Activity
Elements
Improvisation Prompt
Published November 10, 2026
Michael Joviala demonstrates a short improvisation inspired by water.
Elements
Choose a category: earth, air, fire or water—and then several words to fit it (e.g. fire= glow, flicker, rage, crackle, die). Using a predetermined tonal scheme or playing freely, take turns evoking the words on the keyboard.Even when it’s not a model of clarity and coherence, it’s fun and funny because it’s “hot”—the players must make split-second responses and decisions.
Anne Farber, in Improvisation in the Private Piano Lesson
In my version of this improvisation exercise, I’m inspired by water, in three parts:
- Bubbles
- Stagnant
- Eddy
This activity was revised and adapted from Goal 1, #7. Elements in Improvisation in the Private Piano Lesson by Anne Farber and Sean Hartley.
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Michael Joviala
Michael Joviala is a composer/improviser/performer and educator in New York City. In 2020, he earned the diplôme supérieur from the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva and is the director of the Dalcroze Teacher Training Program at the Lucy Moses School in New York. He teaches Dalcroze eurhythmics to students of all ages at the Lucy Moses School of Music, the Diller-Quaile School of Music, the Dalcroze School of Music and Movement in Dallas, Texas, and in workshops worldwide. He is the creator and music director of the improvising music and dance ensemble, Locomotors. He has called Brooklyn, New York, home since 1992.
Elements
Improvisation Prompt
Michael Joviala, Author
About the Author(s)
Michael Joviala
Michael Joviala is a composer/improviser/performer and educator in New York City. In 2020, he earned the diplôme supérieur from the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva and is the director of the Dalcroze Teacher Training Program at the Lucy Moses School in New York. He teaches Dalcroze eurhythmics to students of all ages at …
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