Music Educators Journal 2014

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http://mej.sagepub.com/content/100/3/67The online version of this article can be found at:

DOI: 10.1177/0027432113514449

2014 100: 67Music Educators Journal

Daniel J. HealyJazz Ensemble

Play It Again, Billy, but This Time with More Mistakes'': Divergent Improvisation Activities for the

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by Daniel J. Healy

Copyright © 2014 National Association

for Music Education

DOI: 10.1177/0027432113514449

http://mej.sagepub.com

www.nafme.org 67

Your jazz ensemble

can learn musical

risk-taking and

develop greater

musicality if you

model some

simple techniques

and a supportiveattitude toward

experimentation.

Daniel J. Healy is a doctoral student at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He can be contacted at danielhealy2011@

northwestern.edu.

“Play It Again, Billy,but This Time withMore Mistakes”

Divergent Improvisation

Activities for theJazz Ensemble

Abstract: The jazz ensemble represents an important performance opportunity in many schoolmusic programs. Due to the cultural history of jazz as an improvisatory art form, school jazzensemble directors must address methods of teaching improvisation concepts to young students.Progress has been made in the field of prescribed improvisation activities and materials that use

scales, arpeggios, and chord changes as bases for learning concepts. However, less effort hasbeen devoted to creative improvisation, such as experimentation, personal discovery, and listen-ing. This article describes benefits of devoting teaching time to such concepts and outlines threeeasy warm-ups: melodic variation, free improvisation, and limited-note exercises, all of whichcan be taught to young jazz ensembles along with harmonic and theory-based methods.

Keywords: creativity, improvisation, jazz, junior high, middle school, mistake, variation

As the school day school ends, Billy grabs

his trumpet case and heads off to jazz band.

On this particular afternoon, he walks with

an extra spring in his step because he was

the only sixth grader who made it into the seventh- and eighth-grade jazz band. After

arriving in the band room, Billy puts his

trumpet together and begins to warm up.

Mr. Heckinger, the jazz band director,

strolls in and tells the students to prepare

for their improvisation warm-up. “Improvi-

sation—what’s that?” Billy asks Stephanie,

the eighth grader next to him. “It’s kind of

when you make up the music as you go,”

says Stephanie.

Beads of sweat begin to form on Billy’s fore-

head. He had spent three years in band playing fun band pieces and practicing twenty min-

utes a day, but he has no idea how to make up

music on the spot. Anxious questions begin to

form in Billy’s mind: “What do I play?” “What

notes do I use?” “What if I hit wrong notes?”

He is almost in a complete state of panic when

Mr. Heckinger takes out his saxophone and

at NORTHWESTERN UNIV LIBRARY on March 29, 2014mej.sagepub.comDownloaded from







Music Educators Journal March 201468

plays a simple riff-based blues melody. He

plays each riff, one at a time, having the

students play it back to him until they get

it. When they finish all the riffs, he asks the

rhythm section to play a swing-feel blues

in concert B-flat with them. On the fourth

chorus, Mr. Heckinger points to one of

the seasoned alto saxophonists, who then proceeds to play a variation on the blues

melody. After that alto saxophonist plays

his version for one chorus, the tenor sax-

ophonist next to him plays a completely

different variation on the same melody.

Billy realizes that Mr. Heckinger is having

each member of the band play their own

version of the simple melody. “Well it’s not

that scary,” he thinks. When it’s Billy’s

turn, he plays the melody as he remembers

it. He only adds a few notes and changes

a few rhythms, but he thinks, “That waskind of fun! Maybe improvisation isn’t so

scary.” Billy looks forward to the chance

to play over the melody again and change

even more notes and rhythms.

Billy’s initial concerns are commonfor young student improvisers injazz band. Although middle and

high school jazz ensembles are popu-lar settings for jazz improvisation inthe schools, many students continue

to experience feelings of anxiety andguardedness when they are asked toimprovise in jazz ensemble.

Improvisation activities are a valu-able source of creative expression for young students . Such ac tivi ties notonly are useful in jazz ensembles butcan also be effectively used in schoolbands, orchestras, choirs, and generalmusic classes. Too often, however, itis the music students who are confi-dent improvisers who thrive (and get

the lion’s share of the improvised solospots), while students who are afraidto improvise succeed in avoiding thissource of creative expression. As musicteachers, it is critical that we acknowl-edge that all students have the potentialto improvise and that, along with focus-ing on scales, arpeggios, or patterns, weneed to focus on teaching techniquesthat specifically help allay the improvi-sation anxiety experienced by far toomany of our young musicians.

This article highlights some strate-gies that jazz band teachers can use toexpand their students’ creative experi-ences through improvisation. Althoughthere are examples of excellent improvi-sation activities in school jazz ensembles,such as having the students improvise

or perform call-and-response on a bluesscale or pentatonic scale, there is con-siderable room for expansion in terms ofpersonal student exploration. This arti-cle is aimed at school jazz ensembles,particularly, large “big band” ensemblesthat typically consist of saxophones,trombones, trumpets, piano, guitar,bass, and drums. However, the exercisesdescribed can be used in any schoolmusic ensemble simply by removingthe rhythm section component. Crea-

tive improvisation activities, particularlythose that are perceived by students aseasy and nonthreatening, are critical forteaching students the necessary skills ofrisk-taking and experimentation. In hisdiscussion of aural improvisation learn-ing exercises, music education professorChristopher Azzara aptly points out thatmistakes are actually valuable learningtools “as a means of understanding individual differences,” particularly stylisticdifferences, such as different approaches

to sound, phrasing, and intensity.1

Convergence and Divergence

Any creative activity, whether it is com-posing, writing, painting, or improvis-ing, is performed successfully throughthe alternation between convergent anddivergent activities. A convergent activ-ity is a task that is intended to producea single correct answer.2 Improvisa-tion exercises can be melodically, har-

monically, or rhythmically prescribed,or can be all of these. Examples ofconvergent activities in improvisationmight include learning a modal scale,a V7 arpeggio, a common turnaroundpattern, a “lick,” or even a transcrip-tion. A divergent activity is a task for which there is no correct answer. Thereare virtually limitless divergent activi-ties for jazz improvisation, and theyoften involve personal experimenta-tion and discovery, whether prompted

by a teacher or not. A few examples ofdivergent activities in jazz improvisa-tion include experimenting with vari-ous timbres on an instrument, playingthe same rhythm with different articula-tions, or ornamenting a melody.

Jazz band directors can successfully

engage anxious student improvisers byunderstanding the fundamental differ-ences between convergent and diver-gent improvisation activities and by wisely incorporating both formats intoan ensemble’s improvisation activities.In fact, as part of his model of creativity,music professor emeritus Peter Websterdistinguishes between convergent anddivergent tasks in creative activities,such as composition and improvisation.3 In his model, Webster concludes that

both convergent and divergent activitiesare critical for creative development.

In fact, while convergent improvisa-tion concepts, such as scales, chords,swing rhythms, and patterns, are essen-tial for providing the raw materials ofjazz improvisation, divergent activitiescan be equally valuable in promotingfun improvisation activities that make all students comfortable with musical risk-taking and experimentation. As Websterstates, “environments that encourage

divergent thinking in music are just asimportant as environments that encour-age convergency of thought. Are wedoing enough in our rehearsals, privatestudios, and classrooms to insure the very heart of this model?”4

Jazz teachers must also keep in mindthat convergent musical knowledge andtechnical skill on an instrument are notautomatically synonymous with improvisational abi lity. Aaron Lee Berkow-itz,5 a medical/psychological researcher

who has analyzed the phenomenon ofbaroque keyboard improvisation, andthe avant-garde guitarist and pedagogueDerek Bailey 6 both cite examples of vir-tuosic instrumentalists who are para-lyzed with discomfort when faced witheven the simplest improvisation task.Both authors state that while this is acomplex issue, at least some of this dis-comfort can be attributed to a generalpersonal overreliance on music nota-tion, a habit that is often developed as








www.nafme.org 69

students learn in notation-based ensem-bles, such as band and orchestra. Suchexamples of individuals who are highlyaccomplished in convergent activitiesindicate that one approach to avoidingsuch improvisational discomfort is toacclimate young students to divergent

improvisational activities early in theirmusical development.

Developmental Levels ofImprovisation

It is also beneficial for jazz band direc-tors to acknowledge the natural develop-ment of improvisation skills if they areto include divergent improvisation activi-ties in their teaching. Through his own

research on improvisational development,music education professor John Kratushas outlined what he classifies as sevendevelopmental levels of improvisation.7 Kratus labels Step 1 exploration, where“the student tries out different soundsand combinations of sounds in a looselystructured context.” Step 2 is process-

oriented improvisation, where “the stu-dent produces more cohesive patterns.”8 He describes Step 3 as product-oriented

improvisation, where the improviser is

“aware of certain external constraints onthe music,” such as meter and harmony.

This development scheme clearlycites Steps 1 and 2 as more divergent,exploratory levels while describingStep 3 as an introduction of convergent“restraints” such as meter and harmony.This underscores the phenomenon thatdivergent characteristics occur muchearlier in the seven stages of develop-ment than do the convergent character-istics. Furthermore, it is not uncommon

for jazz directors to begin improvisationinstruction by giving specific harmonicdirection to the students, althoughmany of the students may have noprior experience with improvisation.9 This approach can simply compoundthe problem of improvisation anxi-ety for students, as they are expectedto perform a creative musical activity while absorbing jazz theory conceptsthat may be new or unfamiliar. Kratusalso states that while the sequence of

stages should be performed in order, itis rewarding to return to earlier, moredivergent stages at various points in astudent’s improvisational development. As a result, student apprehension can bereduced by beginning with some diver-gent improvisation activities and contin-

uously reinforcing divergent activities inrehearsals and performances throughouta student’s improvisational maturation.

When one addresses the issue ofdivergent improvisation activities, onemust consider the issue of criticism andcensorship. While constructive criticismand teaching feedback for improvisationcan be valuable as jazz students ascendthe levels of Kratus’s developmental lev-els, it is important for the jazz educatorto realize that frequent criticism, par-

ticularly on convergent issues, such as“correct” notes and “correct” chords, canlead to feelings of censorship and self-consciousness for young improvisers.Neither self-censorship nor hesitationis beneficial for improvisation. Instead,those qualities create barriers to stu-dents’ self-expression, personal experi-mentation, and self-discovery.

Advising students too frequent ly to“try and swing more” or to “play theIV chord” can influence students to

become more guarded in their improvi-sations. Instead, teachers should balanceconvergent activities (for raw materialsand techniques) and divergent activities(for experimentation and risk-taking) while offering the students posi tive verbal encouragement. Furthermore,students need not be oriented with theterms convergent and divergent . Thedivisions of these two classifications arenot set in stone, and many improvisa-tions involve both approaches simul-

taneously. Creative warm-ups enablestudents to engage in risk and experi-mentation while they are focused oncertain types of convergent activities,such as arpeggios or scales.

Divergent Activities

There are several divergent activi-ties that a jazz ensemble director canapply as simple warm-ups with a schooljazz ensemble. These activities are not

time-consuming and are quite easy toimplement. Such activities will not onlyexpand students’ creative breadth but will also offer participatory encourage-ment to students who are apprehensiveabout scales, chord changes, and jazztheory. More important, these exercises

will allow students to engage in musi-cal activities that promote risk-taking,experimentation, personal discovery,and group listening. These characteris-tics are all necessary partners to convergent ski lls , such as knowledge ofscales, chords, swing rhythm concepts,and proper technique in the process ofimprovisational learning.

Melodic Variation

As part of this activity, the jazz ensembledirector can take the melody of a largeensemble piece that the band is cur-rently performing and ask the studentsto perform different variations on themelody. Many jazz ensemble composi-tions and arrangements (for both middleschool and high school) do not includethe melody in all instrument parts orexchange parts of the melody with dif-ferent ensemble sections. Due to theaforementioned nature of jazz ensemble

pieces and also to the aural nature ofimprovisatory performance and interac-tion, it would behoove the teacher to askthe students turn their music pages overand teach the melody to the students byear on the teacher’s own instrument or voice. The director can then have thestudents perform a warm-up activity where they play the melody, first exactlyas performed by the director and then with variations. The director can demon-strate multiple melodic variations for the

students, whether it is turning a quarternote into two swing eighth notes, chang-ing a downbeat to an upbeat, or addinga grace note to an entrance. It is alsonot required that the director performthis activity on a jazz band piece. Thisactivity can be beneficial on any simple,aurally taught melody (see Figure 1 foran example of this exercise performed on“Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”).

The director can structure this activityin various ways depending on the length









of the melody. For instance, if the charthas a short melody, such as a melodythat is part of a twelve-bar blues, theneach student can have a turn playing theentire melody. If the melody is longer,such as one that is part of a thirty-two-bar AABA form, then the director mighthave the students each take turns play-ing four-measure or eight-measure sec-tions of the melody. In this activity, it isimportant to remember to include therhythm section. This is particularly true

for the drummer, who can learn how touse a melody as an excellent source forimprovisational material. Drum-set play-ers should not be ignored, as they canbenefit greatly from creatively perform-ing melodic variations on their drumkit. It is also critical to avoid criticizingstudents who are apprehensive aboutthe activity and who play the melodyor their section of the melody exactly asmodeled. This is an activity that shouldbe repeated at several rehearsals. As

a result, apprehensive students maybecome more comfortable with the ideaof melodic variation as they repeatedlyhear different variations of the melodyand begin to develop variations of theirown. The director also must strenuouslyavoid criticizing students whose varia-tions do not sound like the melody, asthis is simply part of the experimenta-tion process, and such student censor-ship should be avoided.

This activity has several educational

benefits. First, the students are expandingtheir divergent improvisational experi-ence, particularly, their ability to recog-nize that a jazz melody can be performedin various ways, and allowing themselvesto experiment with deconstructing agiven melody in a safe learning envi-ronment. Second, while many studentsfeel that they must improvise a solo“from scratch”—particularly by using theblues scale, pentatonic scales, or chordchanges—this activity will demonstrate

that incorporating a variation of the mel-ody into jazz solos is an excellent way toperform an improvisation solo.

This warm-up can also be used asthe basis for a listening activity forthe ensemble. The director can playrecorded examples of performances

of artists like Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Thelonious Monk, Horace Sil- ver, and Max Roach, demonstrating howseminal jazz improvisers have used vari-ations on a tune’s melody as the materialfor their own solos. It is important tonote that having a jazz ensemble listento many seminal jazz artists is incredibly valuable for the students. As a result,not only will students hear how greatjazz artists approach improvisation, butthis will also reinforce the idea that

each improviser performs melodies andimprovisations differently. Finally, thisactivity will help students understandthe workings of the chart better, par-ticularly students who play instrumentssuch as the baritone saxophone, basstrombone, and double bass, all of whomrarely get to play the melody of a chart.

Free Improvisation: InstigationActivities

Another valuable divergent activity thatcan be applied to a warm-up is freeimprovisation. Although the act of freejazz improvisation is typically associ-ated with professional avant-garde art-ists rather than students, it is crucialthat the director not only equip thestudents with the convergent knowl-edge of jazz practice but also increasetheir general comfort level in the actof improvisation.10 It is not uncommonfor young jazz students to experience

a type of nervous chord/scale paralysis when improvising. More specifically, theunbalanced focus on symbols, such aschord changes, can then paralyze a stu-dent’s creative awareness. Free improvi-sation activities remove such problemsfrom the scenario, giving the studentsthe opportunity to explore melodicideas and instrumental experimentationas part of the divergent learning process.

Hickey illustrates the value of such anactivity by stating that “methodologies

FIGURE 1

“Twinkle” Variations Arranged by Daniel J. Healy









www.nafme.org 71

that emphasize tonally-centered, rhyth-mically simple, short and uncontextual-ized patterns are more likely to hamperthe growth of creative musical thinkersthan to elicit true creative thought.”11 Bailey writes of how the British musicianand educator John Stevens used free

improvisation as a gateway to releasingmusicians, trained and untrained, fromsuch “paralysis.”12 In an interview withBailey, Stevens states,

If somebody says to me “I can’t improvise!”—and they could be somebody withthe biggest chunk of classical trainingimaginable in their background—I wouldfind that very inspiring. Because I knowthat within a very short time they will bedoing it and say “Oh, is that it?” And thenthey will do it again. You see, it’s the

most natural thing in the world.13

(See Sidebar 1 for sources that featuredivergent improvisation activities.)

Such free improvisation activities canbe structured in a number of ways.

One such approach is to use “insti-gation roles.”14 More specifically, thisinvolves breaking down a jazz ensem-ble into three or four groups of studentsand assigning different “musical roles” tothem. To begin the activity, have each

student take a number from 1 to 4 (theycan count off 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.).Then assign musical roles for each of thegroups. For example, the musical role forgroup 1 might be to perform long tones.The musical role for group 2 might be toperform a repeating rhythmic figure. Themusical role for group 3 can be staccatoquarter notes, and the role for group 4can be fragmented, melodic flourishes(some of these might require a demon-stration from the jazz band director).

Then the director should signal eachgroup to enter as each group layers ontop of each other. Although the timebetween group entrances may vary,ten to twenty seconds between groupentrances is appropriate. As part of anauthentic divergent improvisation activ-ity, the students must believe that thereare multiple ways of improvising and thatthere is no “correct” or “incorrect” wayof creating in the context of this activity.The director should be sure to tell the

Some ResourcesOutlining DivergentApproaches to Jazz

Improvisation

Books• David Berkman, The Jazz Musician’s

Guide to Creative Practicing: Notes on

the Difficult, Humorous, Endless Path of

Becoming a Better Improvising Musician

(Petaluma, CA: Sher Music, 2007).

• John Stevens, Search and Reflect: A

Music Workshop Handbook (Middlesex,

UK: Rockschool, 2007).

• Jeffrey Agrell, Improvisation Games

for Classical Musicians (Chicago: GIA,

2007).

Online Resources• Video of Wynton Marsalis explaining

melodic ornamentation on “Happy

Birthday,” ht tp://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=_Amwq43-lrM

• More elaborate video of Wynton

Marsalis Septet performing “Happy

Birthday,” ht tp://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=bYi5hJR7O7Y

• “Improvisation Using Simple Melodic

Embellishment,” a jazz clinic given

at the 2012 NYSSMA Conference

by Mike Titlebaum, director of Jazz

Studies at Ithaca College, http://www

.youtube.com/watch?v=vQOa1q8QL6o A useful lesson by Berklee professor

Sergio Bellotti on Methods for

approaching a melody on the drum

set, http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=kFdHDDJZnS4

Jeff Albert’s research page features

a sample outline of his Instigation

Quartet approach as well as sample

audio les

• http://research.jeffalbert.com/

category/improvisation/

Jeff Albert’s Instigation Quartet sound

les and studio album• http://openearsmusic.org/jeff-alberts-

instigation-quartet-nola-v-1-0-audio-

archive-22-feb-11/

• http://openearsmusic.org/jeff-alberts-

instigation-quartet-nola-v-2-0-audio-

archive-29-mar-11/

• http://openearsmusic.org/jeff-alberts-

instigation-quartet-audio-archive-26-

april-2011/

• http://web.roguart.com/shop/album/

id/67

students that there are no right or wrongnotes, harmonies, rhythms, or contours.The director should also tell the studentsthat they may play aurally “in sync” with other members of the band if theychoose but that it is not required. Direc-tors should emphasize to the musicians

that the only requirement is to be spon-taneous and to have fun. If there is extratime, students can trade groups or roles.

There are several educational bene-fits to this instigation role activity.15 Onesuch advantage is that there is quite a bitof inherent flexibility to this approach.Instigation roles are not limited to thedescriptions just listed. Other possibleroles may include “countermelodies,”“repeated fast notes,” “extremely loud toextremely soft,” “funny sounds” (this can

start students on exploring some unu-sual instrument techniques), or whateverroles the jazz band director can devise. Itis easy to perform this activity as a short warm-up that takes five minutes or less.

This activity also gives students, whomay be apprehensive about improvisa-tion, a safety net by having them engagein free group improvisation instead ofhaving them perform an exposed soloimprovisation. It can encourage the stu-dents to listen to other members of the

ensemble—a key aspect of improvisationthat is not always reinforced. Finally, it ispossible for students who are constantlydrilled on chord changes, scales, arpeg-gios, and patterns to become “note-centric,” which can lead them to ignorethe improvisation possibilities inherentin rhythm, dynamics, and articulations.The instigation role activity assigns nochord/scale relationships and invitesthe students to personally explore theirown ways of improvising with rhythms,

dynamics, and articulations.16

Limited-Note Exercises

Another simple divergent improvisa-tion activity is to give jazz students aset of three notes that they can use fortheir improvisations. These can be anythree notes, such as the beginning of amajor scale (C, D, E) or notes that donot seem to obviously hint at any par-ticular scale or chord (C, G-flat, B-flat).


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Amwq43-lrM


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYi5hJR7O7Y


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQOa1q8QL6o


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFdHDDJZnS4


http://research.jeffalbert.com/category/improvisation/


http://web.roguart.com/shop/album/id/67















Tell the students that they can performa brief solo improvisation with thesethree notes in any musical fashion thatthey please and, when finished, theycan signal the next student in line tobegin improvising. Be sure to tell thestudents that there are no limitations on

range/octave, rhythmic, dynamic, con-tour, or articulation. This activity can bedone either metrically or nonmetrically.If done metrically, the drummer canplay a groove while the students taketurns soloing over four- or eight-meas-ure sections. If the notes are performednonmetrically, the students can havefreedom to create their own length,signaling to the next individual that theyare finished by using eye contact andother body language. The drummer can

be included in the metrical or nonmetri-cal version of this activity by assigningthree parts of the drum set, such as ridecymbal, floor tom, and snare drum.

There are several benefits to givingthe students an improvisational “con-straint.” As Nachmanovitch states, “if you have al l of the colors available, youare sometimes almost too free. With onedimension constrained, play becomesfreer in other dimensions.”17 As withthe instigation role assignment, students

begin to focus more on the ways thatthey can improvise with rhythm, dynam-ics, contour, and articulation.18 Anotherbenefit is that some students may bereluctant to improvise because they areinsecure about their instrumental tech-nique or virtuosity. This activity mostlyremoves technical virtuosity from theequation, placing all of the students on amore equal playing field. It should alsobe pointed out that although this is adivergent activity, this exercise can be

used as a primer for having students playin difficult keys or modes. For example,in a three-note exercise, the jazz banddirector can assign B-flat instrumentsthe notes F-sharp, A-sharp, and C-sharp, which gives them the starting materialsfor F-sharp major. The director can alsoassign E, G-sharp, and D, which givesthem the starting materials for E mixoly-dian. When the students become veryfamiliar with this exercise after severalrepetitions, this approach can also be

used as an aural exercise. After studentsbecome comfortable with a set of threenotes, whisper to the rhythm section tomove the note up a half-step or down ahalf-step (if they do not know how to dothis, the director can tell them the exactnotes), and tell the band to try to find

the new notes by ear.

Comfort with Failure Leads toSuccess

In her study of the application ofimprovisation principles to design, engi-neering design professor Elizabeth Ger-ber cites “supporting spontaneity” and“learning through error” as key facets ofimprovisation learning.19 More specifi-

cally, Gerber states the following:

The assumption in both improvisation anddesign is that comfort with failure leadspeople more readily to success. Failureis a necessary obstacle to learning andachieving interesting results. By celebratingfailures, one celebrates the process of risk-taking and possibly achieving great results.If one feels shameful and embarrassed byhis or her mistakes, he or she is less likelyto take a risk the next time.20

Al though many cultures prac ticeimprovisation, for some students, jazzensemble is their first real opportunityto engage in this creative activity. Unfor-tunately, many students view improvi-sation as too far removed from theircustomary activity of reading notation inband, orchestra, or choir. As a result, theopportunity to improvise is offered tomany students but truly engaged by toofew, which results in countless studentsmissing a rewarding creative activity.

It is paramount that music educatorsuse divergent activities that lead studentspast their nervousness and apprehen-sion in the teaching of jazz improvisa-tion. Not only will this activity benefitstudents, but the teachers will also con-tinue to develop their concepts ofimprovisation as they implement theseactivities with their students. In fact,teachers can benefit from participatingas performers in these activities, espe-cially if certain teachers, themselves, do

not feel comfortable improvising. Morespecifically, it is critical that we bal-ance effective learning of jazz craft withopportunities for risk-taking, listening,and personal discovery.

NOTES

1. Christopher D. Azzara, “An Aural

Approach to Improvisation,” Music

Educators Journal 86, no. 3 (1999): 24.

2. Peter R. Webster, “Creativity as Creative

Thinking,” Music Educators Journal 79,

no. 9 (1990): 23.

3. Ibid., 23.

4. Ibid., 24.

5. Aaron Lee Berkowitz, The Improvising

Mind: Cognition and Creativity in the

Musical Moment (Oxford, UK: OxfordUniversity Press, 2010).

6. Derek Bailey, Improvisation: Its Nature

and Practice in Music (Cambridge, MA:

Da Capo Press, 1992), 122.

7. John Kratus, “Growing with

Improvisation,” Music Educators Journal

78, no. 4 (1991): 38–39.

8. Ibid., 39.

9. Ibid., 40.

10. David Borgo, “Free Jazz in the

Classroom,” Jazz Perspectives 1, no. 1

(2007): 66.

11. Maud Hickey, “Can Improvisation Be

Taught?” International Journal of Music

Education 27, no. 4 (2009): 286.

12. Bailey, Improvisation , 122.

13. Ibid.

14. Jeffrey Albert, “Instigation Quartets: A

Look at the Effectiveness of Higher Level

Improvisational Instructions as a Means

to Foster Musical Diversity” (lecture pre-

sented at the Annual International Society

for Improvised Music Conference, William

Paterson University, Wayne, New Jersey,

February 16–19, 2012).15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

17. Stephen Nachmanovitch, Free Play

(New York: Putnam, 1990), 85.

18. Albert, “Instigation Quartets.”

19. Elizabeth Gerber, “Improvisation Principles

and Techniques for Design” (proceedings of

the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors

in Computing Systems, San Jose, CA,

April 28–May 3, 2007).

20. Gerber, “Improvisation Principles.”







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Music Educators Journal 2014