After a relaxing breakfast on the enclosed front porch,
we began our final day of the retreat by discussing skills and mediums for improvisation and Edwin E. Gordon’s thoughts on teaching vs. learning improvisational skills. We once again divvied out chording and/or ear training resources to examine and share what we learned. These resources included everything from Lowe’s Keyboard Games and Music Moves Method books for young beginners to the Tonic Game cards (improvisational activities) to instruction books on how to play chord symbols in jazz and pop music (how to use a fake book) to college textbooks about multi-disciplinary ear training. So many books, so little time…
Speaking of books, we took turns reading aloud an excerpt from Brenda Ueland’s If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit, published in 1938. Now I want to read the rest of the book.
It was all so much fun, but we did have to wrap things up so we spent the last hour reflecting on what it means to be an artist, on what potential problems being a student/musician without experiencing creativity/improvisation might be and pondering the following questions:
what if our students could create and improvise regularly and freely?
how would that impact them as musicians and human beings?
Some takeaways:
I am excited about exploring the thoughts of the writers who are new to me and implementing their ideas with my own students. In other words, I have some book reading to delve into. Ah, so many books…
I think the thing that surprised me the most was just how many materials are already on the market that address the needs of pianists wanting to embrace their own creativity, to become more skillful at improvising, and to venture into the world of composing. A very delightful surprise, indeed.
As I get my hands on some of these books and materials, I will definitely be looking for opportunities to share what I’ve learned, whether in the form of games, activities, or choosing just the right music for helping my students discover and express the creative spark hiding within, and in so doing, spreading the gift of music.
