I asked the 7th graders to bring their interesting sounds again this week.  We arranged the chairs in a circle and organized ourselves so that everyone with similar sounds was sitting together.

Without a clear idea of what was going to come of our improvisation, we began by doing an inventory of the sounds we had in the group and brainstormed ideas of what they might represent in a plot-based improvisation.  With some clicking, lots of key rings, and the help of voices, we came up with a composition telling the story of a 20-car pile-up on a busy highway.

The high schoolers had a great time with the shapes game the 8th graders did last week.  Speaking of the 8th graders, they began small group compositions.  I gave each group the following paper:

Your group’s composition should include:

• Clear examples of legato, staccato, accents, crescendo and decrescendo.
• The composition should highlight a recurring shape, just like we did in the game last week.
• Everyone’s piece should begin and end in rhythmic unison, but should break from it in between.
• Similar to the shapes game we played last week, shape, articulation, and rhythm are more important than precise pitches.

They got to work right away (something that usually takes  a significant amount of coercion) and both their teacher and I were thrilled by their enthusiasm with the project.  As usual, the bell rang too soon, so they’ll continue their work next week until they’re ready to perform.

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