•                                                          IMPROVISATION EXPLORATIONS
     
    In this section you will find movies and other forms of documentation that capture the essence of students' improvisation explorations.  Frequently these incorporate both elements of music and those of art, movement and literature.  In these activities, students are usually presented with a "key" element that acts as an entrance way or "portal" to their inner creativity and potential for improvising.  The imagination needed to develop each key element can be nurtured through work in small groups.  Each improvisational activity can often produce the material for new "key" elements and thus, new improvisation explorations. These are activities whose value is visible in the sparkle of a child's eyes, joyful twirl of her or his body in motion, bright laughter and total immersion of being in the moment.  The improvisation experience provides children with important tools for self-discovery, flexibility in group situations and creativity.
                                                                                   
                                                                        LEAVES' MUSIC EXPLORATION
     
    LEAVES' MUSIC MOVIE                                                        leaves
     
    Key element - Color (source: the memory of which color a child used in his or her Leaf picture in Mrs. Asch's Art Class)
    Improvisation - children created different "word plays" and movements on their group's color ("word plays" develop high, medium and low pitch, rhythm and tempo concepts) 
    Signal - finger cymbal sound (begins and concludes each section; controlled either by the teacher or the student)
    Outcomes - syllables repeated in a sing-song manner with clapping (Yellow), color's word exchanged for an object in that color and circular hand motions (Red), a letter sound expanded upon in sound and hand movements (Green), color's word expressed through softness of sound and extended through a rhyming word (White), color's word expressed through loudness of sound, repetition and twirling movements (Orange), color's word related to different words in a sing-song manner and jumping movements (Blue).   The leaf pictures in the movie were created by the First Graders in Mrs. Asch's art class.
                                                        
                                                        CLOUD SHAPES EXPLORATION
     
    CLOUD SHAPES MOVIE -                                                     cloud  
     
    Key element - Words of a poem (source: Christina Rossetti's poem "Clouds") /please see Musical Poems section/
    Improvisation -  using mainly arm movements, children created the shapes of clouds with a partner;
    first - without joining a partner's hands, second - by recreating their shape or shapes while joining a partner's hands.
    Signal - finger cymbal or wind chime sounds, in addition to the last line of the poem "where do you go?"
    Outcomes - within the space of a few seconds, most partners created their shapes (often by communication with gestures and not words); most partners shared the same shape, but a few did not, or created mirror images.  The class noticed that each of the shapes was different.  Two partners immediately created a joined shape and thus, the idea for the whole class creating joined shapes was born.  Also and most importantly - happiness in making new discoveries with friends!
    New outgrowth (students to be included in the direction this takes)  -  working in larger groups, having some formations move around the room, having musical improvisations reflect the shapes.