Fun with ImprovisationKaren Frost, Junior Education, July 2006
'Music in a box' is a new publication encouraging children to create music in a new and exciting way. Without the need for books or music stands the colourful cards and games are used as a source of inspiration for creating your own notes, melodies and sounds. Karen Frost, leading a trial project for Cornwall Music Service, briefly outlines some of the teachers' experiences while incorporating the creative and improvisational activities into group teaching.
Being involved in education and teaching music in particular means that life is never dull! After 20 years experience as a string teacher, I am still discovering new approaches to motivate children and ‘Music in a Box’ is definitely going to be a hit. The whole thing started last October when I received an email from Sarah Stiles, the creator of the publication, asking me if I would be interested in being part of a new improvisation project. Straight away I called in to see my Head of Service (John Harries) who gave the whole-hearted response I had anticipated, “Yes Karen, you go for it, let me know if I can be of any help”. So, having been given the green light, I was off! Four of my colleagues, Hilary Littlewood, Phil Montgomery-Smith, Christine Judge and Olivia Loewendahl, volunteered along with myself to take part in this trial incorporating ‘Music in a Box’ into our normal teaching activities.
Pictures, words and music
‘Music in a box’ is a set of creative picture, music and word cards, two instruction sheets giving ten suggested games to get you started and a box to cut out and assemble. There are colourful blobs, wavy lines, small ink spatters, ascending blocks and mysterious, atmospheric shapes all immediately conjuring up the most wonderful notes and sounds in the imagination. Word such as HIGH, LOW, LONG, 2 NOTES, SHORT, STOP and START can be used to shape the music and in some games, such as Traffic Lights, to give instructions to other players. For children who read music there is a simple single bar melody on each music card which can be played by any instrument (and in any order) as a 16 bar melody or used to make mini duets, trios or quartets. Because the cards can be placed two ways up it also creates extra melodic possibilities.
Individual, group and class teaching
I was excited when Sarah mailed to say ‘Music in a Box’ was ready and after downloading and printing onto the strongest card we could put into our printer I sat down with my scissors to assemble my box and cut out the cards. My colleagues and I each made our own choices as to how we would use Music in a Box. Between us we have been using the cards in a variety of situations, from individual to small group, violin or cello lessons (both primary and secondary) whole primary music classes and a recorder group. My particular experience has been with a group of Year 5 children from Mount Charles Primary school, near St.Austell in Cornwall incorporating it into their weekly lessons. The initial response from the children was so enthusiastic that after the first week we decided to extend their lesson into the lunch break to allow extra time to play the games and use the cards.
The first lesson
The first lesson of the new spring term: the children arrive and only two out of the five children have remembered their violins. I explain to the children that we are taking part in a special creative music trial; armed with safe scissors and some magic tape we cut out and assemble our Music in a Box sets. Working as a group this didn’t take as long as I anticipated, about 10-15 minutes to put together one set. The children enjoyed cutting out the cards and were already coming up with ideas and suggestions on how to use them.
A firm favourite!
We decided to start with the game Guess What? All the picture cards are laid out so everyone can see them. One player chooses a card without saying which one and interprets the card in their own individual way. The others have to guess which card is being played. This is a good game to start with if children have had little or no experience of improvising before. Sitting in a circle we talked about the different ways we could make sounds on our instruments and how we could be involved if we didn’t have an instrument. We played the game using voices, body percussion as well as the two violins. It’s also particularly good for children who cannot read yet. Since that first week my pupils have never forgotten their instruments and it has become a firm favourite with them. My colleagues concur that this game is the one they have got better at, gradually becoming more inventive and adventurous. Much lively discussion follows and be warned, they want to “play” it again and again!
Mixed instruments and voice
Traffic Lights was trialled by my colleague Hilary with a group of 14 pupils. In this game one player holds up a combination of cards to the other players encouraging them to play in a certain way - not forgetting the STOP! and START cards of course. The other players do their best to follow the instructions and play what is on the cards. Incorporating a clarinet, recorders, violins, pitched and unpitched percussion, the class was divided into 2 groups, each group with a leader. There was a surprising amount of watching and listening and the results produced were sensitive performances. The familiarity of the cards (through previous games, responding with vocal as well as instrumental sounds) had also been beneficial.
Gives children confidence to try things out
Music in a box encourages and helps children to think creatively, it gives them confidence to try things out without fear of being wrong and helps them to acquire skills whilst using their imaginations. I am always surprised and amazed by what children can achieve at an early stage if given the right environment and opportunity.
Our overall impressions
Wholly positive. Music in a box is a great resource for teachers and fun for the pupils.
Very good for mixed ability groups.
The picture cards can easily be used in the classroom and by pupils who are not instrumentalists.
Good to use with larger groups – the larger scale cards available to teachers are particularly good for this.
The music cards are great for sight-reading (breaking it down into ‘bite-sized’ pieces).
Allows the children to work together and independently from the teacher.
An effective stimulus for improvising, composing and encouraging children to produce innovative sounds with their bodies as well as instruments.
Has helped us to think about how children learn (we’ve really seen a different side to some of our pupils).
We shall continue to include Music in a Box in our lesson planning. There are many activities with the cards waiting to be discovered, probably by the children themselves. The children are definitely hooked!
My thanks to the staff of Cornwall Music Service, to Sarah for all her tips and advice along the way and to the many delightful and enthusiastic Cornish children who have been helping us with this pilot.
Karen Frost, string team leader for Cornwall Music Service. Junior Education, July 2006