One of the great ironies of being a music educator is that we are supposed to be teaching a creative art form – yet the existing paradigms for music education do not leave us much room to teach creativity to our students. I’m of course passionate about teaching popular music because it is the music I love – but I also believe in teaching it because it is the music my students know and love and want to emulate in the music they create. But most of the time, music educators are encouraged to teach our students to think convergently – to eliminate possible answers and converge on a single, “correct” one. This way of thinking doesn’t allow our students to explore the possibilities that musical creativity requires.
Alongside my work teaching popular music ensemble and songwriting classes, I also work as a music director at the Second City Hollywood, where I teach musical improv comedy to students of all ages and experience levels. What started out as just a fun gig where I could laugh a lot has turned into a passionate cause for me, because I think music education has a lot to learn from the principles and experience of improv. As a result, I’ve increasingly found myself incorporating improv games into every class I teach.
I’ve found that improv can be an incredibly useful tool in the classroom for three main reasons. The first I’ve already referred to – improv relies on the idea that there are no right answers and fellow improvisers have to build off of ideas that have already been offered. It encourages divergent thinking as opposed to convergent thinking. This allows students to entertain any and all ideas, no matter how silly or strange they might be.
Second, the experience of offering up ideas that will always be received and used can be an incredibly empowering experience, especially for students who are struggling in school or have been marginalized by society. The principle of improv, when applied correctly, can be the foundation of a safe and just space for students who want to write, perform and create.
And lastly, as we all know, teaching is an improvisatory act. It demands a balance between the needs of our students with the requirements of our program or institution, and compels us to remain constantly engaged and prepared to adjust on the fly. Experience improvising, whether in music or in comedy, makes us better teachers because it gives us the ability to respond to changing circumstances.
As part of my master’s program in Community Music at USC, I put together a podcast on how improv can be used in the classroom. I was able to interview Laura Hall, the music director of Whose Line is it Anyway, and Prof. Keith Sawyer, a psychologist and musician who teaches at UNC Chapel Hill, among others. The result is a fun, 53-minute podcast that draws upon academic writings as well as great conversations to explore the history and principles of improv and to illustrate how they can be used by music educators of all stripes.
Jake is a musician, comedian, writer and educator. He is a master’s student at USC, works as a music director and performer at the Second City Hollywood, and founded indie rock band Drunken Logic.