Improvisation
A Pedagogical Method
for Teaching Greater
Expressivity and
Musicality in String
Playing
by Daniel Sabra How often do you hear your students comment on the richness of their musical
experiences? Does it seem as if there’s a constant struggle to get your students to
focus on and achieve their artistic and personal goals regarding musical expression?
Barry Green tells a story in his book, The Inner Game of Music, of a friend who,
following a performance, expressed experiencing emotions on a level previously
unknown in her playing. The secret to this newfound richness of expression was
improvisation.1
While performing a Bach cello suite for a modern dance class, Green’s friend
Liz was led by her emotions to improvise in the middle of her performance. This
experience of improvisational expression led her to have a deeper, more gratifying
connection with the music than she had previously experienced performing printed
music.2
The concept of experiencing deeper musical expressivity through improvisation
begs consideration as a method for personal artistic discovery. The implementation
of improvisation into your lesson pedagogy can act as a teaching tool to aid the
discovery of the artistic voice in each student and work to teach the musical lexicon
requisite for informed music making.
Beginning Problems, Time Problems
One of the problems string teachers may face when teaching new students is that
the beginner string player often lacks control over his or her instrument and the
knowledge base of the musical language they need to perform musically. Ultimately,
many teachers may feel that a student with a loose grasp of technical skills and a
robotic aping musical regurgitation of “half-right” pitches and rhythms is the best
they can hope for. This may lead to directionless performances lacking vitality and
artistic expressivity, eliciting applause more for the cuteness of the child, than for the
luster of the music produced.
Teachers are often led by method books, tradition or the pressure of upcoming
concerts to have a heavy focus on correct pitches and rhythms in their lessons to
“get us through” the next concert. Yet, if we as teachers achieve our short-term
38 | American String Teacher | May 2015
goals by getting the students to mime music that is in-tune and They develop, or are influenced by their teachers and colleagues to
in-time but doesn’t have expressive qualities, then those goals develop, a greed for superficial technical achievement.”5 Students
don’t necessarily have the student’s best interest at heart. There who overly focus on technical ability can “lose their healthy
is a wealth of musicality that goes beyond correct pitches and motivation toward the integration of their craft with their art.”6
rhythms. It is worth exploring with our students from the earliest Striving for security and approbation through the acquisition
lessons. of technical skill in music can lead students to “ultimately…
Research into student dropout rates has shown that the find a wedge pushed between their feeling for the musical mood
majority of young people pursuing music lessons eventually give of a piece of music and the translation of it into sound via the
up music altogether.3 By introducing elements of creativity and [instrument].”7
personal expressivity in lessons early on, we may see students stay
in music lessons for longer than appropriate periods. No student Exploration and Experimentation: The Precedent with
stays in lessons forever, nor should they. But by introducing the Acquisition of Lingual Skills
joys of personal expression, students may go on to experience rich Musical improvisation, much like the acquisition of lingual
lifelong relationships with music as an important part of their skills, allows a student to experiment, create, express themselves,
life. A rigid focus on technical elements of music may leave the and gain control of the elements of their instrument of
vitality and artistic expression of the student underemphasized. communication. Much research has been done on how children
Musicality beyond mastery of pitches and rhythms provides learn spoken languages. Upon comparison, there is a strikingly
students with the opportunity to discover their self artistically, high similarity between how children learn spoken languages and
and interpret and understand the artistic value of music of the how they learn musical languages. C. Gordon Wells says:
great performers and composers. Children produce what appear to be random vocalizations and
Overemphasis on correct notes and rhythms can be babbling before they begin to produce gestures and recognizable
tantamount to teaching the alphabet of a foreign language to words; two-word utterances occur before two-clause utterances;
young students. Allowing students to learn and play with the direct imperative requests in all situations precede the appropriate
language of music, much like a child learning their first language, matching of the various forms of indirect request to the particular
can develop growth through exploration and experimentation, status of the person addressed.8
which can lead to greater expressivity and command of the
musical lexicon that exists around them. Even if a student attains This is reminiscent of the tiers of progress a beginner
complete mastery of technique, the student may live their entire musician goes through when acquiring control over musical
lives having had no practice in expressing themselves through sounds. The same process of exploration with simple musical
their technique, leaving their performances less vital and dynamic elements can be built upon through an improvisation element in
than they should be and leaving the potential of that student each lesson to teach the expressive elements of music making.
unreached. Implementing improvisation into your lessons can put an
emphasis on personal expressivity and artistry from the earliest
Attitude Problems and Losing Vision of Musicality beginnings of the student’s musical journey. Rather than pursuing
Overemphasis on technique-based achievement can poison a technique for the sake of technique, a guided implementation to
student’s attitude and cast a pall on their musical experiences. In improvisation can allow students to learn to control the elements
his book Cello, famed string pedagogue and performer William of music with artistry. Expressivity and control of musical
Pleeth addresses this as one of the two common attitudinal elements are valuable skills not only in improvised music, but also
problems he sees in music students. Pleeth describes the endeavor in the interpretations of written music.
for technique-at-all-costs as a Sisyphean striving for safety and a
fear-driven repulsion for human error. He writes: Improvisation in the Private Lesson and Suggested Methods
Over the years I have heard many players with good run-around for Implementation
techniques still grinding away on a mechanical practising (sic) of Teachers can shift their students’ focus away from nonmusical
the basics of technique, and I often ask myself what the driving obsessions to musical expressivity by using improvisational
force behind this kind of practicing (sic) is. Is it fear that as a exercises tailored to techniques the student is working on at the
human being one might make a mistake? A fanatical search moment. For instance, a beginner student of mine is struggling
for security? If it is, then it is looking for security that does not in one of her pieces with a particularly quick string change
exist within the context of the human being. And while one is from the open A string to the third-finger G on the D string.
searching for that pot-of-gold-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow, one is In our lessons, we’ve explored free improvisation using only
destroying one’s whole musical sensitivity and one's link between those two notes. Accompanying her on guitar, I observed my
physical action and musical expression—and thereby one’s best student improvise a fun and jaunty two-pitch solo in a tonal
means of being relatively secure.4 approximation of A Dorian. Unbeknownst to her, the improvised
exercise acted as a technical etude with a primary focus on
Pleeth describes the second attitudinal problem that often expressivity. Later, when the tricky section arrived, my student
plagues students as overly pursuing approbation from his teacher played it much better, both technically and expressively.
and seeking to be perceived as “better” than other musicians the Another problem addressed in our lesson was my
student views as competitors. Pleeth writes, “Students often set student’s struggle with maintaining double-stops evenly. As an
off on this wrong path because they are searching for the most improvisational experiment, I had her play a long-tone, open-
apparent and immediate type of success in technical progress. string double-stop solo. With a time frame of four minutes,
www.astastrings.org | 39
my student explored the sonorities of all combinations of open Progressive Expansion
string double-stops. During her solo, I gave prompts to pursue Once students progress on making melodies, you may expand
other musical elements such as dynamic contrast and phrasing. their improvisational parameters by suggesting repeating rhythms
My student became immensely engrossed in her solo, gaining for their solos, particularly rhythms that are common in the pieces
more facility and control in her double-stops, expressing musical they are working on. I usually start out with a four-beat measure
gestures with artistry. of half-note, quarter-note, quarter-note or some like figure,
One method for incorporating improvisation into your having the student use the same pentatonic tetrachords they have
lessons could be to start students out with accompanied been improvising with for several weeks as their pitch parameter.
improvisations that are totally free on the student’s part. Allow This begins the process of decision-making regarding pitch while
them to explore the instrument, even if the results are nonsensical controlling for the constant of rhythm. This is essentially the
or sound bad to your ear. Exploration is an important first step in pedagogical approach for improvisation that can be built upon
capturing their imaginations and discovering means for musical and expanded as the student grows and learns more of the musical
communication, as John Kratus writes: lexicon. Take one idea as a constant and add additional musical
parameters. Build on those parameters in a progressive manner as
Exploration is analogous to verbal babble in young children.
the student gains more facility in expressivity and command of
In both exploration and verbal babble, the child is trying out
the musical language, applying the newfound expressivity to their
sounds with little control over the sounds created. In both cases
repertoire.
the sounds may appear to be random and without meaning. But
At some point, some of the student’s compositions will have
the exploratory process is a necessary one in music learning as well
good musical and expressive qualities to them. You may record
as in verbal learning. In verbal babbling, children begin to create
student’s improvisations with a computer and play them back to
and control phonemes, which are the basic building blocks of
the student, having them listen and discuss what was musical and
verbal sound production.9
effective and what didn’t work as well.
This expanded approach can be tailored to any student’s
If your students are advanced enough, you can suggest a key area
specific needs. For example, if you are working on articulations
for them to play in, or a series of open strings if they are absolute
with your student, you could assign a limited pitch set and
beginners. (Incidentally, simple improvisation parameters such as
suggest that one note always be played with an accent. This will
soloing using only open strings can be extraordinarily challenging
teach an expressive use for accents, as well as develop the student’s
and rewarding for advanced students.) Narrow parameters can
technical ability to perform the articulation. It is important to
help engage reluctant students who may be overwhelmed by
prioritize in your mind and in the student’s mind that expressivity
infinite options. Allow students to explore sounds on their own
and musicality should take precedence over technical ability.
terms. Use free improvisations as an examination of their sense of
At first, let your students explore the sonority and techniques
rhythm, melody and control of their instruments. Spend as many
of an articulation (or whatever technique you choose to focus on
lessons as you wish with free improvisation, using it as a mental
for that student) and once they’ve improvised with proficient use
and physical warm-up, beginning your music making with artistic
of the chosen skill, move on to dynamism and emotional pathos
expression on the part of the student.
in that skill, seeking how many different ways one can produce
Again, Pleeth advocates for free improvisation as a warm-up
and attribute expression to that technique.
technique for the professional and for the novice. He writes:
How many different ways can they play that technique?
The greatest value of this kind of warm-up is not only that your
What if they pair that articulation with a dynamic? Improvise
physical [aspect of playing] will warm up faster, but that your
techniques that are used in their solo repertoire and have
mind and musical sensitivity will not be shoved off into an
them listen to great musicians for examples of different ways
isolated corner. Even five minutes with free play of fantasy will
the technique can be performed. Consequently have students
help you warm up the whole person, not just the fingers and will
see if they can imbue the chosen technique with the same
bring all aspects of playing into touch with one another. Why
emotional qualities they heard in the musical examples. Once
should we shut out the musical mind and heart at any point along
single articulations are expressive, expand their command of
the way? They have to be harnessed to the physical action at some
technique and expressivity by soloing that single articulation
time, so why not from the very start?10
on a different note every measure. Expand the technique out
Indeed, it is paramount that musical expressivity must be
to multiple articulations or dynamics. Marry articulations to
stressed from the start of a student’s career and improvisation
different dynamics, so that on one pass the student plays an
is a fantastic tool for discovering the expressive impulse. After a
accent pianissimo and the next pass fortissimo. Expand the
few weeks, you may begin introducing more musical parameters,
improvisational language to encompass all time signatures and
such as providing a cell of pitch material from which they can
key areas. Have students solo in compound and asymmetrical
reference. Using a pentatonic tetrachord, in a key that is easy
meters, and use diatonic and synthetic modes.
for your students to play, such as D major, allows for melodic
Continue adding layers of parameters to increase difficulty
ingenuity and wide accompaniment options on the teacher’s part.
and expand expressive and technical skills. A tetrachord can be
One may also choose to select the pitches the student has learned
expanded out to a pentachord and eventually a one or more
so far and is comfortable with. Improvising on these notes helps
octave scale. A measure-long rhythm can be expanded out to a
reinforce their note learning at an early stage. Accompaniment on
two and then four-bar phrase, even out to the period. Command
your part can be broad since the student’s pitch material is limited
of single meters can be expanded to alternate between changing
and key areas of B minor, D major, G major and E minor all
meters. The number of processes applied can be added onto and
compliment a D pentatonic tetrachord well.
40 | American String Teacher | May 2015
multiplied as the student gains more and more musical control. Endnotes
1 Barry Green and W. Timothy Gallwey, The Inner Game of Music (Garden City, NY:
If the student has good control of articulation, can they play Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1986), 207–8.
that articulation with a pianissimo dynamic? Can they play it 2 Ibid.
3 Sidney J. Lawrence and Nadia Dachinger, “Factors Relating to Carryover of Music
fortissimo? Can they alternate between the two extremes? And Training into Adult Life,” Journal of Research in Music Education 15, no. 1 (April 1,
can they place it on the first and fourth beats two measures apart? 1967): 23–31; Eugenia Costa-Giomi, Patricia J. Flowers, and Wakaha Sasaki, “Piano
Seek ways to limit, pinpoint and combine different elements of Lessons of Beginning Students Who Persist or Drop Out: Teacher Behavior, Student
Behavior, and Lesson Progress,” Journal of Research in Music Education 53, no. 3 (Fall
musical language in their improvisations. 2005): 234–247.
As a teacher, use your knowledge to expand the musical and 4 William Pleeth, Cello, ed. Nona Pyron, Yehudi Menuhin Music Guides (New York, NY:
Schirmer Books, 1983), 13.
expressive vocabulary of every student from the earliest point 5 Ibid.
possible. Can the student play a period, starting their second 6 Ibid. 14.
7 Ibid.
phrase with first the measure they used in the first phrase? Using 8 C. Gordon Wells, The Meaning Makers: Learning to Talk and Talking to Learn, 2nd ed.
formal repetition can build your student’s ability to remember (Buffalo, NY: Multilingual Matters, 2009), 21.
ideas they came up with and reference them later in their solos. 9 John Kratus, “A Developmental Approach to Teaching Music Improvisation,” International
Journal of Music Education 26, no. 1 (November 1, 1995): 31.
Suggest an A and B alternation, then AABA, and so forth. See if 10 Pleeth, Cello, 10.
you can have students improvise themes and variations on their 11 Green, The Inner Game of Music, 124.
melodies or a given theme from the repertoire. Always preface
and follow up all improvisations your students make with musical
guidance and coaching about whatever specific musical element
you are focusing on at the time.
Conclusion
The implementation of improvisation technique into your lesson
plans can create and facilitate expressivity and artistic vision
in your students from the earliest stages, exposing them to the
language of music through experimentation much like an infant
learns spoken language. Improvisation can bring vitality and
expressivity into the lexicon of the student musician and shift
their focus away from poisonous attitudes that focus solely on
technical acumen, bringing into view the musicality, expressivity
and dynamism of whatever music they are currently playing.
Barry Green wrote, “When the music really comes alive, it
means the performers have put themselves at risk, and to risk
an interpretation, to risk exposing yourself to the music, means
confronting the risk of failure.”11 Improvisation as a pedagogical
tool can make every lesson and practice session a time of
exploration of the richness and fullness of artistic expression,
opening up deeper worlds of emotion, personal musicality and
creativity in the lives of our students. Teaching our students
to embrace the vulnerability and excitement of improvisation
can open doors to deep personal expression in their music and
enliven the playing of future generations with musical spirits
that communicate rather than hide, young minds that seek
expressivity rather than the safety of technique, hearts that display
artistry rather than competition, and experiences that leave the
musical lives of our students more whole, healthy and vibrant.
Daniel Sabra is a graduate of the University of
Nebraska at Omaha, with a bachelor’s degree in
violin performance and music composition and is
currently pursuing a master’s degree in music
composition. Sabra, a multi-instrumentalist, has
been teaching private students for more than a
decade in violin, viola, guitar, harmonica and
mandolin. He has performed in many classical
ensembles, string quartets and orchestras, as well
as working in popular fields of music as a songwriter, string arranger
and fiddler. One of the highlights of his violin career was playing with
the band Kansas in 2013. Sabra has an avid fascination with improvi-
sation and has started his own improvisatory group Colloquy, which
performed in the Under The Radar new music festival in 2014.
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