Improvisation | The Rain Game
One of the games I love to play with my students a few months and sometimes weeks into their lesson is the 'The Rain Game', which I may have explained earlier . This uses the F# pentatonic scale (all the black notes) to make it sound like it's raining. This is their first window into improvisation. There are a few key things about 'The Rain Game'. I don't tell my students about the name of the scale, or the name of the notes, we just focus on the black keys. Below are the reasons I love this game, high-five for play based learning.
1) I find that my students are used to very specific instructions or limits or lines to colour within. This is an opportunity to lift that filter and let them explore their thoughts and ideas in real time (which they usually do) without being censored by what's "right and wrong". Even when the students play a white note, they can typically hear that it is off. So the idea of "only playing the black notes" looses it's edge as a limitation.
2) I play with them. I think it's really important to engage with my students on their level. So that I can show them that we can have fun together and that we can make music or experiment with sound. Sometimes it sounds better than others and sometimes I talk through it. I mostly play on the lower end, and simulate "thunder".
3) We can talk and improvise! I can promt my student to think of what the rain sounds like when it first starts spitting or what a lightning strike might sound like. We can make it a full on storm that ends with a beautiful rainbow!
4) Incorporating visualization with music. We can talk about why we might equate a darker cloud with lower notes, or a break in the sky with space! How exciting. I've found that we can do this both during and after the piece.
5) Experimenting with the piano as a percussion instrument. If a student gets really into it we can get into knocking and the use of plucking the internal strings of a piano. Also talking about the different weight of the keys and how to strick a key in different way.
These are some of the reasons why I love The Rain Game. Almost all of my young students have done it and they've had a blast. It also helps if we've covered a good amount of material and my student is drained and can't process newer concepts - there is a limit- or if there are 3 mintues left, or if they are your last student and their parent is late.
I'll try to get a recording and post it soon!