improv for beginners
Using MAC with F1 Students
MAC aka Music and Creativity PRogram: I love the extra projects and also Neils’s videos and seems there is a lot that is not part of F1 in MAC. Wondering if it woudl be a consideration to use MAC as a start to lessons (instead…
Remembering Compositions
Below is an email from a parent. Any advice on strategies I could suggest? This student has been with me for about 6 months. He is in first grade and is moving through Foundation pieces at a just-under-average pace. I have noticed memory is an…
Importance of Improvisation
Visiting a teacher’s lesson recently, Neil Moore was asked by one of the students, to say more about the importance of improvisation. Here’s his response. Importance of Improvisation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgLauBzhxTc&list=PL3o0aF_9qHn4F2sy8QRuPb_jf_r4D9823&index=13 Original video posted May 11, 2020
Improv vs. Comp in Tune Toolkit
When you teach projects from Tune Toolkit, are you assigning them as improv projects or composition projects? Do you have the students come back and play something or report on what they did? How do you keep accountability that they are trying the projects? In…
MAC Soundtracks
I would love to start a conversation about how we might use the MAC soundtracks with our students. Some of the tracks might need some more background or learning to understand their use, but I think others could be used by most of our students…
MAC Soundtracks
I can’t wait to use the MAC soundtracks in my own studio. Has anyone already tried this? What ages of children are able to hear the beat within the soundtrack, and match their own playing? What tips do you have in coaching children to be…
3-Note Improv
Is the idea with the 3-note comp/improv exercise that the students are to play three consecutive white notes in the RH or can they be any three notes, black or white? I get them to pick any 3 white notes without telling them about the…
Teaching Capitals & Periods Early
Successful new idea I hit upon with a new group. These are kids on the young side, 6-7. I ended up teaching them just the Capitals & Periods from the Pause Button (Tune Toolkit Project 2) prior to teaching them the rest of that project,…
Improv duet ideas
Improv duet ideas (student/teacher): 3-note improv with any blues song (G-A-Bb, G-Bb-C, C-Eb-F). Choose any of these combinations for the student to improv on while you play a blues song. 5/5, 1 on A with Night Storm Accompaniment arrangement 5/5, 1 on C with Dreams…