I love to join the jam session too!

A secondary school pupil based research study, on how to

enhance classically taught music students ability to improvise.

Introduction

What is improvisation?

Improvisation in music is defined as spontaneous musical response through playing an

instrument or singing Limb, C. J., & Braun, A. R. (2008), Moore, R. (1992). In a way this could
be understood as generating music on the Fly this can occur during a performance either solo
or ensemble and this often highlights the performer and often receives flattering responses from
the audience. As far as Classical genre concern Virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt is one of the most
notable pianists who were very popular in his day. The style of his improvisation origins
included the variations on the them which was characterised by music giants over the periods
such John Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven. Moore, R.
(1992) provides few intensive data to prove that improvising was not unfamiliar among
musicians in the ancient past (especially among the classical community) . This will be discussed
broadly in later literature review chapter. But most often the case is that modern day classical
based instrumentalists and singers thinks this is not compulsory and there for they do not
empesise teaching and obviously hinder child learning opportunity. Moore, R. (1992) too
suggests that the modern day historians believe that this it is something in the minds of the recent
performers who thinks that improvisation is something that does not go aligned with the
performance music art.
Moore, R. (1992) article revels that improvisation forms widely exist in: Persian music , Arabic
taqasim, Turkish taksim and lexical, Bulgarian solo funerary lament ,Yugoslav heroic ballad
tradition, Jewish and Gypsy group dances, cifrazatok and kontrazas ( Balkan genres-
instrumental), Asian music such as Java, Bali and popular Indian Rag music tradition, Japanese
matsuri bayashi, African drumming and dances, Spanish Flamenco cante hondo and French
Gypsy music, Latin American Copla traditions, Cuban decima guajira, Brazilian desafio and
embolada, Chilean contrapunto and paya, non-lexical vocal improvisation of the Caribbean,
many other popular dance forms such as Joropo, Salsa , Cumbia, Calypso, Reggae, Rumba, Boss
nova. In western Popular styles such as bluegrass; gospel and spirituals; blues- and Jazz, soul,
funk, heavy metal, rap, hip hop, and house music etcetera. These above styles cultures which
associate with improvisation, amplifies the value leaning this skill.
Improvisation in general is something related to any human in their daily routine. People
improvise all the time and in our daily life dialogs we improvise or even giving a speech we
interpret things to suit that moment , likewise in music according to Limb, C. J., & Braun, A. R.
(2008) and Moore, R. (1992) this term explained as spontaneous musical response (a response
produce though musical instrument instantly to capture the mood of the music). However to my
cognitive understanding this is rather complex subject than it sounds and needs further
investigation towards explaining and possibilities pedagogical prospective this could be rather
tangible subject. My interest in this derived through my empirical knowledge being involved in
music teaching and in classical and in Popular music intensively and even me my self have come
to realise how important, and fruitful improvising could be when it comes to teaching and
performing. And to my own explanatory research in classical and Popular based instrumental
( Specialised ) music teaching, I have come to realise the importance in discussing the
possibilities of teaching this during the lessons which is often not very popular subject among
instrumental teachers. According dissertation topic I love to join the jam session too! A
secondary school pupil based research study, on how to enhance classically taught music
students ability to improvise, felt adequate to speculate topic to investigate problems and
values associated in improvising for classical based instrumental and vocal music students
who learns this as a subject during the school setting ( My current work place ) environment.
Hence investigate and criticise the written work associated with this and further more small scale
experiment research through quesi experimentation within the school music department.

Throughout this article there are two types of music lessons discussed which might confuse the
reader, so this is adequate to realise the different teaching strategies, approach, aims etc. of the
two. The instrumental lessons are labelled as Specialised music lessons and academic music
lessons as non- specialist music lessons.

School music

This school gives priority to music education alongside with extra-curricular activities. The
whole school music equipped with 4 Non Specialist music teachers and 13 instrumental teachers
who reports to Head of Creative and Performing Arts who is in charge of extra-curricular
ensembles, the school concerts, assemblies rehearsal performances. Overall there are 11 overseas
(the teachers who are recruited, mostly from UK ) and 6 local contract teachers ( the teachers
who are recruited locally and under their spouses sponsorship).

Non specialist music lessons

The non-specialist music lessons are similar to other classroom learning environment. Currently
2 teachers provide music classroom music for Key stage 1- 2 (Age 4- 11 years) and 2 teachers
key stage 3-5 (Age 12-18 years). They attend lessons every week group attends general music
lesson during allocated periods. This is as customary as attending another academic lesson. In the
classroom learning, the teachers aim towards develop pupils creative skills. Currently school
educations system is designed over the Edexcel syllabus. Apart from teaching staff required to go
through intensive planning for their lessons and organizing termly assemblies ( Only up to KS 2)
which involves class teachers and students and this habitually decided by in collaboration with
the certain year group teachers and music is the main areas which brings all of them together. In
recent past there have been very interesting themes such as mothers day, evacuation day,
countries assembly and so on. Moreover this resembles learning opportunity and in a way
exhibiting the student abilities to the public. Most of the school non- specialist classrooms are
equipped with electronic key board which is connected to a pc (through this they actually could
play their music and it automatically converts to score through midi format) . From Key Stage 3-
5 the students were exposed to elements of improvisation and composting. However the (Mills,
1991; Joubert, 2001) suggests that the opportunity for the students get involved in creative
activities during the Non-specialist music lessons are slim Koutsoupidou, T. (2005) and Cheung,
J. (2004) suggests that in a foreign educational setting the emphasis towards creativity less.

Specialist music lessons

The specialist music department works as an external to music curriculum, but operates during
the school day. The aim is to develop musically able students through this program. Conferring
to Byo, S. J. (1999) this is very popular among the students and this has been a common practice
in British and American education systems for decades.
The school Instrumental department is the largest department in the school and operates with
nine full time teachers and four part- time teachers (Overall 13 teachers ). All the teachers are
qualified with UK qualifications. Currently the department offer Piano, Vocal, Guitar
( Classical, Electric and Folk ) , Flute, Violin, Viola, Brass ( Trumpet , trombone , Tuba, French
Horn ) Cello, Double bass , Wood wind ( Oboe, Clarinet, Saxophone). Presently instrumental
scheme has around 500 plus students learning an instrument in the school, 287 (59%) KS2
students ( 7-11years ) and around 41% from Key stages 3-5 (12-18yrs). The music tuition
registration rate is extremely high and there is a high demand for instruments such as Piano,
Vocal and flute which currently waitlisted students due less space available in the current teacher
time tables. The sign up rate is more comparison to UK schools Youth Music (2006). The whole
process starts when a parent request for instrumental or Vocal lessons from the department. The
student enters to a weekly time table with his/ her allocated instrument and the specified teacher.
The lessons are half-hour long and in some situations this could prolong to forty five minutes
(The longer duration is upon teacher or parent request). The parents are bound to agree to the
instrumental contract along with the separate fee before eligibility to enter their son/ daughter
instrumental program ( This is often provided during 1st student trial lesson ). The student enter a
weekly time table which is sent to parents via e mail prior the weekend before and it is posted in
different locations within the school too, in order to provide more support to be aware of the next
lesson. The lessons are habitually half hour long and some cases this could prolong to 45
minutes. The instrumental time table changes every week to avoid child missing the same
academic lesson twice a term. This school specialist music department runs with high reputation
of providing number of significant and talented students over the years, such as recent
achievement of producing the winner in Young Musician of the gulf .This is a prestigious event
which runs yearly among the BSME ( British Schools of Middle East) schools. This school is the
only Instrumental Department runs with mostly full time Specialist music teaching staff. In
caparison to UK often the school music departments run with peripatetic teachers, but this setting
is not adequate for a city which attempts to reinforce ideas of implementing western music in
Eastern Gulf region, and there arent enough quality teachers to hire locally, but unfortunately
there are hardly any investigations relating to this area, but this tends to be the case to my
empirical knowledge teaching music during the past fifteen years in the region.

Specialist music overview syllabuses

It is important to get cohere understanding of the specialist music examination boards and why
and how they are different from the non- specialist music? The vast majority of the instrumental
and vocal teachers follow classical based music exams such as Associated Board of Royal
schools of music and Trinity college of London, apart from few teachers who tends follow
Trinity Rock and Pop music exams. The ABRSM (Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music)
and Trinity College London classical based music syllabuses. The ABRSM founded in 1889 and
currently conduct music exams over 93 countries providing around estimated 6,50000 music
every year (www.abrsm.org). similarly Trinity examination board established in 1877 and
currently operates over 70 countries providing music exams both are well recognised by boards
accredited by Ofqual (Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation) to award
graded exams and diploma qualifications in music within the UK's National Qualifications
Framework Salaman, W. (1994), Online resources. For these practical based classical exams the
examiners travel from UK, for each exam session. There are 8 levels followed by three
professional diplomas which are in line with vocational qualifications for separate instruments
and vocal students. Comparatively in non- specialist music exams the students present the
recoding of their practical work which could be done even with many attempts, which seems
completely different. Rae, G., & McCambridge, K. (2004) findings suggests there is mammoth
anxiety and stress level associated when candidate performs live in front of an examiner. The
often they have to play through the music with first attempt otherwise the marks will be lost, in
academic music exams the student could attempt many time recording the music till they
produce a satisfying product.
Often these specialist music exams are classical in nature. Cheung, J. (2004) suggests that these
exams are more teacher driven lessons and there are not much of room for developing creative
aspect. To me the firsthand, emphasis in current specialist instrumental/vocal lessons are mainly
developing technical aspect and music reading. Green, L. (2005) suggests that teachers often
describes the interpretation of the music as a creative aspect, and they tend to believe that
improvisation might bring abrupt results to the flow of the lessons, since this is considered as
informal learning practice. Cheung, J. (2004) revels, that implementing classical music in
different cultural back ground might bring drastic results, such as teaching western classical
music for the students who enjoy their music in their daily lives ( In this article discuss adopting
classical music in Hong Kong students who are exposed to their cultural music). Moreover the
parents were reluctant to support the children learning western music which they believe actually
helps them to relief from their school work load and Cheung, J. (2004) revels interesting data
that, in 1990 there were 35,000 Hong Kong students took ABRSM music exams which is
extremely in number of students and this signifies that this actually were very popular among
community. But Cheung, J. (2004) suggests that these exams are more teacher- centered learning
which might not help to develop students cognitive ability to solving problems on their own, and
Cheung, J. (2004) suggest the teachers should aim towards developing the interest of the pupils
before mastering the skills and knowledge.

Trinity Rock and Pop music exams

Whatever your musical ambitions whether youre starting a band or planning a career in the
music industry our new exams will help you to develop your skills and achieve your goals
www.trinityrock.com

It seems worthwhile discussing the recently introduced Trinity Rock & Pop music exams seem to
cater towards the students who are interested in pursuing their knowledge through contemporary
music. Currently these exams only provide exams for Bass, Drums, Guitar, Keyboards and
Vocals and they have introduced new concept called session skills which involved improvisation
and The main conflict is that this does not provide exams for classical based music instruments,
and there are other problems such as this will hinder their opportunity to learn how to read
music. and recently there are rise in number of students who completes music grade 8 with
limited music reading skill, and this opens the possibilities for Rock and Pop musicians to get an
equal qualification , which might give good and bad results in future, since it is common belief
that a student should learn how to read music ( in general vast majority of the musicians who are
recruited as performers in this part often, get in to part time music teaching after achieving grade
8) this will be interesting consequences which might need further investigation.

Creative aspect in music lessons

In a school non specialised music lessons, the pupils engage in the creative musical activities
such as listening, performing, composing, improvising. However the composing and improvising
are the main themes that are widely in use to literate creativity in music Koutsoupidou, T. (2005)
and it is important to distinguish the different between these terminologies since this often
creates confusion among people and young students (Burnard, 2000). Hargreaves (1999)
suggests that improvisation is something that is done without editing and composing as a
transcription or arrangement. Sloboda (1985) define the composition as a something that is being
rejected by the composer till he/she finds the best possible answer to fit the music and the
improvisers must accept the first solution which comes to their mind Koutsoupidou, T. (2005).
However (Mills, 1991; Joubert, 2001) article provides some valid data that this is not often the
case and most of the students in schools will not get much opportunities to get involve in to
genuine creative activity due to peer pressure and the classroom size etc. Koutsoupidou, T.
(2005) I tend to agree with these findings, and to my phenomenon teaching and conversing with
the students and teachers, I feel during Non specialised music lesson the room for genuine
creative opportunities are less, and the students mostly without formal training to play an
instruments it an eventual struggle for them to understand the mechanism of the instrument
before they start playing creating, and often the case is the students are getting engaged with
aural responses which gives quick results for the teachers. But in Non specialist music lessons in
United Kingdom national curriculum (GCSE) or Advance level. This is not compulsory for all
the students, and this is an optional for the GCSE and A/L as a subject, but to my phenomena
often the case is the students who choose this are currently leaning music as specialist subject for
an example in current Edexcel GCSE syllabus, the 30% of the exam is marked through their
performance ability. Such as the students should present music around ABRSM or Trinity
(Current specialist music examination boards ) grade 5 level standard solo and ensemble
performance in order to achieve a high mark. Furthermore improvisation is part of the syllabus
and they are entitled to know about improvisation. Me being a Specialist music teachers often
when discussing the issues with these two departments the Non specialist teachers speculate that
this should be something that a student should learn during the specialist music lessons.
According Byo, S. J. (1999) findings revel the aim of national standard ( UK) for all public
school Non Specialist music and Specialist music teaching ambition should drift towards
improving students singing, playing an instrument, ability to read music, Improvising and
composing abilities and should be able to listen, analyze and evaluate the understanding in music
including a good knowledge of the musical history and culture.

Why classical music lessons ?

Classical music lessons

Kolb, B. M. (2005) suggests marketing strategies and the need of changing the way to present to
people and suggesting that some things needs to change and borrow some modern ideas to fit the
modern market, which tends be rather problematic since, the urge towards changing the past to
fit according to the modern generation, and teaching western music which people always gets
wrong and there. Unfortunately there are limited literature to help my suggestion, instead there
are few articles suggest that teaching popular music too could bring some trastic results. Davis,
S. G., & Blair, D. V. (2011) findings revel that the music teachers decline interest in teaching
popular music is due to lack of systematic approaches or teaching strategies or they did not feel it
is not something that needs teaching. However there are popular music related exams emerging
such Trinity Rock & Pop exams , and this is something that could be taken in to account as
(Green, 2002, 2005a, 2006) Davis, S. G., & Blair, D. V. (2011) that popular music actually
making its way in to the specialist music lessons could be valued among popular musicians but
the often the case is the classical teaching methods provide the most effective teaching methods
and strategies towards gradual progress, but my aim is to suggest few additions instead of
changes to the current teaching system, in order to give more opportunities for the students learn
how to improvise, which could be fantastic skill to acquire. Furthermore Kolb, B. M. (2005)
article suggestions to changing the way how it was to fit to the audience, sounds problematic.
The main questions which reinforces are who and what is going to change? for example
Tennenhouse, L. (2009) suggests the value of learning English and American literature, but
neither in this writing suggests changing the past to fit according to the modern reader , which
the same idea when it comes to learning the western music history. It is not about type of music.
It has nothing to do with being old, but the complex language in music declines the popularity.
This is similar to the modern jazz music. The modern world has changed drastically, especially
due to the needs to migrated popularity and the cultural difference and demand comes through
them is another factor in demanding changes to western music teaching. But when it comes to
music, according to my phenomenon the most important aspect of instrumental music lessons are
leaning the language. This helps students to understand the common language, which helps them
experience all the written work from different cultures and this helps instrumentalists to enjoy
experience music from different periods and from various cultures.
Currently most effective pedagogical teaching methods are presented through classical teaching
methods. And what tends to happen in the lessons usually are the teachers are trying to improve
their technical skill and music reading abilities through composed music pieces which often
settles in to this rhythm and often there are not much opportunities for them get involved in to
creative aspect, such as improvising.

Music reading skill and developing creativity

Hodges, D. A., & Nolker, D. B. (1992) article defines music as converting notations (visual
symbols ) through musical instrument or voice. which seems to be the most refine explanation.
Furthermore Hodges, D. A., & Nolker, D. B. (1992) revels findings that music reading skill
extends the memory, and effective ways to teach are through syllables and related mnemonic
devices Bebeau ( 1982, Colley ( 1987) and Shehan ( 1987). Hence Bradley, 1974 ;Hutton, 1953
revels that, by engaging students in creative activities would help to strengthen this ability.
According to my hypothesis this is obviously the case in this school too. Predominantly in
specialist music lessons (classical) teachers emphasise more towards improving their music
reading but there is not much of room for creativity. Davis, S. G., & Blair, D. V. (2011) suggests
that music students are solely relying music reading skill and they have actually not inheriting
the creative aspect. Even though it is an excellent effort from the teachers to build this essential
skill, by overdoing and aim towards only developing this eventually will restrict the students in
some areas. And improvising is one of the early exercises to get the students engaged in creative
activity. Green 2002 suggests that the changing nature of the students interest could be different
and this in a way invading their personal music world.

The school and cultural setting

Exploring the research question
Literature

Engaging student to improvisation

Play It Again, Billy, but This Time with More Mistakes Healy, D. J. (2014).

Up till around 18th century the music learning and training was based on more creative than the
modern day teaching. According the to the article Moore, R. (1992) the improvisation was
considered as one of the most important skills in wester Music up till around 1840 and suddenly
this took decline. The most popular musicians such as Peganini, Brahams, Chopin, Clara and
Robert Schuman, Medelssohn and most of the romantic musicians are phenomenal improvisers.
But somehow this was stopped being part of the classical training Moore, R. (1992). A limited
recognition was given to modern composers and who could improvise. but the 20th century main
education focus for musical creativity has been on the creation of musical products rather than
self-expression, through spontaneously created music. However improvisation continues to
dominate in the modern music genres such as Jazz, Blues, and Rock etc. The improvisation can
interpret as pre- compositional activity, rather than a form of music making in its own right.
However this has become a tradition in some of the styles such as blues, Jazz, Rock and few
selected folk styles that it has become a must for musician who tends to follow these styles to
learn how to improvise. The teachers who embrace improvisation as part of their teaching tools
usually harness a propulsive musical energy which helps to keep up with the other activities such
as improving the technique learning to read music etc. But to my empirical teaching experience
some teachers find this but daunting at the start. This has to do with their inability, or reluctance
to improvise. The creative work rapidly becomes second nature to a teacher and pupil alike. In
Specialist music lessons when they have limited time, the teachers often focus on music reading
the developing technique. But actually by having a quick improvisation during a lesson would
change the dynamic of the whole lesson.

Healy, D. J.(2014). Play It Again, Billy, but This Time with More Mistakes Divergent
Improvisation Activities for the Jazz Ensemble. Music Educators Journal, 100(3), 67-72.

Healy, D. J. (2014) journal revels phenomenal data about a trumpet student (Billy) felt anxious
when he was asked to improvise during the lesson. According to the article Billy was engaged
in the school band playing fun pieces and practicing 20 minutes a day for three years. But he
had no idea how to improvise or make up music and the most significantly there are few series of
questions emerged which seems interesting. According to the article student revels questions
such What do I play? What notes do I use? What if I hit wrong notes? Healy, D. J.
(2014)

This a clear example of a student who might feel anxious about getting in to a unknown area and
felt unsecure. But things stars changing when the teacher starts doing few call and response
activities and ideas such as letting the student feel more comfortable words such as play it again
with more mistakes this time which I felt intriguing for a student that eventually the student
feels relaxed and starts having fun with spontaneous music making.

How to link formal an informal learning

According to Green, L. (2005) article most of the countries are attempting to bridge the gap
between informal and formal learning. In general a student learns under adult supervision and
working to a curriculum is believed to be formal learning and when a student leans freely at
home mostly learning through aural and experimentation through the instrument is equally
believed to be beneficial for a childs musical progress. Furthermore Green, L. (2005) suggests
that they rely on musicality and feel rather than technique but in general this type of students
often struggles to adopt to the systematic learning, but in the other hand classical instrumental
lessons, the students are more discipline and listening and there is not much of room to get your
imaginary ideas and this could lead to more teacher narrated learning which student does not
have much room to bring up their own ideas. Green, L. (2005) suggests, it is very important to
bring these types of leaning, and this helps to merge childs creative concept along with the
structured leaning. As an example in music lessons usually for exams the students leaning scales
are the most boring part of their leaning Hallam, S. (2001), if they are working towards an exam
most of the them keep the scales till the very last moment since this area has been the most
uncreative, but very important technical aspect when learning music, and it is quite difficult to
think of music without scales this is like studying a map before paying, but in instrumental
lessons the students find very difficult to cope up with the repeated scales. In the other hand
improvisation is based on scales too but this seems to bring fun activity for the students to learn.
But how is this possible ? I feel it is actually improvising gives freedom for the students to play
through and get use to the sound of the scale and this actually will motivate students to play and
to realise the value in learning scales. Improvisation could be used as a tool to change the way
they think? Developing this skill will help the classical based students who are struggling to
understand the importance of leaning scales.

Comparison of classical musicians compared to pop culture ( Copied article just to get an idea)
Brain function of musicians and non-musician while improvisation.

Berkowitz, A. L.,& Ansari, D.(2010). Expertise-related deactivation of the right temporoparietal

junction during musical improvisation. Neuroimage, 49(1), 712-719.

Berkowitz, A. L., & Ansari, D. (2010), revels extremely valid data, about the function of the
brain between musicians and non-musicians. According to the document both similar number
was engaged in simple five note melodic improvisation with the given information. In this they
have explored the vivid brain changed occurred while using these patterns according to the
diagram below (Berkowitz and Ansari 2008). They found brain areas included activity in the
inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), rostral cingulate zone (RCZ) of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC),
and dorsal premotor cortex (DPMC) during both melodic and rhythmic free improvisations.

According to the above data Berkowitz, A. L., & Ansari, D. (2010), concludes that the non-
musician brains did not show a significant change comparing to the musicians. Moreover it
drives to a point that musicians sustained ability to focus and their goal driven attitude has helped
to change in brain activity. Furthermore this document investigates about western classically
trained musicians who have been studying music and this is not an activity are often exposed to.
I strongly feel this signifies that classical musicians could strongly contribute to the art of
improvisation of they were given room or access to main elements on how to improvise.

So much of technical content of the lessons can be covered without music that it actually makes
the whole process much easier. No music stands reading difficulties and difficult passages to get
in the way problems are isolated this does the teacher in moving around, being energetic and
watching all the pupils all the time.All together ( ABRSM publishing )

Classical vs pop
You can play most pop music with just a few months of training. You might need 30 years of
practice to do justice to the best classical music
https://www.quora.com/Is-classical-music-truly-superior-to-the-popular-mu...

the classical fan who considers pop music simple or shallow and the pop fan who considers
classical music boring or stuffy are suffering from the same disease Beckingham, C. (2009).

When we compare the difference between classical music and Pop or contemporary music as an
art there are clear evidence to distinguish among these two. Both ends hold strong ground and
there are strengths and weaknesses in both of these styles Beckingham, C. (2009). Some might
compare the playing abilities of Jimmy Hendrix and Franz Liszt and lyrical capabilities of Bob
Dylans lyrics and Mozart opera librettos and how Beatles were as much as ground breaking as
Beethoven. In this case the question is then why we still use classical teaching methods? Green,
L. (2006) suggests that by bringing in informal practices such as popular music culture to
national curriculum has lifted the positive effect in students learning abilities. Furthermore
Allsup, R. E. (2003) and there are findings of modern instrumental teaching practice actually
helps to build the creative aspect of childs learning which involves improvisation and
composing in instrumental lessons and this article suggests it is important to implement modern
approaches alongside with traditional training methods.

Moore, R. (1992). The decline of improvisation in Western art music: An interpretation of

change. International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, 61-84.

Davis, S. G., & Blair, D. V. (2011). Popular music in American teacher education: A glimpse into
a secondary methods course. International Journal of Music Education, 29(2), 124-140.

Limb, C. J., & Braun, A. R. (2008). Neural substrates of spontaneous musical performance: An
fMRI study of jazz improvisation. PLoS one, 3(2), e1679.

Salaman, W. (1994). The role of graded examinations in music. British Journal of Music
Education, 11(03), 209-221.

Cheung, J. (2004). Mapping music education research in Hong Kong. Psychology of Music,
32(3), 343-356.

Rae, G., & McCambridge, K. (2004). Correlates of performance anxiety in practical music
exams. Psychology of Music, 32(4), 432-439.

Beckingham, C. (2009). Moribund music: can classical music be saved?. Sussex Academic
Press.
Allsup, R. E. (2003). Mutual learning and democratic action in instrumental music education.
Journal of Research in Music Education, 51(1), 24-37.

Green, L. (2002). How popular musicians learn: A way ahead for music education. Ashgate
Publishing, Ltd.

Byo, S. J. (1999). Classroom teachers' and music specialists' perceived ability to implement the
national standards for music education. Journal of Research in Music Education, 47(2), 111-123.

Koutsoupidou, T. (2005). Improvisation in the English primary music classroom: Teachers

perceptions and practices. Music Education Research, 7(3), 363-381.

Hodges, D. A., & Nolker, D. B. (1992). The acquisition of music reading skills. Handbook of
research on music teaching and learning, 466-471.

Tennenhouse, L. (2009). The Importance of Feeling English: American Literature and the
British Diaspora, 1750-1850. Princeton University Press.

Kolb, B. M. (2005). Marketing for cultural organisations: new strategies for attracting
audiences to classical music, dance, museums, theatre & opera. Cengage Learning EMEA.

According to Green, L. (2006) there was not much room for modern styles such as jazz and folk
music compared to western classical before world war two especially in Europe, Australia.

Green, L. (2006). Popular music education in and for itself, and for othermusic: Current
research in the classroom. International journal of music education, 24(2), 101-118.

Moore, R. (1992). The decline of improvisation in Western art music: An interpretation of

change. International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, 61-84.

Davis, S. G., & Blair, D. V. (2011). Popular music in American teacher education: A glimpse into
a secondary methods course. International Journal of Music Education, 29(2), 124-140.
Limb, C. J., & Braun, A. R. (2008). Neural substrates of spontaneous musical performance: An
fMRI study of jazz improvisation. PLoS one, 3(2), e1679.

https://www.quora.com/Is-classical-music-truly-superior-to-the-popular-mu...

The article Byo, S. J. (1999) revels valid data about the non- specialist and specialist teachers
perceptions about improvisation during the survey conducted in Florida. Most of the specialist
music teachers agreed strongly on teaching students about improvisation, composing reading
music etc. but non specialist music teachers significantly voted against this and they showed
more interest in sharing the historical background and theory instead and the other specialist
music teachers believed strongly about developing childs practical aspect of leaning music .
These findings also suggest that the national authorities should consider hiring more specialised
music teachers and try to increase the time that child could interact with specialised music
teachers.

Byo, S. J. (1999). Classroom teachers' and music specialists' perceived ability to implement the
national standards for music education. Journal of Research in Music Education, 47(2), 111-123.

Composer rejects possible solutions until he/she finds one it seems to be the best for the
purpose while the improviser music accept the first solution that comes to hand Sloboda 1985.

Benefits of learning an instrument

There are findings to prove that learning an instrument help to enhance students IQ
( Intelligence quotient ) and enhance their academic subjects progress. This has been one of the
main reasons that parent s would want their kids to lean music Schellenberg, E. G. (2004). Apart
from children leaning how to read music and improving their technical capabilities to perform
composed pieces by distinguished musicians, there are also other aspects which seems important
worth investigating, such as developing their cognitive ability and engaging them in creative
activities such improvisation and composing. It is important to distinguish the difference between
these two elements of music making Koutsoupidou, T. (2005), since it tends to create confusion
among people. Sloboda, J. A. (1985) has distinguished the composer as someone who rejects the
ideas till he/she could find something that fits the composition, but the improviser is someone
who must accept the first musical response which derives at that moment. These explanations
seem appropriate and clear any confusion among readers about these two types of creative aspect
in music. The article Koutsoupidou, T. (2005) suggests that the teachers who are older with
higher qualification believes that improvisation gives positive effect to improve pupils cognitive
ability towards creativity and those who does not support this are often tends to be younger with
less teaching experience and less qualifications. Furthermore According to Koutsoupidou, T.
(2005) survey reveals the findings of teachers who use improvise in non- specialised MFL
lessons believes in the because of their training, part of national curriculum ( NC UK ), form
own initiative and part of the method and in the other side of teachers share their thoughts as this
reduces discipline , limited time, no benefits, unfamiliarity.

Moore, R. (1992).The decline of improvisation in Western art music: An interpretation of

change. International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, 61-84.

Western classical art improvisation history

Moore, R. (1992) findings divulge that the whole history of western music art it is unthinkable
that any of the compositions were initiated without improvisation. there are clear evidence to
prove even the 19 the century composers such as Brahms, Paganini, chopin, clara and Robert
Schumann, Mendelssohn,Hummel,Cramer, Ries, Spohr, Joachim, and Schubert are the well
renowned composers. furthermore Czerny ( well known among the pianist as who has published
technical development books for the piano) has published and book " Systematisches Anleitung
Zum Fantasiern auf dem Pianoforte ( 1829) and Kalkbrenner who published Traite' d' harmonie
du pianiste: pricipes rationnels de la modulation pour apprender a' preluder et a' improviser
( 1849) are one of the most detailed method books which is currently in use for formal teacher
training in universities. Furthermore this discloses the story of Franz Liszt's ( a virtuoso pianist
and composer during the romantic era) younger years, where he use to improviser and interpret
over well-known music pieces. Hence forth this document discusses about interviewing many
musicians concludes as Eastern musician or a flamenco or a jazz players has selected a skill
which could develop their techniques further, but the western ( Classical ) music education aims
to develop musicians to perform standard European repertory and other derivations. This
suggests that actually this limits their abilities to perform with the other musicians. according
Moore, R. (1992) prior 1790 it was a prestigious job for the musicians to work in courts or other
aristocratic enclaves in Europe. During the classical period it was a common practice that
musicians were invited or hired to perform at events by wealthy benefactors, who often had to
performed to please the hierarchies which had limited knowledge in music. due to considering
the fact that improvising is missing from the recent classical music leaning teaching methods it is
worth investigating the past history. Moore, R. (1992) revels valuable facts about the historical
changes over the past 150 years and speculated few strong arguments which could be the main
problem. by late 1820s and 30s (Romantic period ) a well renowned musicians who derived from
non-atomistic families such as List , Chopin and Beethoven composed music without being
influenced by the ruling families which funded the concerts or performances. However prior 19th
century it was a common practice that musicians who were hired to perform often had to play the
role of background or incidental music to support the social activity. This further suggests that it
is well known fact that Mozart is a master in improvising and interpreting music to fit according
to any audience as well as the present giants in improvising such as Louis Armstrong or Ravi
Shankar in the other cultures.
Musicians during 19th century often derived from poor families who are being removed from the
higher society. Debussy, Bathok, Schonberg (well renowned composers during this period ) had a
difficult early child hood life and had to struggle getting in to formal music training. Even with
lack of formal training in the art of music such as Mozart and List Schoenberg shared
improvisation ideas and manged to establish his own signature music ( Minimalistic and abstract
in nature). Even-though this could not be marketed among the community, which was heavily
influenced by classical music with consonant sounds and unfortunately his music with filled with
dissonance sounds which actually made a significant character during the period who exposed
people to another side of music. ( Cite ) the significance of his minimalistic style of music
creating triggers the idea of " there is no such note as wrong note" and improvisation gives
initiative to revival this logic. To my empirical knowledge I tend to believe that leaning to read
music ( Notation ) is the pedagogical tool and it is a common understating that there should be a
language which helps to teach and to understand better, such as English being the international
language, helps people to share their thoughts and ideas globally. Moore, R. (1992) revels that
findings of 19th century, due to gradual replacement of elite musicians (Patronage musicians)
gave access to middle class performers. The notation provided all the details to play a piece of
music such as notes, rhythm, tempo, articulation etc. which gives instructions to what the
composer intending. according to Moore, R. (1992) with the introduction to updated notation to
fit amateurs the composers decided to write down the improvised sections which existed in
classical culture such as cadeza's in order to avoid any improper performances. this drastically
declined the art of learning how to improvise in the western culture.Arguably in late 1780s The
composer and Keyboardist Domenico Corri was the first individual to publish complete music
score with properly written embellishments ( Ornaments) which restricted the improvising or
interpret the notation. There was a consistent need to educate public about classical music
specially in England, Germany and North America during the 19th century and they introduced
young peoples concerts ( types of educational concerts ) and England, United stated emphasised
on developing their aural ability by listening and the various children concerts such as
Priifungskonzert' (examination concert) were popular as the programs which ran during that time
to educate the middle class with proper music. Recently music pedagogical training is questioned
and Moore, R. (1992) revels that in "New Grove's Dictionary of music" questions where the
'education begins and indoctrination' ends.
Additionally this suggests that music education system should aim towards inheriting the modern
music to broaden the understanding of the young learner. And Moore, R. (1992) thinks the
reasons to teach classical music is to come with the equal terms in association with the
conservatory music and higher culture? Likewise Moore has mentioned about the recent
controversies around the Suzuki method which mainly adopted by piano and string players and
the students are required to develop their aural skill around classical music to make this
successful. and in this article there Moore quotes as "Suzuki methods, bring very young children
to play with remarkable precision, rely partly on sheer drill of the sort most characteristic to
training, but require them to expose to good music". but this good and bad music itself signifies
and always clashes of what is good and bad ? is there a way to distinguish between them both?
A possible reason to the dissidence of improvisation from western style?

improvisation is a language everybody understands Balliett 1977:13

Quote

I wonder whether the decline of improvisation in classical music shares

some things in common with the rise of the museum as a middle class pastime?
both demand reverential attitudes toward artifacts of the past. Just as
a moustache is not to be drawn on the Mona Lisa, so Mozart is not to be
embellished< (1989: personal communication). Moore, R. (1992)

lessons enhance IQ. Schellenberg, E. G. (2004). Music Psychological Science, 15(8), 511-514.

Koutsoupidou, T. (2005). Improvisation in the English primary music classroom: Teachers

perceptions and practices. Music Education Research, 7(3), 363-381.

Sloboda, J. A. (1985). The musical mind: The cognitive psychology of music. Oxford University
Press. Download from the site

Improvising in cooperates with playing by ear which could lead up to many benefits Varvarigou,
M. (2014).

Varvarigou, M. (2014). Play it by earteachers' responses to ear-playing tasks during one-to-

one instrumental lessons. Music Education Research, 16(4), 471-484.
What are the advantages of learning classical music?

Rationale

This whole process aim is to find the possibilities of adopting improvisation during classical
based specialised music lesson. This methodology in brief involves semi structured interviews
intervention and the questionnaire and writing the brief description about the lessons from the
teachers. This document covers the target year 10 groups of students who are involved in
instrumental lessons at the school. This involves academic and instrumental music teaching staff
at school. All teachers who are involved were given a presentation during the staff meeting
about the whole process.

This experiment took place in the geographical grounds of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in
a well-established and one of the leading schools in the city. This research follows a pattern of
quasi experimentation. However exploratory and explanatory studies led me to this survey and
correspondingly my 15 years of empirical experience being a music educator has directed me to
research. This is about adopting music improvisation during classical based specialised music
lessons. According to my hypothesis I feel there are not enough support being offered for
developing pupils creative thinking and improvisation (spontaneous music making) is widely
recognised as one of the most important aspects of getting the students engaged in creative
activity Balkin, A. (1990). This rational has influenced me to research before enforcing any
potential improvements within the department.

Methodology

This research in line with quasi experimentation which involves the teachers and the students
in a semi structured interview, a short intervention and a questionnaire. This whole process
involves 20 year 10 students, with mixed gender. These students are currently in the instrumental
scheme and learns various instruments, further more the hopefully around 16 teachers in the
department and academic Instrumental department are expected to join the semi structured
interview and around 8 teachers are expected to get involved in the intervention and writing an
feedback of the post lessons which they were involved in. the students will involve a short
questionnaire.

Teacher presentation

All the potential teachers were addressed during the department staff meeting. The whole process
was explained through a power point presentation. The overview of this covered the main
grounds such as the title and how it was correlated to current practice. This was made that there
are no and strings attached to this survey and the ethical procedures, and about the own choice
sing up and right to withdraw at any time. The general, teacher, pupil consent forms and with
further notes about this topic were distributed among teachers. During this meeting the teachers
were drown in to ideas such as evaluating the current teaching practice, the history of
improvising and how we this could be adopted to specialist teaching, the current exploratory and
explanatory studies about exams, and the concept behind using backing or jam tracks ( use of
technology) and so on. In general most of the teachers were engaged in the discussion and most
of the teachers providing their own hypothesis about this area of improvement and most of all the
teacher perceptions were intriguing and they were keen to find out about outcome of this
research. This below quote has helped immensely to narrate the discussion to the changed their
attitude towards teaching improvisation. Furthermore there were brief, discussion about few
exciting videos which was used during this presentation, however due to limited time frame this
was not fully discussed but the whole presentation was shared among the teacher via e mail.

Many people think of Jazz when the word improvisation is mentioned, but improvisation need
not have anything at all to do with Jazz. (ABRSM published, Music teachers companion by
Paul Harris and Richard Crozier, chapter 10)

Pilot semi structured interviews (teacher)

The pilot semi structured interview is conducted among two teachers in the department who will
most unlikely involved the intervention or the original interview, but this perceived me add few
more questions to my semi structured interview, from the teachers to include a question about
creativity in the interviews. This has helped me to integrate few ideas which was did not arise to
my cognitive knowledge. Although my aim is to not to cram the teachers and students with too
many questions since this would ultimately led to too much of data being collected.

Recruitment process

The specialist and non- specialist teachers were given full information and details during the
weekly department meeting and the teacher and pupil and general consent forms along with a
note about improvisation was handed over to the teachers, in order to make more coherent about
study area. The pupil and general consent forms were distributed to the target year group (year
10) through their specialist teacher. The general and parent consent forms were sent through
Head of Creative and performing arts via e mail. In response there were 10 teachers and 13
pupils agreed to take part in the whole process.

Labeling the teachers and Students

In order secure the anonymity of the people involved, the teachers were labeled as T1, T2 etc.
and the students as S1, S2etc.

Teacher Teaching Gender Student Instrument Gender

instrument

T1 Brass Female S1 Cello Female

T2 Singing Male S2 Guitar Male

T3 Double Bass Male S3 Piano Male

T4 Specialist Female S4 Guitar Male

T5 Non- specialist Male S5 Guitar Female

T6 Piano Female S6 Guitar Male

T7 Piano Male S7 Piano Male

T8 Non-Specialist Female S8 Guitar Male

T9 Non- specialist Female S9 Cello Female

T10 Cello Female S10 Guitar Male

S11 Flute Female

S12 Flute Female

S13 Trumpet Male

Number of student teacher involvement (gender difference )

14

12

10

8
Female
6 Male

0
Teachers Students

Research summary
Teacher /Students Interviews Intervention Student end questionnaire/
teacher feed back

Teacher student interview questions

The aim of the interview was to find out the teacher experience and qualifications, and to find
out their awareness about improvisation and primarily find out whether this topic is involved in
the current teaching practice. The semi structured interviews were conducted among 10
specialist and non-specialist music teachers at school. The interviews were held during their non-
contact and break times. Almost all the interviews took informal in nature in order to create calm
and relaxed atmosphere.
The student interviews were held during their specialist instrumental lesson times. Overall the
aim was to keep the research within specific year group, where in this case the Year 10 students
who currently attend instrumental lessons and those who have agreed to take part in this research
was only being involved. The students were boys and girls, who learn who are attending various
instrumental lessons such as Piano, Guitar (Classical, acoustic, Bass) Flute, Cello, Trumpet. The
aim of the interviews was to find out their

Teacher semi structured interview questions

Semi Structured interview

Teacher

1. Explain about your teaching background history Instrument, style of teaching etc..
2. How do you define improvisation?
3. Do you currently teach improvisation during lessons?
3a. If, yes why?
3b. If, No Why?
4. How do you feel teaching improvisations if you were given enough guidance?

Student

1. Explain a bit about your musical journey so far? Such as how long have you been
learning and your instrument and what style?
2. Explain the type of music do you listen to, at home during your free time? (Is there
certain genres that you prefer listening and why?)
3. What do you think or know about improvisation in music?
4. Do you know How to improvise? How do you feel about learning or further enhancing it
during your lessons ( Instrumental )

Intervention
The students were engaged in small technology led improvisation during a two specialist music
lessons (approximately 5 minutes from each lesson). This intervention was done through
backing/Jam tracks. The mp3 audio format, backing/Jam tracks from different genres, was
collected in to categorised folders. In general key was kept as A minor or C major, since this
works well for all the instruments. The music which was collected was saved in to the shared
drive and the link was sent to all the teachers who were involved in this. The plan was, during the
1st session the teachers help the students create various single note ( A note) rhythms over
various backing tracks. Throughout the 2nd session ( week 2) the students create music through
and comfortable scales such as A natural (A aeolian ), harmonic, C major ( C Ionian)
or A pentatonic scales. The plan was that teachers help students to improvise over backing tracks
and the teachers, to help them further establish this by encouraging them to use musical devices
such as motif, ostinati, sequence and imitation etc. The teachers were advised not to criticise
their creative ideas instead appreciate and suggest things for further improvement.

End of intervention student questionnaires.

Finally the students were requested to complete short questionnaire. Most of the questions were
structured through likert to make things more convenient and to saving apart from few that were
asking their own thoughts.

Student questionnaire

Student Questionnaire end of the survey

1. Did you enjoy leaning how to improvise sessions during the lessons?

5 4 3 2 1
Very Much Somewhat Undecided Not really Not at all

2. Are you happy with the way teacher helped you?

5 4 3 2 1
Very happy Somewhat Neutral Not very happy Not at all happy

3. Did backing tracks help you in any way?

5 4 3 2 1
Very Much Somewhat Undecided Not really Not at all
 4. Was this different to what you have been learning so far?

5 4 3 2 1
Very Much Somewhat Undecided Not really Not at all

5. Do you think this way of learning might harm your musical progress?

5 4 3 2 1
Very Much Somewhat Undecided Not really Not at all

6. Is this something that you could work out at home?

5 4 3 2 1
Always Somewhat Neutral Not really No

7. Was learning improvisation scary?

5 4 3 2 1
Very Much Somewhat Undecided Not really Not at all

8. What helped you in the lessons? ( Circle any that you think its relevant )

Rhythm, Notes, Backing track, teachers instructions, getting it wrong

Anything else

9. Do you think, this is something that you could further develop during the lessons?

5 4 3 2 1
Very Much Somewhat Undecided Not really Not at all

10. Write two things you liked learning how to improvise during lessons?

.
 11. Suggest what (If anything) could further develop this concept of learning how to
improvise during your instrumental lessons?

Thank you very much for participating in this survey your input is highly appreciated!!

Teacher feedback

Teachers were asked to provide an evaluation of the improvisation sessions. They were asked of
provide their own perceptions about the outcome of the lessons and provide any suggestions in
order to further develop implementing improvisation to their teaching.

Teacher/Student pilot semi structured interview

The pilot semi structured interview was held among a teacher who was not involved in this
survey. This helped to change the way few questions were presented and furthermore there was a
suggestion from the teacher about adding a question about creativity, which felt appropriate at
the time, and this was part of the original interviews, but was taken out from the main discussion
due to creativity itself is a big topic, so was actually drifting the discussion to different direction.

The student semi structured interview was held with the year 9 student, within a relaxed an
informal way and the student felt the questions were clear and appropriate.

Intervention Pilot lesson

A pilot improvising session was conducted during a flute lesson with a year 7 student, with a
casual and informal manner. The flute teacher has found this very intriguing, since the student
response was extremely positive and the backing tracks helping to set the mood of the music and
the student and the teacher is fascinated with this concept and expressed that this is something
new which they were not exposed before.
Field work

Semi structured interviews.

In this section the aim is to tackle each question separately and provide the concept on
developing these questions and to correlate all the answers.

Teacher interview

Question number 1

Explain about your teaching background history Instrument, style of teaching etc.

The main reason to present this question is to find out their teaching experience and their
strengths which might help the get the information about the strengths and their teaching style of
the department. This will help to get a pattern In general all the teachers are highly qualified
teaching/performing degrees and diplomas.

Teacher 1 (T1) Female

I generally teach mainly in the classical style.

She teach brass instruments such as Trumpet, Horn, Trombone Tuba etc. and has 22 years of
teaching experience in UK and abroad preparing students for ABRSM and Trinity music
practical exams up to diploma level the teaching style is classical. Apart from this she has lots of
experience working with different age groups.

Teacher 2 ( T2) Male

I am a great believer in old school bell canto style singing

He was a professional singer and entertainer and former music theatre and opera and has been
teaching full time around 5 years and he is runs creative workshops within and outside school. In
general his teaching is mixed with classical and popular music. He prefers Trinity music exams
over ABRSM. This is due to trinity providing more room for students to become creative such as
adding supporting tests such as improvisation and he believes that Trinity Rock and Pop Syllabus
is fantastic. He criticised ABRSM as being too classical and not whiling to adapt to the changes.

Teacher 3 (T3) Female

I have been teaching flute for over 30 years

She is the flute teacher and has over 30 years of teaching experience and she teach in classical
style and often prepare students for ABRSM music exams.

Teacher 4 (T4) Male

I try to be as creative as possible. Finding an individual need for each learner to develop that
skill to develop that ear and their musicality, musicianship I think it's one of the big things to
me.

He is primarily an organist and taught in many prestigious schools around the world and has
been teaching music for more than 20 years. He is currently teach non- specialist music teaching
and involved in to accompanying (Piano) and few instrumental teaching as well. He had learn
about improvising (Classical style) as a separate subject and suggests the music lessons should
be as creative as possible.

Teacher 5 (T5) Male

I am comfortable with any style of teaching

He has been teaching double/electric bass and guitar for around 8 years. He is into classical Pop
or Rock, Jazz teaching according to student requirements. Apart from teaching he is involve in
full time performing (Mainly Jazz ). He is comfortable with any style of teaching. He suggests
that teachers should be flexible in order to keep the students interested in learning an instrument.

Teacher 6 (T6) Female

I am coming from Ireland, where Irish folk music is very dominant. Almost in every household
Irish folk music, especially in the area I come from so I play inner pipe flute (penny flute) piano
accordion, in order to give structure to my music I travelled 60 miles for my piano lessons
She started music at a very young age and her main instrument is piano she has competed her
degree in music performance and a teaching diploma. Her experience in teaching piano expands
for more than around 20 years. Her style of teaching is classical and she believes that it is
important to train students for music exams in order to give structure. She prefers ABRSM music
exams.

Teacher 7 (T7) Male

My style of teaching is very traditional classical music

He is completed his masters in piano performance, where he studied in University of Florida. He
has been teaching piano for the past 16 years and in the style of traditional classical. He prepare
students for music exams (prefer ABRSM), concerts and competitions. Apart from teaching he is
predominantly involved in piano accompanying for exam students and teachers/ musicians.

Teacher 8 (T8) Female

I have been using traditional methods structure and syllabuses and that kind a thing before
moving to class room teaching.

She has been working as specialist flute teacher for around 20 years, but recently moved in to
Non- specialist (academic) music lessons. She believes in classical style of teaching. She
believes this helps to adapt to any teaching or learning environment quickly.

Teacher 9 (T9) Female

I very rarely use music scores I just bashing out chords accompanying kids in a very informal
scenario.

She is works as a non- specialist classroom teacher, and has been in the academic science for
more than 15 years. She is currently responsible in training GCSE and Advance level music
exams. Her main instrument is Cello, but comfortable with either playing the Piano or clarinet.
Her style of teaching is more creative based, which she strongly believes in.

Teacher 10 ( T10) Female

The individual teaching that I do which I have experience over the past ten years, that has
taught to really differentiate and develop different approaches according to the child's interest
and needs.
She is a specialist music teacher with over 10 years of teaching experience in this type of
teaching. Predominantly she teach cello and prefer classical teaching style. And believes that
one to one lessons help the students establish healthy technical habits in their instruments, and
prefer ABRSM music exams.

Overview

Most of the teachers are vastly experienced and qualified and has been in the teaching scene for a
long period of time. The teacher views and beliefs about their teaching styles and music exams
are different.

Teaching experience
Less than 10 years 2 teachers
More than 10 years 10 teachers
More than 20 years -4 teaches
 Teacher experience

less than 10
more than 10
more than 20

Teaching style

Purely Classical 5 teachers

Classical /contemporary-5 teachers

Teaching style

Purely classical
Classical/
contemporary

Teacher interview question no 2

How do you define improvisation?

Composer rejects possible solutions until he/she finds one it seems to be the best for the
purpose while the improviser music accept the first solution that comes to hand Sloboda 1985.
It was interesting to investigate teacher perception and thoughts of what this actually mean.

T1 For me it would be someone taking the sheet music away

T2 ;It's similar to improvisation in language some people don't realise is that every day of your
life you improvise. You're so to say hello how are you? So that's a question you have to improvise
an answer to it, and most people can do that. Furthermore T2 suggests that the above thinking
would help musicians to think freely. Also in music to improvise well you need to learn language
which of course involves learning scales learning notes learning patterns etc.

T3; Improvise is to be able to experiment and move around the instrument without having any
kind clue other than ' right we are playing notes along this scale' T3 believes that this is being
able to ad lib over music and to be able to make structure to some sort of structure.

T4; That thing ' there is no such thing called the wrong note is the hardest thing to teach
students. T4 shared extremely valuable thoughts, which helped to divert my perceptions to
different direction. He believes this is actually related to classical music such as cadenzas. He
thinks this I ability creative on the spot in the sprite of moment on their own or some definition
theories or chord structure. Hence this is beyond the parameter of creating music freely.

T5; It doesn't need to be jealous it's like a conversation . T 5 suggests that this is not
something to do with the right or wrong note, it is by the judge of the year.

T6; I guess my teaching piano is too restrictive and there isnt much innovation. T6 believes
this has something to do with innovation and express her concerns about music exam pieces not
allowing to interpret.

T7 ; It's something that is randomly on the spot, mainly using their ear and figure things out
without using the dots. T7 further suggests that the depth of the responses might vary according
to their experience, knowledge and harmony.

T8; You need a have a canvas to improvise. T8 suggest that this done on the spot either
planned or pre planned, on a basic frame work.

T9; It's in a way taking something completely classical and putting up to your own genre. T9
believes that this is something making up as you go along, but having boundaries and rules
would help to give structure to this.

T10; They daunt to experiment outside the box for the fear of getting it wrong. It's being free.
T10 believes that this Making stuff up! Making up melodies, making up riffs spontaneously, but
experimentation would actually help to understand the logic behind this.
Key ideas : Spontaneous music response , daunt to experiment, getting it wrong, Innovation ,
Taking the sheet music away.

Semi structured question no 3

Do you currently teach improvisation during lessons?

A. If, yes Why?, B. If, No Why?
T1. No, Due to lack of time , not part of the syllabus, students are getting scared, problems of
getting it wrong.
T2. Yes/ No. It is a brilliant way to free the kids, but this is a bit of tricky thing for singers. so
this is being done mainly for the students who require this.
T3. No. limited time, not part of the exams, not being brave enough.
T4. Yes. Building students cognitive musical understanding, it puts them in control, They enjoy
it, to know their technical limitations, develop the scales playing, develop aural skills by
listening, freeing students from being recoding mechanisms.
T5. Yes and No, yes to pop students because this is part of the syllabus, and they start listening
more, and their music becomes more colorful, they become musical rather than reading the
notes. Not for classical students due to exams restricts and limited time.
T6. NO. Limited time due to music exams, unsecure teaching area, might hinder music reading.
T7. No. Not having time to learn in order to teach, havent had the training in that way.
T8. Yes. During non-specialist lessons there are lots of activities relating to this. Being able to
describing something trough music and this develops their cognitive knowledge.

T9. Yes. This helps students to become more imaginative and creative during their non- specialist
music lesson time. Creating music purely by listening, there is no music reading barriers.
T10. No. Time limitations, this is not for everyone and requires skills.

Overview

In general there seems to be a pattern immerging from the Specialist and Non Specialist music
lessons. The obvious reasons for not teaching during the lessons are Time limitations and exams
restrictions ,and not the area of expertise. The reasons for teaching this was freeing students and
give opportunity to create and imagine.
 Currently teach improvisation

Yes
NO
Yes/No

Teacher interview question 4

How do you feel about teaching how to improvisation during lessons?
Overall 100% of the teachers agreed to teaching improvisation during the lessons. However there
were few suggestions below worth considering.

Having proper teaching materials in order asses their progress.

creating backing tracks with different genres to suit all the instruments
Creating backing/Jam tracks in different keys in order to explore the scales and modes.
Having a teacher manual for each improvisation (word format with details).
Guidance on introducing musical devices such as Ostinato, sequence, imitation, rhythm
patterns etc.

Semi structured interviews (students)

Student interview question 1

Explain a bit about your musical journey so far? Such as how long have you been learning and
your instrument and what style?
Student Instrument Number of Learning style Current
years learnt music grade
/Gender The above
Boy/Girl table of
S1 Cello 7 /Girl Classical Grade 7 students of year
S2 Guitar 5-6 /Boy Classical Grade 4 10 with
S3 Piano 5-6 /Boy Classical Grade 4 different
S4 Guitar 5/Boy Contemporary No exams leaning
S5 Guitar 5/Girl Contemporary No exams different
S6 Guitar 2/Boy Contemporary Grade 4 instruments and
S7 Piano 5-6/Boy Classical Grade 5 learning
S8 Guitar 7/Boy Classical Grade 6 experience
signifies that
S9 Cello 7/Boy Classical Grade 4
mostly the
S10 Guitar 6/Boy Classical Grade 4
classical style
S11 Flute 6/Girl Classical Grade 6
of learning is
S12 Flute 7/Girl Classical 1st Diploma
predominant
S13 Trumpet 6/Boy Classical Grade 6 and
significantly most of the students are boys.

Learing style

Classical
Contemporary

Student interview question no 2