ABSTRACT

This purpose of this paper is to (1) contextualize improvisation as an experiential activity, and (2) presents four practical examples that can be used in various settings such as music classrooms or community venues. The ideas are drawn from previous work: Free to Be Musical: Group Improvisation in Music (2010) and Improvisation as Ability, Culture, and Experience (2013). These ideas continue to be important in my work as a community musician and my hope is that by sharing them I can reinforce the importance of injecting classrooms and community settings with musical events that embrace artistic-expressive thinking and embodied doing, thus ensuring that those that engage in music education will embark on a musical voyage of life-long musical learning.