Improvising and developing musical ideas
Improvisation is composing in real time. It feels risky at first, but a few reliable tools make it far more manageable.
Part of your national curriculum
- Performing: Improvise and compose, and extend and develop musical ideas by drawing on a range of musical structures, styles, genres and traditions
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Improvise and compose, and extend and develop musical ideas by drawing on a range of musical structures, styles, genres and traditions
Key learning points
- • Starting simply
- • Borrowing structures
- • Developing an idea
This lesson at a glance
- 25 minutes
- 17 parts to scroll through
- 3 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 17
Visual introductionPicture this
Improvising and developing musical ideas
Improvisation is composing in real time. It feels risky at first, but a few reliable tools make it far more manageable.
In a nutshell
Improvise and compose, and extend and develop musical ideas by drawing on a range of musical structures, styles, genres and traditions
Learning cycle
Part 2 of 17
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 · Starting simply
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 17
Learn
Starting simply
Begin improvising using just a few notes from a scale, such as the notes of a pentatonic scale, which rarely sound 'wrong' over most backing. Repetition of a short rhythmic idea (a riff) is often more effective than constant new notes.
Reset break
Part 4 of 17
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 4 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 17
Learn
Borrowing structures
Many genres use recognisable structures: twelve-bar blues, verse-chorus pop form, or call-and-response in gospel and jazz. Learning a structure gives you a map, so you know where you are heading even while improvising freely within it.
Quick check
Part 6 of 17
Quick check
Part 7 of 17
Reset break
Part 8 of 17
Pause
That's sitting 2 of 4 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Learning cycle
Part 9 of 17
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 · Developing an idea
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 10 of 17
Learn
Developing an idea
Take a short musical idea (a motif) and develop it: repeat it higher or lower, change its rhythm, or add a new answering phrase. Development turns a single idea into a whole piece rather than a string of unrelated fragments.
Quick check
Part 11 of 17
Reset break
Part 12 of 17
Pause
That's sitting 3 of 4 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Challenge round
Part 13 of 17
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Challenge round
Part 14 of 17
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
Take a short ____ idea (a motif) and develop it: repeat it higher or lower, change its rhythm, or add a new answering phrase.
Challenge round
Part 15 of 17
Game · Recall cards
Why might a pentatonic scale help a beginner improviser?
Card 1 of 3
Mastery quiz
Part 16 of 17
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Improvising and developing musical ideas
3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. Why might a pentatonic scale help a beginner improviser?
2. What does the twelve-bar blues provide for an improviser?
3. What does 'developing' a musical motif involve?
Lesson round-up
Part 17 of 17
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
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Ask LunaPart 1 of 17 · Watch & discover
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Improvise and compose, and extend and develop musical ideas by drawing on a range of musical structures, styles, genres and traditions