Improvisation Teacher Resources

Student role play as statues in a wax museum while the teacher takes the role of the curator. They stand in a static position until the curator leaves the room. They interact until the curator returns at which point they freeze. Now they...

This lesson enables students to gain a broader awareness of the basic blues scale and the harmonic structure of the standard blues progression. Students will be given introductory exercises on blues improvisation and will also...

Learners write and perform dramatic presentations about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. They select formats from puppets, plays, improvisational skits, or screened silhouette.

Get the songwriters in your class started early with an engaging music composition activity. After experimenting with an existing melody, class members improvise in a given range of notes and create their own melodies.

Students analyze and describe the contributions of various dance artists, performers, teachers, and choreographers. In this dance lesson, students fill in any gaps of knowledge they have in regards to dance training and choreographic...

How does reading a drama differ from reading a novel? Middle schoolers become playwrights and explore these differences. After viewing the A&E movie,"The Crossing," groups create stage directions, write dialogue, and design sets and...

Students map the classroom by marking the movement of the first Americans' migration from Alaska down into North America. To improve their skills in map-reading and sense of direction, students identify physical features of the map and...

Students listen to and discuss American music genres, specifically ragtime, bebop/bop, and swing, and experiment with improvisation on traditional tunes and rhythms.

Students review scene structure and the elements beginning, middle and end. They view a piece of art to stimulate an idea for a improvised scene. Students work in small groups, create and then perform their scenes for the rest of the...

First graders listen to the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and identify the pitch of the bears' voices as high, medium, and low. They improvise on xylophones a melody to accompany the bears in the telling of the story.

Learners explore the relationships of space through movement. Two perform movement improvisation based on over/under. The activity improves hand-eye coordination, cooperation, and communication skills. The timing of the dance also...

Students keep a steady beat by body movement exercises, improvise, identify a beat/no beat sequence and sing a nursery rhyme from Portugal in this Kindergarten General Music lesson. The use of simple rhythmic instruments is required.

Students analyze rhythmic patterns (beat versus no beat), sing an echo song on Solfege syllables, improvise melodies, and express music through creative movement. This lesson is written to meet State and National Standards for the Arts.

Pupils construct a ribbon wand which, through the use of line, color, contrast and shape can be used to better express a given emotion. Students improvise a brief dance created through manipulation of ribbon wand using three distinct...

High schoolers read, analyze, and act out the scenes 1.7.29-79 of the William Shakespeare play, "Macbeth." They discuss motivation, tactics, and obstacles, and improvise scenes suggested by the class.

Students review the style techniques related to the American Method Acting and practice using them in groups. Using various scenes from films, they try to recreate the scene using props. In groups, they discover the proper way to get...

Students create movement, improvise rhythmic accompaniment, practice, and perform the song "Phytochemicals" in this excellent elementary-level General Music activity. The activity includes activity challenges for more advanced students.

Learners explore non-locomotor movements and instrument improvisation creating accompaniments to the song "Vitamin A" in this elementary-level General Music lesson. The lesson nutrition messages links and student challenges for advanced...

Young scholars participate in the production of a play that highlights the direct linkage between storm drains and natural river, stream, or creek ecosystems. They explore their thoughts, feelings, and actions through dramatic...

Students perform creative movement to music, sing and improvise using the Solfege syllables do, me, so, and la, and recognize beat vs. no beat in this lesson for the Kindergarten General Music class. Emphasis is on a song called "All...

Fourth graders are introduced to the ABA form of music through singing and playing instruments. Using music, they practice reading the notations and improvising melodies. They also sing in duets and trios in various keys to end the...

Students recognize beat vs. no beat, sing and improvise on do, me, so, and la, and perform creative movement to music in this Kindergarten Music lesson. Emphasis is placed upon the Wiggy Wiggy Wiggles CD and creative movement exercises.

In this music learning exercise, students read about improvisation. Students choose their favorite instrument, a saxophone or a bass, and draw a picture of it. Students can then do a small maze.

In this using a dictionary worksheet, students utilize a dictionary to find the most appropriate definitions for improvise, pongee, mantilla and lying.