What follows are the notes I took from a session with Martha Hilley at the 2010 Michigan Music Teachers Association conference. She shared with us a number of activities that can be incorporated in a variety of settings, whether it be the private lesson, class piano, or monthly group lessons (my summary is posted here with permission).
THEORY & IMPROVISATION: THE PB&J OF MUSIC ~ by Martha Hilley
Introduction
Do you have your students improvise? Do you improvise? The biggest reason teachers don’t improvise during the lesson with their students is the giant time factor: we often don’t want to take the time out of the lesson. However, improvisation can be very effective even with beginners.
Activities:
1. Black Key Improvisation
Use improvisation even with young beginner students. They often can play rhythms that they can’t yet read, so use improvisation as a way to teach rhythm and technique. It frees them from the score. Black key improvisation is especially great because there are no wrong notes!
1) Ask student to put 5 fingers on 5 black keys (any 5).
2) Teacher sets up an ostinato. Student is instructed first to listen to the ostinato, and then play (immediately after, joining the teacher). Continue reading “2010 MMTA Conference (1): Theory & Improv as the PB&J of Music, Part 1” →
