Alice Kay Kanack's method focuses on enhancing the natural creative ability of children through the use of improvisation. The book begins with an introduction to the philosophies of her method, then guides the parent or teacher through a series of improvisational games to play with the child. A CD is included, with 27 different songs and games.

Music teachers, students and scholars within music education as well as jazz research will benefit from the perspectives presented in the book, which shows how children systematically acquire tools for improvisation and shared codes for interplay.

(Piano Method). Here is a fun, easy course that teaches children how to improvise and play jazz piano faster than ever before. Kids will stay motivated as they improvise on popular children's songs arranged in a jazz style, while the opportunity to play alongside video accompaniments will inspire a love for performance. Every song seamlessly integrates a new improvisatory skill, systematically building upon previous learning and enabling the student to progress with confidence. Including exclusive access to video tutorials, this book is the definitive introduction to improvisation and jazz piano. The method can be used in combination with a teacher or parent. Topics covered include: swing and syncopation * echo playing * call and response * rock and swing grooves * improvising on 1-5 notes * hearing chord changes * 12-bar blues * and more.

Free to Be Musical: Group Improvisation in Music is for those who lead musical experiences in the lives of children, youth, and adults. Offering a set of experiences to inspire creative musical expression, this book will prove useful for music education majors, practicing music teachers, community musicians, and music therapists alike. The experiences (or 'events') are designed to reduce the musical barriers that Western societies pass on to children by the time they reach the 'age of reason,' when the natural childhood penchant to sing, dance, and play musically gives way to perfect performances of standard repertoire preserved in Western staff notation. The authors present ways to encourage music that is expressive and inventive, spontaneous yet thoughtful, communal and collaborative, and unlimited in its potential to bring fulfillment to those who make it. You'll find opportunities to release the musical imagination in ways that are free and expansive, playful and instructive, personal and interpersonal. Higgins and Campbell have created a context that validates the experiments and explorations of all people who are potential makers of all styles of music. Their musical events embrace the belief that music-making is 'a trail of no mistakes,' a celebration of the many and varied musical pathways that both teacher and student can take.

Free Play is about the inner sources of spontaneous creation. It is about why we create and what we learn when we do. It is about the flow of unhindered creative energy: the joy of making art in all its varied forms. An international bestseller and beloved classic, Free Play is an inspiring and provocative book, directed toward people in any field who want to contact, honor, and strengthen their own creative powers. It reveals how inspiration arises within us, how that inspiration may be blocked, derailed or obscured, and how finally it can be liberated—how we can be liberated—to speak or sing, write or paint, dance or play, with our own authentic voice. Stephen Nachmanovitch, a pioneer in free improvisation, integrates material from a wide variety of sources among the arts, sciences, and spiritual traditions of humanity, drawing on unusual quotes, amusing and illuminating anecdotes, and original metaphors. The whole enterprise of improvisation in life and art, of recovering free play and awakening creativity, is about being true to ourselves and our visions. Free Play brings us into direct, active contact with boundless creative energies that we may not even know we had.

101 More Improv Games for Children and Adults: A Smart Fun Book for Ages 5 and Up is the follow-up to Bob Bedore’s popular 101 Improv Games for Children and Adults. This sequel takes us even deeper into the craft of improv — the magical art of creating something out of nothing — with all new games! Author Bob Bedore emphasizes how you can use improvisation, creativity, and teamwork any time, any place, to get your imagination flowing, win over a crowd, or be a wittier conversationalist. Actors and improv students will appreciate the author's fun, down-to-earth approach to developing theater craft. And improv isn't only for serious thespians. Used as a classroom activity, it teaches kids how to have fun, relax, and work together without seeming like an educational tool at all. Great on its own or as a companion to Bedore’s first book, 101 More Improv Games for Children and Adults is centered around entertaining an audience and creating memorable scenes. This sequel includes information on how to produce your own improv show. 101 More Improv Games for Children and Adults is full of wacky and brilliant activities for kids, teachers, actors, comedians, improv groups, or anyone else.

A musical practice used for centuries the world over, improvisation too often has been neglected by scholars who dismiss it as either technically undissectible or inexplicably mysterious. At different times and in different cultures, performing music that is not "precomposed" has constituted an artful expression of the performer's individuality (the Baroque); a wild, unthinking form of expression (jazz antagonists); and the best method to train inexperienced musicians to use their instruments (the Middle East). This wide-ranging collection of essays considers musical improvisation from a variety of approaches, including ethnomusicology, education, performance, historical musicology, and music theory. Laying the groundwork for even further research into improvisation, the contributors of this volume delve into topics as diverse as the creative minds of Mozart and Beethoven, the place of improvised musics in Western and non-Western societies, and the development of jazz as a musical and cultural phenomenon.