Tag: improvisation

Announcements, improving as a teacher

Upcoming Poster Session @ Mich. Music Conference

Joy Morin

Remember that improvisation paper for school that I’m been mentioning here and there?  Well, I’ve been accepted to present my research findings at the poster session on January 22 as part of the 2009 Michigan Music Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan!  I don’t know if any of you Michiganders out there are planning on attending the conference, but if you are, please drop by during the meet-the-author session at 10:30 and say hello!

What follows is my abstract, which gives you a sneak peak into what the upcoming series about improvisation will discuss (starting tomorrow!): Continue reading “Upcoming Poster Session @ Mich. Music Conference” →

Announcements, improving as a teacher

Top 3 Obstacles when Teaching Improvisation | Part 2 of the series

Joy Morin

Okay, so I’ve been promising to talk about the findings from my research paper about improvisation.  While I don’t plan to post the entire 20+ pages as is, I do plan to post the information over a few posts, bit by bit, so it’s easier to read.  The first bit here (below) establishes the problem (i.e., the reason for writing a paper about improvisation).

Teaching improvisation is challenging for many teachers.  As I was reading books and journal articles about improvisation for my research paper, 3 common obstacles surfaced.  These are obstacles that music educators (not just piano teachers) encounter when trying to incorporate improvisation into their curriculum: Continue reading “Top 3 Obstacles when Teaching Improvisation | Part 2 of the series” →

Resources

Easy Improv Activity @ Music Matters Blog

Joy Morin

I apologize for the lack of posts recently — this week is the last week of classes at college, and next week is final exams.  It’s a busy time of the semester!  I will try to get back on track soon. 

I wanted to send you over for a look at Natalie’s description of an improvisation activity she enjoys doing with her students.  (As you may recall, I am particularly interested in improvisation lately, because it is the topic of the paper I’ve been working on all semester. I hope to share more of my findings soon, perhaps over Christmas break.)   This improvisation activity sounds simple enough to adapt for all ages.  I look forward to trying it with my students soon.

Announcements, Composition, Teaching Piano

Creativity in the Piano Lesson | Part 1 of the series

Joy Morin

I’ve been reading a lot about improvisation (non-jazz, particularly) and creativity in the piano lesson lately, as I’ve been working on a paper for my Into to Music Research class for college.  It’s interesting to me how today there seems to be a trend for exact, literal performances of composers’ works.  It was not always this way; in the Romantic Era, pianists would freely change composer’s works when they performed them in concert.  They would often be completely unrecognizable from the original!  But that was what the audience members came to hear: that pianist’s version of Beethoven, Bach, or whatever. Continue reading “Creativity in the Piano Lesson | Part 1 of the series” →

Motivation

Making Time for Improvisation

Joy Morin

In piano lessons today, improvisation is often a subject that often “goes out the window” because it is deemed to be less important or secondary to other skills. It had not always been this way; improvisation used to be a expected skill for any accomplished keyboardist during the Baroque through Romantic eras. Interestingly enough, it seems that today, the role of the pianist has evolved into the role of reproducing the works of other composers, rather than being a pianist-composer. Teaching improvisation in the lesson can be an incredibly useful tool, as well as serve as a creative outlet for the student. How do we, as piano teachers, find or make time to teach students how to improvise at the piano? Continue reading “Making Time for Improvisation” →