Guided group improvisation (adapted from Kaplan
[1994])
The instructor creates several different sets of 4 or 5 cards. Each card
in the set describes a different musical attribute that the improvised piece
must include, such as a key, a meter, a harmonic progression, the length
in measures of the improvisation, some rhythmic or melodic motives, a loosely
described musical character (i.e. blissful, pensive, serene, adventurous),
etc.
Groups of 3 or 4 students are created, or established long-term groups are summoned together. The groups must work on interconnected headphones. The roles of the group are decided internally; one person takes the bass line, another creates the harmonic filling, another creates the melody, and another a countermelody. One person acts as moderator and another as time keeper. Each student in the circle gets a chance to contribute with one idea at a time, and the group decides whether the idea is worth adopting. After all the basics have been decided, the group starts "building up" the improvisation, guided by the moderator. Instrumentation is also decided at this point. Usually the activity works best if the chord accompaniment is improvised first, then the bass, and finally the melodies. This fact can be left to the groups to discover.
After each group has rehearsed their creations, they show the cards to the other groups and play their work on speakers. The listeners discuss how the basic elements have been used. The performers discuss how they arrived at the final version --who contributed, how they made the pertinent decisions, etc.