Considering current trends in research of music pedagogy, improvisation seems to be an exceptional musical “act” of learning music, embracing characteristics of informal learning practices.
This study intended to investigate young children's improvisations when applying "open approaches" of teaching improvisation. Open approaches of teaching – learning improvisation stress the importance of the “act” of music placing the student in the centre of the learning process. It encourages music experimentation and exploration, group collaboration, as well as learning through the process of enculturation as an exercise of autonomy and freedom. Moreover, it emphasises the active role of the teacher and the scaffolding process.
Throughout the study, I aimed to answer the following questions: 1) How do children interact with each other? 2) What factors influence the formation of children's improvisations? and 3) How does the teacher's role support the "open approaches" of improvisation? The study took place in a private kindergarten in Greece. A group of seven 5–6-year-old children participated in the study for three months. The nature of the activities were open, flexible and structured.
According to the findings, young children employed several pathways of improvisation and interaction, including body percussion, verbal expression and playing musical instruments. They utilized several improvisation practices, including imitations, parallel, sequential and complementary improvisations, pre-planned improvisations, and improvisations focused on melody transcription by ear. The lyrics of the songs played a crucial role in stimulating imaginary narrative stories. The melodic line of the song provided a framework for the children to delineate meanings and develop their musical ideas based on their own experiences.
The reserch revealed the function of improvisation as a democratic social practice in which the group shared beliefs, ideas and emotions through music. Sharing common meanings through their improvisations, children expressed themselves freely and autonomously within a peer-directed and self-directed learning environment.
