I try to teach a little bit of improv to my recorder and string students. I have great aspirations, but never spend too much time on it. This morning on my walk, I listened to this story on NPR about improv with Alzheimers patients, and it gave me an idea that is an easy first step to improv. On recorders, our first notes are B, A, and G. After we learn B, we can go around in a circle and have each person play B in whatever way they want to. Long, short, in a little rhythm, loud, quiet, etc. I can imagine that students will be initially shy, but if we make this an easy warm-up every time, as well as making it more complex (Bs and As, then all three notes), it will become easier for them to think of something in their mind and then translate it to an instrument.
I would also like to try this with my string class. At first we could do it with plucking open strings and gradually add fingers and bowing, as we learn it in class.
No comments:
Post a Comment