E. Mark Laughlin is currently the group piano coordinator at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He holds the BM in piano performance from the University of North Alabama, the MM in piano pedagogy from the University of Memphis and the DMA in piano pedagogy from the University of South Carolina. His performance and pedagogy teachers have included Gail Steward, Sam Viviano, Yukiko Whitehead (Suzuki piano), John Valerio (jazz piano) and Scott Price. He has also studied music theory and music theory pedagogy with Dorothy Payne. Dr. Laughlin has written articles for Clavier and has presented workshops and research at local, state and national levels on a variety of topics including improvisation, curriculum development in group piano, the unpublished works of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and other American composers. Dr. Laughlin has presented at the national conferences of the National Association of Schools of Music and the College Music Society. He as also presented at the Mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes and Northeast regional conferences of CMS and the South Carolina Music Educators State Conference. Dr. Laughlin has performed and adjudicated extensively throughout the United States as a classical and jazz pianist. He has also won numerous teaching awards including the coveted William H. Nolte Graduate Teaching Award and the Two Thumbs Up Award for teaching and mentoring students with disabilities.
Mark Laughlin
Department of Music
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
9201 University Boulevard
Charlotte, NC 28223
704.687.2472
mark_laughlin@hotmail.com
Improvisation has been an essential part of performance practice and composition in every epoch of music. This skill was one of many expected from every performer regardless of instrument, but was never more prevalent than in the realm of keyboard performance. Throughout history, important composers and performers of keyboard literature were masters of improvisation including J. S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt. It is well documented that Mozart would take great care in scoring the orchestra parts of his piano concerti, leaving the piano part in a skeletal form. This allowed him the opportunity to improvise ornaments and embellishments on the performance.1 In the nineteenth century, performers such as Chopin and Liszt elevated the sophistication of their extemporaneous prowess to such a degree that their abilities and reputations developed into mythic lore. The students of Chopin have documented in numerous correspondence that his written compositions were mere sketches of his improvisations and Liszt, the constant showman, would take themes from his audience on which to improvise.
In the early twentieth century, improvisation became an essential means of expression in the world of jazz and blues. With the standardization of basic forms (e.g. 12 bar blues, binary, ternary, strophic and theme and variation) within those styles, musicians were provided with more opportunity and freedom to improvise, which allowed them to embellish the harmonic structure and develop improvised melodic fragments called "riffs". These improvised riffs served as the foundation for many jazz and blues compositions. As improvisation began to flourish in the world of jazz and blues, the skill drastically declined in Western art music, especially within academia.
The most current and readily available way to experience contemporary extemporaneous creation is to observe jazz musicians. Although jazz musical idioms and styles are different from those of Western art music2, the main objective of their improvisation is similar: to express the performer's creativity and musicality. Improvisation provides every musician, not only the jazz musician, with a personal and vital creative experience that utilizes the laws of harmony, melody and rhythm.3
Improvisation of all types is useful as a means of learning music because it requires the total involvement of the teacher and student. Although improvisation techniques, materials and approaches vary from era to era and style to style, the overall task is similar. Rules are given, a style is prescribed, and a strategy emerges. An easy way to begin to improvise is by embellishing the melodies of folk songs, patriotic songs, and other easily remembered diatonic melodies or by simply altering the style of a work.
A student must truly understand the form, style and harmonic and melodic structure of a period to improvise in the style of that era. If a student listens to and understands the structure of various styles, they can be taught to improvise in those styles.4 Once a student reaches this level of stylistic understanding, the student can then begin to apply advanced levels of musicianship into his/her improvisations including the application of knowledge from music history, music theory and aural skills courses. This type of understanding and application increases the overall musicality of the student.
It is believed by many scholars that those who learn to improvise begin to internalize forms, scales, chords, melodic construction and development, harmonic vocabulary, ear-training and many other aspects of music at a faster rate than those who do not. Dr. Edwin E. Gordon (1997) noted improvisation as one of the seven most important stabilized music aptitudes - the others were melody, harmony, tempo, meter, phrasing, and creativity.5 Dr. Gordon continued to express the importance of improvisation by stating, "If for some reason a choice had to be made between the teaching of literacy and the teaching of improvisation and creativity skills, literacy would appear to be of less importance."6 Through the study of improvisation one begins to develop overall musical understanding and has the opportunity to explore and express individual creativity through music.
The National Association of Schools of Music, recognizing the importance of improvisation in building overall musical aptitude, included it among the requirements for accreditation. Improvisation was first added as an addendum to the handbook for standards for undergraduate degrees by the National Association of Schools of Music in 1991-1992 and was later incorporated as a requirement at the 1993-1994 national meeting. It did, however, undergo revisions in 1999 and the current N.A.S.M. requirement states students must acquire the following skills:
VII. Competencies Common to all Professional Baccalaureate Degrees in Music and to all Undergraduate Degrees Leading to Teacher Certification.
B. Common Body of Knowledge and Skills
3. Composition and Improvisation
Students must acquire:
a. Rudimentary capacity to create derivative or original music both extemporaneously and in written form.
b. The ability to compose, improvise, or both at a basic level in one or more musical languages, for example, the imitation of various musical styles, improvisation on pre-existing materials, the creation of original compositions, experimentation with various sound sources, and manipulating the common elements in non-traditional ways.
Since this regulation was integrated into the National Association of Schools of Music membership handbook, colleges and universities have relied on group piano courses to insure that this requirement is properly met. Although this requirement can be met by other means, group piano courses maintain and/or absorb this responsibility due to the prominence of group piano labs in schools of music, music departments and music programs across the United States. Group piano courses also provide many other first musical experiences for music majors and non-music majors including transposition, composition, harmonization, multi-clef reading, open-score reading, figured bass and the reading of pop symbols or chord changes. The group piano setting allows students the opportunity to perform and improvise music from different musical genres and permits students the opportunity to apply skills from music theory courses (e.g. figured bass, pop chord progressions and voice leading) into an applicable performance medium. It is within this group atmosphere that improvisation may be fostered to give all students, regardless of skill and ability, the opportunity to explore and develop creative skills with the help and support of his or her peers.
Thirteen years have elapsed since N.A.S.M. incorporated improvisation into its requirements for membership. In this thirteen-year time period, strides have been made to increase awareness of the importance of improvisation and to develop this skill within the group piano curricula. Since its inclusion, improvisation has been the avenue of discussion in several annual reports and conferences by the National Association of Schools of Music. The majority of these reports focused on the importance of improvisation, the musical and educational benefits of the skill, and on examples of how to incorporate extemporaneous activities into the classroom setting. Among these include articles by many of our esteemed colleagues including:
E.L. Lancaster, “Composition and Improvisation in the Preparation of K-12 teachers,” Proceedings of the 72nd Annual Meeting: National Association of Schools of Music (1996).
Martha K. Hilley, “Composition and Improvisation in Class Piano: Curricula Approaches,” Proceedings of the 72nd Annual Meeting: National Association of Schools of Music 85 (1997): 47-49.
Gerald J. Lloyd, “Improvisation and Composition: Thinking in Music,” Proceedings of the 71st Annual Meeting: National Association of Schools of Music 84 (1995): 3.
David Rosenboom, “Improvisation and Composition: Synthesis and Integration into the Music Curriculum,” Proceedings of the 71st Annual Meeting: National Association of Schools of Music 84 (1995): 22-23.
Ann Collins, “What is Improvisation?” Proceedings of the 71st Annual Meeting: National Association of Schools of Music 84 (1995): 13.
Dorothy K. Payne, “Composition and Improvisation in the Core Music Curriculum,” Proceedings of the 71st Annual Meeting: National Association of Schools of Music 84 (1995): 9-10.
Ten years after the initial requirement was included into the handbook, I created a survey instrument to investigate how academic institutions accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music meet the improvisation requirements set forth by N.A.S.M. in their group piano curricula.
This particular research had three primary focuses: (1) the familiarity of the instructor with improvisation, (2) what text was being used in the group piano curriculum at each represented institution and (3) if/when/how improvisation was included within the group piano curriculum. The research instrument was not intended to collect specific data including syllabi, exams, or detailed institutional requirements concerning keyboard ensemble courses, keyboard skills courses for piano majors, private piano lessons, or jazz related courses.
The Population
The population for the study consisted of one hundred group piano instructors at four-year degree-granting colleges and universities accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. Only full-time faculty members at the surveyed institutions were considered for participation.
The Institutions
Two colleges and universities were selected from each state to participate in the survey. Among those surveyed included the resident university (e.g. The University of Alabama, The University of South Carolina), as well as the state college (e.g. Mississippi State University, North Dakota State). Institutions that were chosen to participate in the study were selected from the National Association of Schools of Music membership roster.
Data Analysis
The research instrument was divided into four sections (Sections A, B, C, and D). Section A of the survey was designed to elicit basic information about the educational background of each instructor and to ascertain if each instructor had taken academic courses in group piano pedagogy and if improvisation was a part of that education. Section B contained questions designed to ascertain the respondent's introspective view of his or her own improvisation abilities. Section C was designed to gain information concerning the respondent's overall teaching experience and teaching approach, as it pertains to group piano. The last section, Section D, inquired about the inclusion of improvisation in the group piano setting at each respondent's particular institution.
Before the survey could be designed or administered, one very important question had to be answered - What is improvisation?
For the purpose of the study, improvisation was defined and classified into six categories:
Respondents were asked to indicate which category best described the type of improvisation taught at their respected institutions. The respondents were asked to check all categories that were applicable. The results are as follows:
Section A
Section A determined if current group piano instructors had taken academic courses in group piano pedagogy and if improvisation was a part of that education.
Sixty percent of those surveyed had taken at least one course in group piano pedagogy (which includes children, adult and/or college level group teaching).
However, of the 60% of instructors who had taken at least one course in group piano pedagogy, only half were required to teach improvisation as part of their training. These results indicated that only 15 instructors out of 50 respondents had been required to teach improvisation in a group setting under the supervised guidance of a faculty member. This is obviously an area that needs to be addressed. How can we as educators expect the next generation of piano pedagogues to foster a skill as important as improvisation if we are not nurturing the skill in our own academic setting?
Section B
Instructors were asked to self-evaluate their own improvisation ability as a classical pianist. The results are as follows:
8% - Very Weak
28% - Weak
32% - Mediocre
20% - Strong
12% - Very Strong
Instructors were asked to rate their own improvisation ability as a jazz pianist. The results are as follows:
65% - Nonexistent
10% - Very Weak
8% - Weak
10% - Mediocre
4% - Strong
3% - Very Strong
Instructors were asked to rate their ability to teach improvisation on an elementary, intermediate and advanced level.
How would you rate your ability to teach improvisation on an elementary level?
0% - Nonexistent
0% - Very Weak
6% - Weak
32% - Mediocre
32% - Strong
30% - Very Strong
How would you rate your ability to teach improvisation on an intermediate level?
0% - Nonexistent
4% - Very Weak
20% - Weak
38% - Mediocre
26% - Strong
12% - Very Strong
How would you rate your ability to teach improvisation on an advanced level?
18% - Nonexistent
26% - Very Weak
24% - Weak
8% - Mediocre
20% - Strong
4% - Very Strong
Section C
Respondents were asked: How often is improvisation taught in group piano courses at your institution?
Every Class Meeting - 0%
Once a week - 11%
Once every two weeks - 21%
At the discretion of the Instructor or Graduate Assistant - 58%
Never taught - 10%
Is improvisation addressed only as it appears in the group piano text?
Yes - 48%
No - 42%
N/A - 10%
Section D
It was then important to discover what text was being used for group piano courses. By knowing which text is used, we can determine to some degree how often and to what extent students in the 48 percentile are being exposed to improvisation.
The top nine group piano texts are as follows:
Alfred's Group Piano for Adults (Lancaster, Renfrow) - 36%
Piano for the Developing Musician (Hilley, Olson) - 12%
Keyboard Musicianship (Lyke) and Keyboard Strategies (Stecher, Horowitz) - 8%
Piano 101 (Lancaster, Renfrow) - 6%
Progressive Class Piano (Heerema), Piano for Pleasure (Hilley), Piano Lab (Lindeman), Piano for Adults (Bastien) - 4%
Of the 42% that address improvisation beyond how it appears in the group piano text - 36% use a secondary group piano text for supplemental material and 6% have created their own text through a variety of sources.
The top six secondary group piano texts are as follows:
Harmonization at the Piano (Frackenpohl) - 14%
Alfred's Group Piano for Adults (Lancaster, Renfrow) - 6%
Piano for the Developing Musician (Hilley), Keyboard Strategies (Stecher, Horowitz), Contemporary Class Piano (Mach), Adult Piano Adventures (Faber) - 4%
The overall results from the research instrument indicated that every instructor surveyed feels that improvisation is an important aspect of each student's musical education. However, improvisation is still considered as an afterthought or something “extra” as opposed to being truly integrated into the curriculum. Great strides have been made toward curriculum integration but there is much more to be done.
Learning to improvise can be one of the most rewarding aspects of music study, but like every skill and performance practice, it takes time to develop, mature and blossom. This can only happen with a dedicated and involved teacher who has the foresight to understand the importance of the skill and the patience to allow it to develop within each individual student.
The complete results from the Survey of Improvisation in Group Piano Curricula in Colleges and Universities Accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music are published through UMI Research Press and may be accessed/ordered online at www.il.proquest.com or by contacting Mark Laughlin directly.
Endnotes
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