Improvisation Activities
Perhaps the most significant best practice in the classroom is for guitar teachers to motivate their students to practice ev- ery aspect of making music. In the interest of improvisation, below are three key activities that assist in attaining this goal.
Call and Response: This technique involves one student playing one bar of
music. Start out with something very basic, such as one pitch played with a rhythmic variation. The other students repeat the measure, matching the dynamics and style as closely as
possible.You can alter this exercise by playing an incomplete phrase, and having another student complete it. However, make sure that each student who follows continues the call using the same number of beats in the measure. For back- ground music, use a backing track from Youtube in any major key and assign a specified moveable major scale pattern.
Free Form: In this exercise, assign your students a specific moveable
scale pattern to utilize. Designate that each student should play a certain series of notes from the scale, using varied phrasing. Develop a method of cues so that every student will know when to play their specific series. Set a tempo and start by giving cues to students. The idea here is to let the students listen to how free form improvisation works and to allow their creativity to flow.
JANUARY 2021
Explore Emotions: This improvisation technique helps students understand
the value of playing from their heart. Have students think about which sounds and melodic structure reflect emotions. Have everyone agree on an emotion to convey and then have each student, in turn, play a series of notes (or a single one) that reflect that emotion. Have them pay attention to the note length and rhythm that pertains to the specific emotion you all want to convey.
Although the moveable scales serve as a starting point to understanding improvisation, teaching it is not about forming a structured learning technique. Since so much of it involves feeling and spontaneity, showing your students fun ways to explore with music can help them develop and incorporate their own personality into the music they play. Improvising is seemingly a dark art that is hard to explain. In reality though, we are all successful improvisers already. Each of us improvises using language every day. We spon-
taneously reassemble words and phrases to express ourselves and communicate with others. Improvising on the guitar re- ally is much the same process. The technical aspects of guitar improvisation and music are different to those of grammar and syntax. But just as anyone can improvise using language, so too can anyone improvise on guitar.
53
TEMPO
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
