Drones as an improv teaching tool

Strings Magazine recently had an article about drones. In it the author spoke of drones in improvisation, and particularly talked about a technique for teaching improv in a group: you get the students each to come up with a sentence and start out by playing the rhythm of it in an octave with the drone; when the rhythm is set, the creator then makes the sentence melodic as well, leaving the drone to the other members of the group (always starting from the drone note in octave and returning to it at the end of the improv).

Since the Performance Party last Saturday featured such a wonderful example of improv, especially by the beginning violinist Heather and by Matt Haimovitz, the article set me to wondering if there are teachers out there who have used this "sentence" technique for stimulating improvisation, and if so what they think of it. Possibly an interesting way, among other things, to encourage musical identity making?

I have to confess I was trying it out today, with a simple sentences like "Matt Haimovitz is an awesome cellist and cool," and before I knew it a lot of time had slipped away!

Karen Romer- CMW Board member

Has anyone else had experience using drones as an improv tool? Check out the Strings Magazine article by clicking here.

Chloe Kline (moderator)