Balancing the eye and the ear: you can teach improvisation.

There are only two kinds of music: good and bad." This statement has been variously attributed to Louis Armstrong, Richard Strauss and Duke Ellington. It rings true regardless of who said it. Even as our students' iPod culture divides music into ever more splintered sub-genres, we might ask them to consider a similar category busting statement: "There are only two approaches to making music: eye and ear." Eye players read music. Ear players improvise. Today's students need instruction in both. Why? Because students that read well and play by ear can perform a wider range of styles, are more engaged and, therefore, more likely to "stick with it." Perhaps you are among the many teachers who would like to augment their teaching style with explorations into improvisation but are not sure where to begin. The good news is that the basic theory and music reading you already teach provide an ideal foundation for students learning to improvise. Use the techniques outlined below in your next lesson to show them how to enter the fascinating world of making music "off the page."

Written Music as A Basis for Improvisation

Master improvisers may seem to make music out of thin air, but students need a context for creativity. For the following exercises, help the student select a short piece that makes use of three or four diatonic chords in the left-hand part. Method books abound with chord-based selections, as do collections of folk songs, children's music, holiday music or "three chord" pop songs. I'll use "Burrito Cha Cha" as a demonstration piece for this article.

Begin by asking the student to learn the selection exactly as it is written. Improvising is a reward for good reading. See the rationale here? The student understands that the eye and ear are equally valued and improvising is a treat rather than a frightening prospect.

Example 1

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Analyze the Chords