Improvisation Dice Game

Posted January 24, 2023

Ever feel stuck in an ‘improvisation rut’? We all depend on well-learned chord progressions and patterns, but sometimes Dalcrozians (and improvising musicians in general) need a little inspiration to find their way to something new.

One remedy is by listening to others play. One of the great benefits of the recent National Conference (January 13–15, 2023) was all of the creativity and originality in improvised music that we heard and experienced. For those of us who couldn’t be there (or for those who appreciate parameters for improvisation), Aaron Butler has developed a simple game to help you mix up your practice a bit.

To play, you’ll need several dice of varying sizes. Each die will relate to a musical element, including tonality, meter, tempo, or tonal center. (Out of dice? Try a virtual dice roller instead.)

In a solo setting, simply roll the dice and create music that follows the parameters. To simulate a group experience or practice playing for a Dalcroze class, make one of the parameters a locomotor movement (e.g., march music, running, skipping, etc.), say, or creating music for props (e.g., ball bouncing, scarf tossing, ribbon-wand waving, etc.). The possibilities are endless.

Aaron Butler’s rules are listed below. Dust off your practice dice (or purchase some here or here) and give it a try! If dice are out of the cards (so to speak), then you could easily use a deck of cards (e.g., suit = mode, number = tonal center, joker = duet, etc.).

Please send in a recording of your results to editor@dalcrozeusa.org!

We would love to hear this game played not only on the piano but on any instrument (recorder, anyone?). A future DSA blog post might come your way with the most interesting recordings submitted…