Nurturing creativity

through improvisation and composition

Hallam, S. and Rogers, L. (2010) Creativity

In Hallam, S. and Creech, A. Music Education in the 21st
Century in the United Kingdom. Institute of Education,
University of London

Music education can play a

crucial role in enabling young
people to develop independent
and team working skills and
enhance their creativity through
composing and improvising.

As stated in A Common Approach 2002:

An Instrumental/Vocal Curriculum
Expressing
ideas and
feelings

Reflecting on
and evaluating
skills

Using creativity,
imagination and
intuition

Pupilsshould be given the opportunities

Developing
to:
skills,
knowledge and
understanding

Express their musical ideas and feelings

Use their creativity, imagination and
intuition
Develop their skills, knowledge and
understanding
Reflect on and evaluate their progress

Now the exam is over can we

just play for fun?

Relax

A highly skilled jazz performance

Slight deviations from a printed score during a recital
An exploratory means of composing
Communicating in music therapy, mental health or SEN settings

Pre-school children singing in the playground

Improvisation in educational settings differs from

that in professional settings in that it is not normally
rule governed and can be accessed by all students.
Hallam, S. (2008) Music Psychology in Education.
IOE Publications. (p81)

Some ideas to get pupils started

Call and response
Make a tune
Developing a given rhythmic pattern
Inventing/responding to ostinato patterns

Tone development

Further starting points

Backing tracks
Pictures/paintings
Descriptive titles (suggested by teacher/pupil)
Pupils personal experiences or preferences

Variations
Graphic score

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What is the difference between

improvising and composing?

 This is a fine line but if pupils are encouraged to do

the following, they can begin to transform their
improvisations into compositions!

Plan
Experiment
Structure
Test
Evaluate
Refine

Compositions need not be written down but recording

them in some way can be extremely valuable.

Remember, the possibilities

are endless as long as you
ensure that your pupils
always

play for fun!