Knowledge

1. ■The teacher understands how to perform written accompaniments on the music keyboard or chord instrument and how to transpose accompaniments to appropriate keys.
   

Performance

1. ■The teacher improvises accompaniments that are stylistically appropriate.
   

2. ■The teacher improvises original melodies in a variety of styles, over given harmonic progression each in a consistent style, meter, and tonality.
   

3. ■The teacher uses resources to illustrate and teach improvisation.
   

4. ■The teacher performs simple accompaniments appropriate for classroom use.
   

5. ■The teacher transposes on musical instruments at sight.
   

Reflection/Elaboration on Standard

    Improvisation is one of the most feared topics for most music teachers.  When looking up the definition of improvisation, it seems we expect it to include the word jazz; however, this is not the only type of music where improvisation occurs.  In fact, when considering improvisation as the expectations for a music educator, the aspect of jazz improvisation is not the main focus.  Improvisation in the music classroom simply means playing something that is not written, whether this be a simple accompaniment pattern, a melody over a harmonic progression, or simply transposing from where the original music is written.  In this light, improvisation becomes a broader idea that can be seen in the music classroom often.  As educators, it is important to teach students beyond reading notes written on the page, and a good way to develop the inner musician is to model improvisation in these ways.  Improvising is actually an inherent part of our musical being that simply needs to be explored in a comfortable environment.  Through proper modeling of improvisation, students will be interested in emulating these ideas, which will only strengthen them as musicians.   With teaching strategies that start on a small scale, improvising rhythms, then adding melodic content with one, two, three, and eventually more notes, teachers can unleash this creative side of the student.

My goals as a music educator is to use the skills of modeling and teaching improvisation that I learned through courses at Kansas State.  This can start as early as elementary music.  In my elementary music methods course, I have learned how to improvise melodies, accompaniments, and rhythms in a variety of formats.  I have also learned the best way to facilitate creativity without putting the child in emotional danger.  I have also practiced improvising melodies and accompaniments on piano through piano class.  Also, as an instrumentalist, I have had experience with transposing instruments.  In conducting class, I would play my saxophone off of an SATB score, so I became proficient in transposing these lines on the spot.

Artifacts

    The first example of my understanding of improvisation in the music classroom comes from an elementary lesson plan.  This lesson on improvisation comes as an extension after the students have already learned the song.  I wrote this lesson plan and taught it to my peers in my elementary music education class in the spring of 2013.  The improvisation was built off of Great Big House in New Orleans.  This was a song we had worked on quite a bit during class, so I felt that the students would be comfortable improvising on this.  For this particular lesson, I had the students improvise on recorders, though it could easily be a vocal or bar instrument improvisation lesson as well.  The second page includes my reflection on the lesson in the moment, something that is always important to do as an educator.

    Through this lesson I learned how easy and yet difficult improvisation can be to incorporate in teaching, especially at the elementary level.  It was easier than I anticipated simply because improvisation seems beyond their understanding.  On the contrary, improvisation can be simplified in such a way that students will be able to grasp it.  In fact, some students may be more comfortable with improvisation than they are with reading music.  As far as difficulty, I found that this requires a careful amount of planning.  Teaching improvisation does not involve improvising the lesson itself in any way.  I think that incorporating improvisation as an extension of songs already learned in the elementary classroom is a great way to develop creativity in students as well as having a demand placed on them for musical abilities.

    The second example is an improvisation strategy written for beginning band students.  This strategy was written for the beginning band portion of my elementary music education course.  These strategies were meant to be no longer than ten minutes of a plan to incorporate more than just playing exercises straight out of method books.  Again this is an extension of something they had already worked on, in this case When the Saints go Marching In.  The strategy is designed to have the students develop their improvisation in such a way that by the end of the class they feel comfortable playing the improvisation in front of the class.

    Writing this strategy helped me to realize how method books are not a curriculum by themselves.  As a teacher, it is important to be sure students are learning in many aspects and becoming well-rounded.  Improvisation is something that is rarely included in any capacity in a method book, and yet it is a national standard for students to know.  Therefore, it is important to be innovative and take the time to come up with lessons that will teach the students such skills.  This is something that I was not taught through my band upbringing, but I have been convinced that this is important to include in teaching students.