Vocal Improvisation In A Circle

This item is not in the library — it is a part of: C. Bergstrøm-Nielsen, Intuitive Music: A Mini Handbook.

This could be good for starting a lesson. The circle gathers people together and instructing the participants to close their eyes helps them to be more confident in their own soundmaking; instructions are supportive without being restrictive.

Participants should sit in a circle. The teacher states that in a short time the group members will close their eyes. He/she will then provide a sound to begin. The group itself then discovers what to do with the sound. The initial sound may determine the resultant process, especially if the group is new and has not yet come into its own. You can start, for example, with a quiet glissando on "nnn" moving slightly up into a higher register, for an example of something apt for gradual warm-up. Or the initial sound could be slightly more challenging. The improvisation could last for approximately ten minutes — it remains up to the group itself to decide when to stop. When the improvisation is over, people are instructed to open their eyes if they have not already done this on their own.


The wording above is by Carl Bergstrøm-Nielsen, as written in Intuitive Music: A Mini-Handbook, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0 (Bergstrøm-Nielsen 2009, 10)



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