SPONTANEOUS MUSIC MAKING IN
THE GENERAL MUSIC CLASSROOM
Martina Vasil, doctoral student
West Virginia University
mvasil@mix.wvu.edu
Mountain Lake Colloquium 2013
Overly rigid and
sequenced instruction
can have a negative
impact on learning
(Benedict, 2009)
• Children’s musical cultures are unique
• Children may react in various ways to musical stimuli
• Honoring and using children’s perspectives of music, “this
is the root from which all later musicality can grow and
flourish” (Moorhead & Pond, 1941)
• Imperative to music teacher education
So…how DO children make music?
Jackson Pollock, Lavender Mist: Number 1, 1950. Oil on canvas,
Oil, enamel, and aluminum on canvas; National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C.
Creative music making
• Investing objects with a new form;
creating rather than imitating
(Merriam-Webster, 2012)
Improvised music making
• Composing, reciting, arranging,
making, or playing impromptu
(Merriam-Webster, 2012)
• An improvised response “puts the
full responsibility for the music
being made on the person/s making
it, and for the entire duration of its
making” (Curran, 2006, p. 483)
Spontaneous music making
• Voluntary or involuntary actions or
movements (Merriam-Webster, 2012)
• Natural impulses, physical/emotive
responses to music (Bereson, 2005)
Responses that
are not teacherdirected
Which one are YOU doing?
1. Creative
2. Improvised
3. Spontaneous
"Musiciens aux masques” by Pablo Picasso
1921, oil on canvas. New York, NY.
The Museum of Modern Art
Spontaneous music making
• How would children engage
in spontaneous music making?
• How would the teacher respond
to children’s spontaneous music
making?
How did children
spontaneously make music?
• Rhythmic responses
Raindrops, raindrops, fall-ing down
Rain on the green grass
Rain on the trees
Rain on the rooftops
But not on me
“Old King Glory”
• Vocalizations (sung words, solfège patterns, spoken
dialogue)
“Rain
coming
down from the
clouds”
“Sol mi sol mi do”
“Hmmmm hmm hmmmm”
• Spoken Responses
“I’m listening for the beat”
“Play it again!”
“That’s a hard rain”
“Nice to meet you”
“Hi, how are you?”
“Hello! Hello!”
• Rhythmic movement
• Exploratory movement
• Pretending
• Modifying
• Props
Teacher response to spontaneity
Ask for
ideas
Teacher as
facilitator
Student
cues
ENCOURAGING
Student
choice
Active
learning
Safe
environment
How can this help?
Develop
new ideas
for
classroom
experiences
Incorporate
student
interests
and skills
Use spontaneity
to:
Understand
how
children
learn music
Promote
student
ideas
Understand
how
children
learn music
Incorporate
student
interests
and skills
Develop
new ideas
for
classroom
experiences
Promote
student
ideas
• Rhythmically
• Rhythm vs beat
• Ostinatos
• Vocalizations
• Invent songs
• Experiment with solfège patterns
• Choose a melody to hum while lining up for class
• Spoken responses
• Students have time to discuss what they hear
• Time for improvised dialogue and interaction with
stimuli
• Rhythmic movement
• Encourage rhythmic movement during imaginative
play
• New ways to do rhythmic patterns
• Exploratory movement
• Play with props
• Free movement to music
How understanding spontaneity can benefit
music teacher education programs
• Contribute to the literature
• Improve preservice music teacher preparation
• Spontaneous music making can provide clues for the next
steps in instruction
• Spontaneous music making can provide exciting
variations to lesson plans
• Encouraging student ideas + offering students choices=
•
•
•
•
•
safe environment
Flexibility is necessary
Use varied stimuli
High energy and special needs children may display more
spontaneity
Be more inclusive of students with lots of spontaneity
Spontaneity (or lack of) does not impact musicality