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Based on the pioneering improvisation workshops of the late cellist David Darling, Simple and Daring presents suggestions for teaching Social Music Improvisation to children and adults at all levels of ability and experience. There are specific ideas for incorporating improvisation into the common practices of band, orchestra, and chorus in schools. There are dozens of tried-and-true teaching sequences that provide entryways into the world of spontaneous music. And there is a crosswalk between the teaching of Social Music Improvisation and the main tenets of Social Emotional Learning: identity, belonging and agency. This approach to improvisation allows people to interact in socially beneficial ways while making artful, authentic, and connected spontaneous music that inspires rhythm and harmony in their lives.
A lot of preparation goes into being ready to be spontaneous. For musicians, we can become skilled improvisers if we have good models and ample experience, the way we learn to be fluent in a language. For teachers, we can use a parallel process - teaching improvisation with spontaneity - if we immerse ourselves in a supportive atmosphere to take risks and learn by doing. This book provides the path, which is both intentional and intuitive.
"It is an odd truth that American schoolchildren come home with original written stories and their own artwork, but not with their own music. This is because our educational system does not nurture musical creativity as it does visual art and literary creativity. Until music teachers have the tools to teach improvising, this giant hole in arts education will likely persist. We propose ways to integrate Social Music Improvisation into mainstream public-school K-12 music programs, and we suggest how to prepare teachers to present improvisation activities that are engaging, interactive, and memorable."
About the author
James Oshinsky is an educator, musician and psychologist. He developed the concepts in Simple and Daring based on thirty years of working alongside master teachers of improvisation, including cellist David Darling. Jim was part of the group that created the organization Music for People, a non profit that has offered an inclusive and humanistic approach to music improvisation since the 1980s. He is the author of Music for People's guide to improvising and leading improvisation activities, Return to Child. Jim was the Director of the Improvisation Ensemble at Adelphi University in New York for over ten years, and developed a variety of teaching tools, including the Music Doctor Improv Cards and Picture Prompts for small ensemble settings. In the book Simple and Daring, Jim goes into depth describing the ways teachers can craft sequences of improvisation activities that foster deep engagement and social connections among the players. He links these activities to the main tenets of Social Emotional Learning, re-casting this approach to music making as Social Music Improvisation and distinguishing it from purely music performance approaches on the one hand and Music Therapy approaches on the other. As a licensed clinical psychologist, James Oshinsky, Ph.D. maintains a private practice in psychotherapy in his hometown.
