Design and Implementation of a Unit on Improvisation for First-year Instrumental Students

UNCP Author/Contributor (non-UNCP co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Kari Mathews-Rick (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Pembroke (UNCP )
Web Site: http://www.uncp.edu/academics/library
Advisor
Janita Byars

Abstract: The action researcher is a band director in the public schools of Robeson County and has been, for the past six years, teaching first-year band. This has been her first teaching position. In this time, she has based her lesson plans on the music portion of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study (NCSCOS). These objectives are based on the National Standards for Arts Education. In the NCSCOS, the third objective calls for the use of improvisation starting with the first year of instrumental instruction. The researcher has an education-based background in jazz study, having played in the jazz band in middle and high school as well as three years on the university level. She was also required to introduce the concept of improvisation in the high school jazz band in which she did her student teaching. Even with this background, this investigator was unsure how to include this practice in the first year of instrumental instruction due to the students' lack of acquired skill on their individual instruments. This thesis topic was chosen to gain knowledge and develop skills for including this objective into her band curriculum and to document this process for reference by others.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 2007
Keywords
NCSCOS, Instrumental Improvisation, Instrumental Instruction, High School Band, Jazz, Student Teaching, Skill Based Learning, Instruments, Band

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