Exploration and improvisation: the use of creative strategies in instrumental teaching

Abstract

In music lessons there are still predisposition to adopt some educational practices, where the teaching is still centered in the teacher, and the student is there to “imitate” and learn the music exercises brought into class. By doing so the teacher is neglecting the student musical development as there is a unidirectional skill transfer, and the student does not participate directly in the process. Therefore, using creative strategies in class maybe a striking and important element, that can both create student participation but also allow different dynamics within the classroom. In music, instrumental classes share a set of common skills to other music disciplines, in which the use of musical exploration and improvisation activities can present in various ways. The importance of incorporating these activities in teaching students how to play an instrument, points to their individual needs and presents itself as a vehicle to promote further technical and expressive developmental skills. The present paper focuses on two case studies, with both students at the beginning of their learning.The study intend to demonstrate the impact of musical exploration and improvisation in the technical and musical evolution of the student within the context of studying the violoncello. The results’ analysis led to a discussion that could serve as a proposal for strategies on teaching-learning to play an instrument. The paper concludes that the students, who attend classes with the use of creative activities as a teaching strategy, obtain more emphatic results and success.