[MUSIC] In this video,
we will be exploring some of the principles of improvisation.
But when we think about improvisation,
it's more than just randomly ordering together a series of notes.
Improvisation is the first place that we begin to experiment and explore music,
and develop that musical voice and that sense of expression.
It really has some technical aspects to it,
but also some defining elements as well.
The technical aspects have to do with the context of music given the genre.
It's not something where you're just making up things randomly as it goes along.
You're really selecting, and deciding,
and creating in the moment based on the context of the music,
based on the rhythm,
based on the harmonies or the chord progressions.
Also, it's an opportunity for
a young person to feel confident in what it is that they're doing,
to develop their voices.
So join me as I have a conversation with David Alexis,
talking more in depth about improvisation,
and what it really means to do that art form.
In thinking about improv,
it's really important to foster expression,
and to listen to what students have to say before we even get into the technical aspect.
Just philosophically what is improv,
and what is creative expression,
and what is voicing what you have to say.
Once you make that connection to your own individuality,
then students start to buy into this concept of improv.
Because improv in it of itself is scary because there's not a prescribed method,
it's your creating, and that sense of uncertainty can be a little daunting.
But once you bring the joy into it and realize that it's really empowering,
then you have a different type of conversation.
When you say words like empowering and conversation,
it makes me think about how it is that we want to
empower and inspire our young people, including our teachers.
Again, when also you think about authenticity,
I think about cultural authenticity relative to the music, to the genre.
We can even look to Western classical music traditions from back in the day,
if you want to say that,
to early renaissance music. Each of the class has norm.
Each period has a norm.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Absolutely. I always ask the question,
why not enough of that happening today?
However, you do see young people who are rapping,
who are doing spoken word,
who are taking to all kinds of technologies to do improvisation.
But bringing it back into the school music program is
something that we would love to be able to inspire teachers to do.
Absolutely.
Yeah. So what would you say would be some of the first steps?
Like, what has been your experience in both working in
high school and also now at the college level?
The first step is to give them some musical vocab.
It's like building blocks.
So if you're working on a major scale,
or if you're working on a pentatonic scale,
or you're working on a specific musical concept,
teach that concept and then allow some time
for students to explore that concept on their own terms.
That's the beginning stages of improv.
So maybe set the parameters,
only give them a couple of notes to work with,
maybe give them a rhythmic motif,
and just see how they put things together like a puzzle.
Wonderful. Would you assign it isolated from say a musical tune,
or would you have them to put it in
the context of something that they're
listening to? Where would you start about to do that?
I love that. The answer is yes.
Yes, okay.
Yes to all of it.
Okay.
You can isolate it just to make sure that
the core concept that you're trying to teach is solidified.
But then draw it to one tune,
two tunes, slow it down,
speed it up, manipulate it.
Is this something in practice that you would recommend the teachers themselves do?
I just wondered how a teacher might get
also engaged so that they can have a level of comfort with the work that they're doing.
So if you're in a public school classroom or say you have 45 minutes for a period,
a do now could be teacher modeling,
and then students repeating.
Then maybe for a main activity,
you break students up and allow them to explore in circles,
or allow them to explore in groups,
and then come back and have a share out and see what different people are doing.
You can have an improv class where everyone is singing,
or maybe you split the class up and some people are singing,
some people are using orff instruments,
some people are using recorders.
There's so many ways to approach improv and
tailor it to the situation that you have in your classroom.
That's wonderful. What recommendations would you have
relative to many different kinds of musics?
Let's say classroom may be full of folks from any number of
different places from across the country, country Western,
or different kinds of singer-songwriter pieces,
or some hip hop music, jazz,
or we could be coming from any number of cultures even beyond our waters. [OVERLAPPING]
The great thing about music is that it unifies us.
So if you are trying to teach a specific musical concept,
it's a great project to have the students explore the music that they're listening to.
Can they find correlations?
Then allow the students to bring in their own music,
and then that's a teachable moment right there.
So you can address multiple cultures and multiple backgrounds with one musical concept.
The pentatonic scale is in everything.
Yes, absolutely.
It sounds like too.
Just by doing that,
there's a lot of opportunity for the development of the student.
I think about some of
the core standards when we're talking about social-emotional learning,
and how that can help to build a student's self-esteem,
but also take them into some other places in terms of
their abilities to strengthen their knowledge in other disciplines.
Thinking about the social-cultural contexts of things,
so that perhaps the teacher can even
further their exploration and understanding of music.
That fosters empathy, it fosters understanding,
even an opportunity to become a leader.
So if you are the steward of your own culture,
and then now you're encouraged to share that,
then it bolsters your ability to speak,
to show, to lead.
[MUSIC]