music therapy IMPROVISATION SKILLS
HOW DO IMPROVISATION LESSONS BEGIN?
- INDIVIDUAL OR SMALL GROUP IMPRO LESSONS ARE ALL ONLINE (ZOOM) AND INTENDED TO BE FUN AND ACCESSIBLE, CONFIDENCE-BUILDING AND CAREFULLY TAILORED TO AREAS OF NEED. We start with a chat about what you would like to achieve, interspersed with some playing or singing to get an idea of what kind(s) of improvisation work will be most useful and meaningful.
- Individual strengths and needs are thought about, and priorities identified for developing your improvising.
- Improvisation lessons include free improvising to develop spontaneity in feeling, thinking and playing in an instinctive way: 'being in music' rather than 'doing music'.
- We consider the properties of music, and about emotional and physical experiences of different musical elements and features.
- Aspects of musical improvising and co-improvisation may also be considered in relation to developmental psychology and psychodynamic theory
FREE AND STRUCTURED IMPROVISATION
Areas of expertise often requested for development in improvisation lessons include:
Areas of expertise often requested for development in improvisation lessons include:
- How to use musical improvisation in semi-structured ways that are designed to build social-communication
- How to use musical improvisation to address developmental needs
- How to offer and invite response as well as matching and mirroring
- How to compose songs (e.g. Hello, Goodbye, and other activity songs) that are original, musically communicative, easy to remember, and which follow natural prosody and phrasing of conversation.
- How to break free of certain musical conventions, finding freshness and your own voice (in playing and singing), while still making musical sense
- Exploring improvising in modes and different scale forms
