Incorporating Creativity into the Band Classroom

Nearing the end of my Rank I course on Creativity in 21st Century Education, I have added much to my educator toolbox. This blog has actually been, in and of itself, a great creative outlet for me to "show what I know" through the various prompts provided by my professor. That being said, our final blog post is to summarize how we can incorporate creativity into our classrooms.

I teach band which is an art form to begin with. Though the musical elements (tone, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, articulation) within our course work guide a musician to a level of mastery, creativity is not posed as an element. There indeed are musicians who perform well and demonstrate a mastery of the elements of music, yet, not show an interpretation of musicianship. A good question to ask is, "how can a musician be musical"? The statement has a bit of irony to it if honest, however, it would indicate that there is capability of performing with accuracy but not perform musically. Defining the difference between playing the notes vs bringing music to life is the next step to the creative process for a musician.

"Music is a piece of art that goes in the ears straight to the heart" - Anonymous

The following methods are steps that (in my opinion) will build upon the creative process for young musicians.

• Find a musical hero

Without a doubt, we all have a favorite artist or genre of some kind. Even those that would consider their only musical talent as "turning on the radio" can attest to having a musical idol of some kind. A next step for the band student would be to have him/her find an artist who performs on their instrument and follow them. To listen to their style, read their biography, imitate their style and make it your own. Personally speaking, I always enjoyed the Big Band era when I was a young musician. I had never played Jazz/Swing before until I got to high school. When given the chance to perform a jazz band chart, I found that I was able to mirror the notes of my idols without much effort. Internalizing is one thing and then putting to practice is when the music comes to life.

• Compose your own 8 bar melody

All beginning (modern) bands will develop their skills through method books. Whereas these method books help get groups working on unison lines together, most fail to offer students the creative opportunity to define a musical phrase. A short and easy frame work to allow students opportunity to be their own composer, would be to have them compose their own melody. This can be done through note flight, a free music software. Once the beginning student has reached the first 5 notes of their B-flat key, they can compose simple, folk-like melodies. Using the software, they can edit as needed and build upon their melody.

• Improvisation

In addition to method books lacking an opportunity to compose, this also goes for improvisation. Improvisation might suggest a structure with some rules based upon key, but the true definition of improvising as a musician has no rules. It is to express inwardly the what the mind and heart what to perform--like a dancer dancing. One simple approach to this, is to teach the 5 note Blues scale and find melodic tracks for students (i.e. Garage Band). Looping 2 simple chords with accompaniment while teaching students the scale itself, they can then add their own personal touches to perform their solo.

These strategies are not novel to the band class, however, they are not always practiced and personalized. In fact, I believe most of the time these steps to musical creativity can be undermined due to a teachers pacing. The pressure to finish the method book or prepare for the concert ends up being the only focus, we can lose the creative processes within a music classroom by not allowing students to spread their wings. I plan to incorporate these simple steps into my classroom and have confidence my students will be able to tap into their creativity as a young musician.