Key Stage 3 music · Composing

KS3 improvisation in music: a guide for parents

In Years 7 to 9, students are taught to improvise and compose, and to extend and develop musical ideas by drawing on a range of structures, styles, genres and traditions. Improvisation means making up music in the moment, within a set of limits. It builds directly on improvising work in Key Stage 2 and gives students the building blocks for composing.

Improvising and extending ideas, explained

Improvising does not mean playing whatever comes into your head. It is making musical choices in real time, usually within a framework: a set of notes (such as a scale), a chord pattern, a rhythm or a form. Without a framework many students freeze, because every choice is open. With one, they have something to work with. Common frameworks in school include a pentatonic scale, a repeating chord pattern, the twelve-bar blues, call and response and the melodic and rhythmic structures of traditions such as Indian classical music or West African drumming.

The second half of the objective is extending and developing ideas. Students start with a short musical idea, a motif of a few notes with a distinctive rhythm, and learn to build on it. They can repeat it, repeat it starting on a different note (a sequence), change the rhythm, make it longer or shorter, turn it upside down, or answer it with a contrasting idea. Using these methods they turn a few notes into a phrase, and a phrase into a longer piece. These are the same techniques composers use on paper.

Students draw on a range of structures, styles, genres and traditions. In a jazz or blues unit they might improvise over twelve bars. In a folk unit they might vary a tune each time it is repeated. In a unit on Indian classical music, they might explore a set of notes in the way a raga does. Which styles they meet depends on the school. Whatever the context, students are asked to listen to the result, decide what worked and improve the next try.

Improvisation also builds the other strands of the music curriculum. It strengthens listening and rhythm, helps performers play more musically from notation, and gives students material they can later write down and refine as compositions. It is a skill that anyone can learn. A student does not need years of lessons; a keyboard, a few chosen notes and willingness to try are enough to begin.

Words your child will hear

Improvise: Make up music on the spot, usually within a framework.
Motif: A short musical idea of a few notes that can be repeated and developed.
Pentatonic scale: A scale of five notes, such as C, D, E, G and A, in which the notes tend to sound good together.
Sequence: A musical idea repeated starting on a higher or lower note.
Call and response: A phrase that is answered by another, like a question and an answer.
Twelve-bar blues: A common chord pattern that lasts twelve bars and then repeats.
Variation: A changed version of an earlier idea.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 3 says:

Pupils should be taught to improvise and compose; and extend and develop musical ideas by drawing on a range of musical structures, styles, genres and traditions
Pupils should build on their previous knowledge and skills through performing, composing and listening.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: improvising a question and an answer

Using only the five notes C, D, E, G and A over a steady beat and a repeating C chord, how could a student improvise a four-bar phrase that sounds finished?

Set the limits. Notes: C, D, E, G, A only. Pulse: four steady beats in a bar. Length: two bars for the question and two for the answer. Limits make the task easier, not harder.
Make a motif. Choose a short rhythm that fills two bars, such as long, short, short, long, and put four notes to it. For example: E, G, E, D.
Build the question. Play the motif so that it ends on a note away from the home note, such as D. It should sound unfinished, as if it is waiting for a response.
Build the answer. Use the same rhythm and start the same way, but change the ending so the tune steps down to finish on C, the home note. For example: E, G, D, C. Ending on C makes the phrase sound complete.
Play it again with one change and listen. The answer could start higher, on G, and follow the same up-and-down shape before coming home to C; repeating a shape from a different note like this is a sequence. Or add a rest before the answer. Decide what you prefer, then do it again.

A sample phrase is: question E, G, E, D, answer E, G, D, C. It uses one motif and its rhythm twice, with a changed ending, so the question sounds unfinished and the answer comes home to C. Every note is from the five-note set, so nothing clashes badly with the C chord.

Common mistakes and how to help

Improvising means playing random notes

Because it is made up on the spot, students assume there are no choices, or that anything will do.

What helps: Show that good improvisers choose carefully, using limits and ideas they can repeat. Ask them to repeat their favourite idea and see how it feels more purposeful.

You must be naturally gifted to improvise

Watching a skilled jazz player makes it look like instinct, when most of it has been practised.

What helps: Start with very small tasks: two notes, then three, a set rhythm. The skill grows with repeated tries and listening, like any other.

A wrong note ruins the improvisation

Students used to reading notation think every note is either right or wrong.

What helps: In improvisation, an unexpected note can be repeated or resolved to the next note so it sounds deliberate. Try it: play the note again, then move to a safe one.

Playing more notes means a better improvisation

Fast, busy playing looks impressive, so students fill every gap.

What helps: Rests and space are part of the music. Ask them to leave a gap after each phrase, and to try a version using only half as many notes.

How to help at home

Use the black keys. If there is a keyboard or piano at home, play only the black keys over a steady beat or a held note. They form a pentatonic scale, so most combinations sound pleasant. Take turns to play a short phrase and have the other person answer.
Play question and answer with voice or body. You clap or hum a short phrase, your teenager answers with something different. It requires no equipment and trains the ear to hold an idea.
Listen to improvisers. Listen to jazz, blues or folk solos and ask what the player does with one idea: repeat it, change it, leave a space. Pick out one thing to try next time.
Record and choose. Ask your teenager to record two or three short improvisations and pick the one they like best, then explain why. This is how improvisations become compositions.
Give them space. Improvising can feel exposed, so teenagers often prefer to do it in private. A closed door and no commentary are a good way to encourage it. Ask for a performance only if they offer.

Builds on

Key Stage 2: Improvising music
Key Stage 2: Composing music