Improv isn’t just for comedians – it’s also for piano students!
For young children first learning the piano, just pressing the keys is a new experience for them. The excited kids just want to bang away. The shy ones might tentatively press a key… very softly.
Improv is a way to get children used to the piano as an instrument that they can control.
When I play improv with the kids, I first just let them play whatever and however they want. After they’re a little more comfortable I start to give them commands- Play softly. Play one note loudly. Play bouncy sounds. Play some high notes. Etc. Etc.
It’s a great creative outlet for children while getting them comfortable at the piano.
With some kids, we can just run with this activity. With other children, they might only play one note every 30 seconds.
Once they become more comfortable I’ll start to play some bass notes and they have to add in treble notes. This becomes a good indicator of how a child can adjust to what they are hearing. I will change my bass part to set different moods, and see if they can adjust. It’s shocking how quickly some of these kids can process the mood I set and jump right into that emotion! For the ones who can’t react as quickly, I have them pick a mood and tell me a story about what will happen in the music before we start to play. Imagery is very helpful for a lot of students (and performers as well)!
Music performances are not often ‘note perfect’. It’s all about the illusion of being perfect, and the only way to give that illusion is to be able to smoothly move on from any mistakes. This requires being able to make things up on the spot, in order for the music sound seamless. So improv is beneficial at every stage of learning, for different reasons! Plus, most people find it to be a lot of fun 🤩
Unfortunately, this is one of the activities that has greatly suffered with online lessons. Solo improv still works, but that’s not as much fun as a duet. Internet connection usually won’t allow the duets, because if there is any delay in sound then it gets pretty messy. And let’s face it- there’s almost always a delay in sound! 😅 One day we’ll get back to the in-person scenario!! 🙌