The students and I enjoyed another visit from one of our Composer House composers last week. Mikey Maiorana and Mandy Fassett, both musicians and composers in Minneapolis, taught students how improvisation can be used in writing music. The duo first performed a piece that Mikey had composed, reading the notated music while they played. Then, they demonstrated an improvisation, making up music on the spot without any written notation, based on ideas suggested by the students. It was fun to see how the students' ideas could be instantly expressed in music.
Next, the students had their turn at collaboratively creating a new piece of music through improvisation. Each student improvised a four beat pattern using only two different pitches. Mikey notated some of the patterns so the students could see and repeat them to help them choose their favorites. As a group, they chose an order for their favorite improvised patterns to create a new piece of music. In only 25 minutes, each first through fifth grade class was able to improvise, compose, and perform their own brand new piece of music! The students were impressed by how easy, fast, and fun writing music can be. Kindergartners have been learning about instruments and how they make sounds, so they enjoyed learning about Mikey's melodica and Mandy's violin. For many students, it was their first time seeing either instrument in person. The melodica is a wind instrument in which vibrating reeds produce sound, but it looks like a tiny piano. Mandy demonstrated different ways that the strings on her violin can make sound and how she can change the pitch of the strings. You can learn more about Mikey's work as a composer at his website: https://www.maioranamusic.com/
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