Tag: improvisation

  • Watching Music, Hearing Movement

    This week I decided to scour YouTube for examples of improvising music for (and with) improvised movement. I posted them on the New York Dalcroze facebook page to promote the chapter’s online workshop “Improvising Music for Improvised Dance”, Saturday May 20th, 1-3pm NYC time, tickets and info here, led by myself and Dawn Pratson. I’ve […]

  • Becoming More Yourself

    Dawn Pratson, Michael Joviala and Michele Herman in Conversation For about 2 years now, Dawn Pratson (dance and choreography) and I (piano and composition) have been meeting every week through Zoom to improvise together. Dawn usually leads us both in a physical warm-up. Eventually I wander over to the piano and start to play. We […]

  • Come Play With Us

    I’m leading drop-in online guided improvisation sessions in February 2023 on Saturdays, 1:00-1:45pm Eastern. To learn more about it and find out how to join, click here. No improv experience necessary and only you (and whoever is in your house!) will hear yourself. A few past attendees were kind enough to write descriptions of what […]

  • Ensemble Skills for 1st-2nd Grade (Part 4 of 4)

    This is the final part of a series on skills, goals and objectives for 1st-2nd grade Dalcroze classes. The lists from the previous posts on movement, rhythm and pitch would not have been out of place in many other introductory theory, ear training or music or movement fundamentals classes. I regard this final category, ensemble […]

  • Guided Improvisation Sessions

    As we returned to (mostly) in-person teaching and learning, I found myself wondering if I could create a short class that would actually work best remotely. I thought about things the internet does well, like encouraging a feeling of connectedness while simultaneously allowing users to be completely isolated. To exploit this paradox, I began teaching […]