Teaching Improvisation: It’s Easier Than You Think!

WEBINAR RECORDING

Get ready to play, explore, and create as you help your students step into the world of musical improvisation with confidence and joy! In this upbeat, idea-packed session, Lisa Sempsey and Judy Thompson Barthwell share imaginative, classroom-tested strategies that make improvisation feel fun and approachable. You’ll pick up playful games, movement activities, and musical adventures that scaffold your students from simple exploration to more structured improvisation—without the fear factor. Whether you’re using puppets, songs, soundscapes, or spontaneous storytelling, this session will give you tools to spark creativity, build musical vocabulary, and let your students shine.

Highlights

Unpack the difference between exploration and improvisation—and why both are essential.
Scaffold your lessons with easy-to-follow steps: imitate, explore, and create!
Try musical conversations, puppet storytelling, soundscapes, mirroring, shadowing, and flocking.
Bring the fun with improvisation games like "Rain, Rain" and "Bounce High, Bounce Low."
Use rhythmic building blocks, manipulatives, and simple songs to build success.
Add creative movement and playful shapes to boost student comfort and imagination.
Get ideas for including students with visual impairments and different abilities.
Play with jazz, swing, and John Coltrane’s Giant Steps—made kid-friendly!
Take home ready-to-use materials, background tracks, and loads of creative sparks.

After registering, you will be able to access the webinar recording and downloadable materials from your online library.

Upon completion, you may request a certificate of completion for 1.5 hours of professional development by emailing our team at [email protected]

PURCHASE WEBINAR RECORDING

Judy Thompson-Barthwell grew up and still lives in Detroit. A music educator of 44 years, she has taught general music, choir, and dance K-12. She is now retired, but stays involved by volunteering in music classrooms in the Detroit area. She mentors working music educators as invited. A teacher educator in Orff Teacher Certification courses for over 35 years, she received the Michigan Music Educator of the Year Award in 2012 and more recently, the 2021 American Orff-Schulwerk Association Distinguished Service Award. In her retirement, Judy continues to grow by studying Jazz.

Lisa Sempsey holds a Bachelor of Science in Music Education and a Master’s of Education in Leadership for Teaching and Learning, as well as completed Kodály and Orff-Schulwerk levels and one level of World Music Drumming. She is a clinician and workshop presenter who has experience teaching K-6th grade general music, children’s choirs, elementary and middle school strings, ukulele clubs, barred percussion ensembles, and as an Art & Music curriculum coordinator. She has a passion for sharing how to design student-centered curricula specific to individual/school/system needs. Currently, Lisa teaches K-6th grade general music, chorus, and strings at Farmdale Elementary School and is the K-12 Music Department Coordinator in Hempfield School District. She is also an adjunct undergraduate and graduate music education professor at Elizabethtown College.