Mu& in educationIMPROVISATIONClass teaching with a large number of pupils is not necessarily an ob-
stacle to the creative activity which should play such an important part
in art education. Suitable games can be used to foster the creative
impulse, while the teacher assumes the role of a discreet observer.
We must always remember that nothing can come of an impulse un-
less the ground has been prepared beforehand. ‘There is no creation,
only transformation.’ Only when the pupil’s memory has been stored
with expressive patterns (rhythmic, visual or melodic) which are short
enough to be wholly assimilated, will he, in certain circumstances,
begin by reproducing these same patterns, then unconsciously trans-
form them and finally achieve others which are all his own.
In order to achieve these thrilling results, however, the teacher must
create an atmosphere of absolute confidence, without the slightest hint
of criticism, As, at the outset, the creative work must be ephemeral,
he should not, on any account, try to get the child to remember what he
has done. If he were to do so, he might well paralyse the creative im-
pulse entirely and often for a long time. In the first stage of musical
development, there should therefore be no attempt to record these
impulses in the conscious mind.
Rhythm takes an important place among the simple methods by
which improvisation can fairly quickly be encouraged. Only when one
has seen what stimulus children derive from what they themselves call
the ‘rhythmic drive’ does one fully understand how very useful this
method of training can be.
With regard to melody, too, the sense of tone so rapidly developed,
can, as will soon be seen, be used to stimulate vocal improvisation.
Short melodic themes called ‘questions’, leaving the melodic line in
suspense, help the children to appreciate the attraction of the tonic and
themselves suggest the improvised ‘reply’ which will restore the ba-
lance. Little by little, the replies are extended and become complete
melodies, the child himself discovering the secondary points of repose.
Lastly, there are other games which make use of the stimulus pro-
vided by a steady continuing, rhythmic pattern sung by a group of
children on a single note (pedal) while a young soloist, starting with
a theme, improvises until his breath gives out.
Thus being accustomed to improvising naturally, the children feel
the need of associatins with the sound the word or movement which
maintains and complements the original feeling. We then achieve that
true synthesis of art which, in one surge of vitality, one efflorescence,