REVIEWER: Betty Starobinsky

TITLE: Improvisational Practices in Elementary General Music Classrooms

AUTHOR(S): Gruenhagen, Lisa M. and Whitcomb, Rachel
LOCATION:
Journal of Research in Music Education, 2014, Volume 61/No.4, pages 379-395.

This article discusses the difficulties that many elementary school music
educators face in implementing and designing improvisational music activities for their
classes. In the article, it states that some of the most commonly used improvisational
activities teachers employ are question and answer singing, improvising on pitched and
non-pitched percussion instruments, and improvising rhythmic patters using
instruments. The educators felt that improvisation is a necessary skill in the
development of the students musical skills. The creators of this study developed a
survey that was sent electronically to elementary general music teachers throughout the
United States. They hoped that this survey would help them to gain a better
understanding of the status of improvisation in the teachers classrooms, their
instructional objectives and outcomes, and how they described the quality of those
experiences. Most of the teachers reported their most common methods of employing
improvisational musical techniques in the classroom.

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These methods included improvising on percussion instruments, (both pitched

and non-pitched) improvising rhythmic patterns on instruments, call and response/or
question and answer singing, and individual forms of improvisation. The authors also
noted that although improvisation in the classroom has been on the increase since the
implementation of the National Standards, research shows that it is not yet part of
everyday instruction.

In addition, the article points out that children of various ages can be expected to
improvise melodically and/or rhythmically in a variety of circumstances. The authors also
mention that within various groups, certain children took on the roles of leaders or
followers, and allowed for shifts in that leadership when the music called for a particular
instrument to have a solo, or become the focus. The end of the article mentions some of
the various approaches to music education that teachers had training or professional
development workshops. These methodologies included World Music Drumming,
Orff/Schulwerk, Kodaly, Dalcroze and Music Learning Theory. The article raises the
question that some of these forms of training may encourage improvisation more than
other traditional methods of musical training, and that teachers who had workshops, or
had been trained in the able methods, may have been more likely to include various
forms of musical improvisation in their classrooms.
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It is important when teaching improvisation to create an environment of trust and

empathy, and that is one of the most important things I try to establish in the first few
meetings with my class. I want students to feel comfortable with one another. I like to
establish a safe place, and to let students know that we are all a work in progress. We
do not make fun of each others mistakes.We are tolerant of each others ideas. We are
respectful and kind. These ground rules are cemented as students learn how to work
with each other and perform, both as soloists, and in small group ensembles. Creating
music in any form, whether improvised music or not, is a group activity, and students
must work within a framework similar to that of cooperative learning; students must
listen carefully to each other, respect the choices made by others in the group, give
everyone a fair turn, and work together to create an improvised composition as a whole.

After reading this article, I have discovered that I want my students to have time
to talk about and discuss their improvisational endeavors. I believe that it is an important
part of becoming a musician. Students should be encouraged to talk about their musical
choices during improvisation, as well as be able to verbalize why they decided to play a
particular passage the way they did. I want my students to feel confident in their
decisions. In addition, many of the students that I teach are English Language Learners,
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so this provides them with perfect opportunity to express themselves in multiple ways.
What is not really discussed much in the confines of this article is the idea that students
must have a good basis and foundation in working with and understanding the various
elements of music. Students must have a basic knowledge of melody, rhythm,
dynamics, musical form, tempo, and be able to discern differences between pitched and
non-pitched musical instruments. They need to feel comfortable about singing melodies
before provision original melodies. Students must be given a good musical foundation in
order to develop the skills they need to become adept at musical improvisation. With
young children, the Orff approach builds up on things that most children do naturally,
e.g.clapping, tapping, repeating rhymes and singing simple melodies. With older
students, these natural musical abilities can be trained to encourage them to improvise
original melodies, use music to help tell a story, and perform music in small ensembles
with a student conductor.

It worried me that a great deal of the improvisation that the participants do in their
classrooms was within specified guidelines. Of the eighty-three participants who
answered the question, 65 educators reported using specified guidelines, and eighteen
reported using both specified guidelines and improvisation. This means that less than
twenty percent of the teachers used free improvisation in the classroom. I believe that
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structure is important. It is a great way to begin improvisation. It is a good crutch, but

students should not rely soley on these specified guidelines. After all, that is the point of
improvisation. Eventually, the students should be able to improvise without specified
guidelines. Students should feel free to experiment.

Another important facet of musical improvisation in the classroom is that it

enables students some freedom of choice about their musical creativity. They are able
to choose which instrument to play in a given circumstance, and how to play it. Having
the students play in small musical ensembles allows them a certain degree of musical
freedom to design the piece to sound the way they want itt o sound, and it encourages
good cooperative learning practices, including communication skills (both verbal and
non-verbal). Students can also be encouraged to take on leadership roles by teaching
the role of a conductor, and by having the group take turns at conducting each other.
They can compare and contrast the way that the improvised piece changes with various
conductors, encouraging students to use music specific vocabulary, and reinforcing their
knowledge of elements of music. For example one student might create a faster tempo,
while another student conductor might create a different mood by using a slower tempo,
and different choice of instrumentation. Music teachers strive to have students feel

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comfortable about performing in small ensembles, and encourage them to express

themselves through musical improvisation.

Gruenhagen, L. M., & Whitcomb, R. (2014). Improvisational Practices in Elementary

General Music Classrooms. Journal of Research in Music Education, 61 (4) 379-295.

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