emphasizes the importance of
improvisation. He explains that even
though the importance of improv is addressed in the National Music Education
Standards, some teachers still have a difficult time incorporating it because
of lack of experience while they were a student. I completely agree. While I was growing up, even through college,
I did not have experience with improvisation.
I am developing a Jazz Ensemble in my current position, and I am having
some difficulties getting the students to feel comfortable releasing their
minds from standard notation and being creative. The steps presented in chapter three have
given me a ton of ideas in how I should structure activities to build
improvisational skills. I definitely
like the idea of starting with small steps like only allowing students to
improv on certain notes (do-mi-sol). I
have opened up my Jazz Ensemble to select students that are not involved in the
traditional band setting, but that have been playing guitar/bass for years. In
this experience I have noticed the idea expressed that students with a musical
background like to have guidelines whereas students that love music but do not
necessarily have a background in music like to have free range over what they
are doing. My goal for my students is to
eventually have all of them become comfortable enough with improvisation that
they want to do solos in the jazz ensemble and won’t require them to be
written, but would rather feel the music.
One quote in the reading that stuck with me was, “Improvisation is
creativity expressed in real time.” (Bauer, 2014, p. 58). I think those of us working with our students
on improvisation should share this quote with them in hopes it will be an eye
opener that improv is not scary, it is a creative outlet.
I am excited to see what Bauer has to share
about composition and how this can increase creativity next week!!!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI would think it would be hard to begin a jazz ensemble when you have not had any experience with improvisation. I still use some of my former teachers' methods, sayings, and techniques when teaching my own students. I also did not receive any improvisation training when I was growing up. Therefore, I think I would have to do a lot of research about how to start a jazz ensemble. I do like the steps that are given in the book as well. I also tweeted a link to a website this week that provides tips about improvisation (iwasdoingallright.com.) I agree with you that students with more musical background do like to have specific guidelines when first starting to improvise. Improvisation is definitely a skill that needs to be practiced. Even though I consider myself a good musician I think it would take a long time for me to reach Level 7 that is described in the book as a unique, personal style of improvisation. I hope you are able to achieve your goal of having your students be able to improvise in "real time."