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Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Composing and Improvisation Free Resources for Developing Creativity - September

I love planning creative activities like composition and improv to use with my piano students in music lessons. Although I had no formal training in music composition, I have discovered many valuable resources that I've used with my students over the years to help keep their creative juices flowing. 

I'm excited to serve as the Assistant Composition Festival Chair for the Upper Valley Music Teacher's Association and plan to share a post about themed resources every month that music teachers can use with their students. While most activities are designed for pianists, I'll also include some resources that can be used for string players or other instrumentalists.

Beginning Composing with a Musical Motifs Game



Beginning to compose can be a bit intimidating for many students (and teachers😉) so I like to start with bite-size motifs using a game approach to take the pressure off. This Scale Degrees Gameboard Free Printable) can be used as a quick lesson starter when paired with any of the seasonal rhythm pattern cards from the Free Improvisation printables on the Teach Piano Today blog. For example the TPT Back to School Improv includes rhythm pattern cards like "leaky lunchbox," "make new friends," "running for the bus," etc.

To play, first choose a major or minor scale. The teacher and student (or 2 students) sit at the piano (or other instrument), take turns rolling a die, and move their marker around the game board (removable sticky flags) as they improvise short musical melody ideas on their instrument using notes from the chosen scale. To ramp up the difficulty more advanced students could also add chords for harmony. 

For each spot they land on, they create a musical motif starting with the scale degree note and matching the rhythm.  For example, if a player lands on dominant using the C major scale they create a musical idea that starts with G (dominant) as they say the phrase from the rhythm pattern card they chose.

This game cleverly introduces the intermediate concept of scale degree names, while allowing the teacher to model rhythms and musical ideas and let the student try them out in a no fear of failure approach. The winner is the first one to reach the end of the board. For a twist you could choose a "magic degree" and let players roll again if they land on that scale degree.


Improvisation Inspiration and Samples


My husband captured this impromptu improv video of me creating music with a preschool neighbor who was visiting our house one day. She wanted to "play piano," and she's never had a lesson, but I just asked her to start playing the black keys with me and she jumped right in.

It's not polished or perfect. I didn't even know I was being filmed! But I love seeing her delight and the way she tried to mimic my flowing sounds.

The Forrest Kinney's Create First! Series empowered me with this idea to begin improvising on the piano for fun, and I love to see my students light up when they see how much fun it can be to create with simple patterns. I love to start with the For the Joy improv that even people with no music experience can do by just playing black keys. When Forrest was diagnosed with terminal cancer a few years ago, he generously posted all of his Create First! Videos on YouTube. The books provide written samples, left hand patterns and duets on the printed page that he demonstrates in his videos.

For the Joy Student Improvisation Activity

Watch Create First For the Joy Duet and Solo.  Then Create your own melodies on the black keys with rhythms in 4/4 Time.  Start with just quarter notes. Then add longer or shorter notes for variety.




I'd love to hear about your experiences using these or other creative activities with your music students. What are some of your favorite improvising or composing activities?

More Posts About Composing and Improvising in the Music Studio


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