Guide your music with emotions from childhood. Easy first step toward free improvisation.
Set up
Pick a fairy tale that everyone is familiar with and summarize it's main story points (people might know a few different versions of one fairytale).
Gameplay instructions
Play to illustrate emotional aura of subsequent parts. Your main task is to listen to each other so everyone plays around the same moment of story and musical ideas don't spread over more than two parts at once.
Game end
Game ends when everyone is in the finale of the fairy tale. Try to stop playing together - a person that makes the last sound (after everyone else) gets "-1 point".
Gamemaster's notes
If players' skill doesn't allow them to adjust to overall harmony by ear, you can agree beforehand on a chord or two for some part of the story. Especially if mood of that part is orderly or sweet or otherwise doesn't go well with too much 'mess' in music.
External links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1iRsCoP4Nw - David Bruce's video about Carl Stalling, because cartoons took over the function of fairy tales for many people anyway.
