Warm-Ups as a Pathway to Composing and Improvising

Warm-up exercises are common in many types of music classes, and often involve activities that are very specific to the subject, such as breathing exercises for wind players, bowing exercises for string players, or vocalises for singers, but there are many ways to incorporate student creativity into warm-ups regardless of the particular discipline. Trying out creative warm-ups offers a step into composing and improvising without feeling like it takes away time required for upcoming performances or necessary technical development. Exercises may be composed by the teacher first and then imitated and carried on in new ways by students. This section will cover call-and-response warmups, conducted improvisations, the tuning meditation, McAllister’s Urban Groove, repertoire specific warm-ups, and an animal charades game.

Call-and-response rhythms or melodies are fun and engaging and are common warm-up exercises in all music classes. One creative warm-up that can be done is to model a rhythm in common time for one measure and have students clap it back, followed by a new one-measure improvised rhythm that is again repeated by the students. After several improvised rhythms have been demonstrated, the teacher can hand off the leader role to a student. Students can improvise a short one-measure rhythm and then the class copies the new rhythm. A non-stop rotation can be set up where each individual student takes a turn improvising a rhythm and the class can copy the rhythm. This same concept can be used with pitch sets as well, so students can improvise a short one-measure motive or melody using a predetermined number of pitches, and the rest of the class will echo and imitate the newly improvised music. The great thing about these warm-up exercises is that they can be adapted to any level, and they reinforce inner hearing, performance skills, confidence, self-worth, and creativity all simultaneously!

The Tuning Meditation is a peaceful slow-paced musical exercise that is published as part of Four Meditations for Orchestra by Pauline Oliveros (1996/1971). It can be adapted to be used in any size group with any instruments or voices and with any age. Basically, the directions are for musicians to begin by playing or singing a pitch that they hear in their imagination, and then after contributing a pitch, listening for another player’s pitch and tuning in unison to the pitch as exactly as possible. Listen again and play or sing a pitch that no one else is playing. The duration of pitches is determined by the duration of a comfortable breath or bow. The dynamic level is soft throughout the piece. This is a very slow improvisation, but it can result in some beautiful sounds, in free time, and provide a total contrast to everything else in a typical rehearsal.

Conducting improvised soundscapes is another warm-up activity that students enjoy and can lead to a new composition or simply be a one-time sound exploration. A simple way to start is by having students play or sing high notes when the leader’s hands are high in the air, and low notes when the hands are low. If the leader’s hands jab or swell, students should try to represent that gesture with their playing. Additionally, if the leader cues a specific player, singer, or section, those people will be featured and can improvise until the leader stops them. After the teacher demonstrates some basic types of visual communications that are possible, student conductors can take turns leading the class. No verbal communication is needed, so it also really develops students’ skills in watching and reacting to a conductor. The soundscape can be totally random, but as students become comfortable with the process, it can be fun to imagine pictures or stories as a guide to the soundscape, as well as exploring different instrument and voice color combinations in high and low, loud and soft, solo or group, etc. Gestures for pulsating notes, ostinatos, jabs, swells, and decrescendos are fun for the teacher as well as the students to try out.

Using the left hand for the left side of the ensemble and right hand for the right side can provide exciting mixes, blends, and dialogues, and can be done in free time or with steady rhythm.

As part of leading an improvised conducted soundscape, teachers can introduce specific grooves or ostinatos that can lay a groundwork for improvising solos by individuals. Composer and educator John McAllister has shared his composition Urban Groove for free through his website and it offers five different “grooves” that can be played by an instrumental ensemble in any order and in any combination. While this piece is explicitly written for concert band, the music and the concept could easily be applied to any type of music class and adapted to various skill levels. McAllister says of this work:

Urban Groove is a fantastic way to get young (or even mature) musicians to get to be creative within a full band setting. I made this tune up on the fly with a group of students specifically to have “looped” music that we could play at a pep rally. If you have fun with this, kids will absolutely love it. I’ve never had a group that didn’t go crazy the first few times we did this! (johnmcallistermusic.com)

Of the five grooves, some of them are easy and some are a little harder, so if teachers have a group of mixed ability, the less advanced students can easily play the simple grooves. In addition to the written grooves, students can improvise solos on top of the groove, and any student, whether a beginner or and advanced player can take a turn improvising. This type of warm-up is fun and offers a lot of flexibility for focusing on creativity, or rhythm work, or harmonies as needed on any given rehearsal.

Figure 7.2. Know your stuff for Earthshine—A five minute makeover. Change the notes with an “X” to any other note listed in No. 1. Then add two slurs and one tie. Play it and listen. Do you like your makeover?

Often, music teachers will need a warm-up that can help students prepare for a specific piece of repertoire coming up in the rehearsal. Most pieces don’t have pre-composed warm-ups, but teachers and students can compose their own. Jodie Blackshaw is a great example of a composer and educator that has modeled this in many of her pieces. Her middle school band piece Earthshine (2014) comes with a published warm-up that is composed of fragments of the main melody that are introduced in short exercises to help students learn how to play, count, and sing the melody. Figure 7.2 shows an excerpt from the student warm-up for Earthshine, which can be accessed from the composer’s website.