About This Lesson
In this high school unit plan, which is intended to take place over the course of ten 1-hour music performance classes, the concept of music improvisation is introduced and taught to students through the context of western music theory. The beginning lesson focuses on defining music improvisation and providing listening examples of improvisation through recordings and live performances (should the music teacher feel inclined to do so themselves or with help from guests/colleagues!), followed by reviewing foundational music theory concepts including scales, intervals, and chord qualities. From here, the unit plan aims to take this information to develop melodic content stemming from scalar and intervallic patterns that can be transposed to different keys and over a I-IV-V blues progression. Finally, students will select a chord progression/song of their choice (as approved by the instructor to ensure the choice is reasonably challenging) to begin practicing their newly developed melodic ideas in-time along with a band-in-a-box app or a small ensemble, if possible!
