This week, we’ve created an improvisation game exploring timbre and range that you can play with your friends (although we also have options for flying solo)! Setting arbitrary “rules” means that we have a lot of flexibility and opportunity for playfulness and expression. Here’s the basics of the game: if the first sound goes up, the second goes down, and so on and so forth.
Adult non-musicians: Explore the range of your voice! Try your lowest grumble and highest squeak. Find your favorite vocal noises in between. Where does your speaking voice sit in your range? Does this surprise you? What humor can you find in distorting your voice?
K–8: In a lesson or classroom setting, start by having the instructor play or sing an ascending glissando, and have the student(s) repeat but in the opposite direction. Repeat in the opposite direction. After exploring the full range of the voice/instrument, start the game. Whatever direction the instructor travels in their range, the students should respond in a similar fashion but in the opposite direction. As the instructor, try to challenge students to explore the limits of their range. What did students learn from the game?
Musicians: Use this exercise to travel through your instrument’s full range without attachment to ideas of exact pitch, tone, or intonation. Instead, focus more on gesture. Notice where in your range you hesitate, and where you like to linger. If playing alone, try taking on 2 different “personalities;” if your first gesture ascends, your second should do the opposite, etc. If playing with a colleague: travel in the opposite direction of the other player. When one player’s musical gesture ascends, the other should descend, etc. Ponder these questions: Do you race to finish? Do you prefer to play in measured time or freely? Do you work within a structured key or without? Do you meander and weave amongst each other? Do you mimic one another’s shapes and articulations, or contrast?