Kansas Music Standard #2: The teacher of music has skills
in improvising melodies, variations and accompaniments.
Knowledge
- The teacher understands how to perform written accompaniments
on the
music keyboard or chord instrument and how to transpose accompaniments
to appropriate keys.
Performance
- The teacher improvises accompaniments that are stylistically
appropriate.
- The teacher improvises original melodies in a variety of
styles, over
given harmonic progression each in a consistent style, meter, and
tonality.
- The teacher uses resources to illustrate and teach
improvisation.
- The teacher performs simple accompaniments appropriate for
classroom use.
- The teacher transposes on musical instruments at sight.
Creativity:
Improvisation on What the Mind Can Do!
The
Process
Improvisation
is one of the weakest areas in today’s
school system; this comes from the inability to allow our young
students to be
creative early in their youth. It can be anything from a teacher
setting limitations
on young students art work. We have all seen or heard this,
“Don’t color
outside the lines,” or “You can’t have a blue
duck!”In setting these
limitations, a student resents the idea of wanting to create, in fear
that they
are not follow the rules which were set in place for them. As a result,
as they arrive to adulthood, the idea of
being
creative is simply a bad taste in their. By
letting a child be creative, and have unrestricted
expression this indubitably will lead to creativity in other areas.
The
ability to improvise is simply creating an aural picture at that
current moment;
painting an image with notes and rhythms on the blank canvas of
creativity. By
instilling in our young students that there are no wrong ways in their
creative
process, they never have fear as they create. One
of the many issues many students say
before the play an improvised solo is, “What if I sound
bad?” If we can mold
students to believe that as they solo there are no “wrong”
notes, this breaks
the shackles that fear has on us and allows us to be free as we
improvise.
However, I’m not saying a student should just play any sort of
solo over a
structured jazz melody, knowing how to utilize techniques that were
learned and
area acquired in a specific content
area, we an extra tool in the students improvising ability.
Application
In
my jazz experience found the improvising is
simply build a solo with the tools you already know! By knowing your
scales,
and applying cool rhythms with it, what you
are doing is making a solo. If you look
carefully at any solo you have ever played, it is the same principal.
The
composer has a chord progression in mind, and then writes the melody to
fit
these chords. Improvisation is just doing that in reverse order. For
example,
most jazz charts have the progression of II – V – I, or
other “jazzy” chords
mixed in. Usually the II – V – I progression is of a
certain key, such as Bb, C
or G. So if a student knows these scales, they can simply compose a
solo idea
over this progression using the correct scale. As Jazz melodies become
more
advanced, this is a great way to teach music theory and key concepts of
what
the music is doing. The lesson plan attached to this page, show how we as
music
educators can begin this process early on in our student’s music
education.
There
are many ways we can make improvisation
stronger in our music programs, but it must start early on. Attached to
this
web page is a link of a lesson plan that may be used to help students
learn to
be creative, by improvising melodies from their student work books. To
add some depth to imporvisation, the technique of being able to
transpose is great ability in musican should be able to use. The link,
transposing, break down the method I use to transpose when I play any jazz solo.
Lesson
on Creativity
Transposing