How can music educators use improvisation to support student voice, identity, and creative expression? This interactive session offers hands-on strategies for helping students express who they are through sound. Bring your instrument and leave with adaptable tools to integrate improvisation into your teaching while strengthening technique, deepening musical engagement, and empowering student voice.
The session will offer adaptable strategies suitable for applied teaching (private instruction), group classes, and chamber settings, especially for advanced high school and collegiate students. Participants will leave with practical tools to foster musical agency, identity exploration, and self-expression through improvisation.
Target Audience
Applied High School, Private, and Higher Education Teachers/Professors
Additional Notes
Clinician Info
Kathryn Schulmeister
University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music
Hawaiʻi-born bassist Kathryn Schulmeister enjoys a creative musical practice ranging from classical to experimental. Currently based in Los Angeles, Kathryn is a member of several contemporary music ensembles including the ELISION Ensemble (Australia), Fonema Consort (Chicago/NYC), and the Echoi Ensemble (LA). She has performed as a guest artist with various international ensembles including Klangforum Wien, Ensemble MusikFabrik, Wild Up!, Delirium Musicum, Ensemble Dal Niente, and Ensemble Vertixe Sonora. Kathryn has been featured as a soloist at venues and festivals around the world including the Los Angeles GRAMMY Museum, ECLAT Festival Neue Musik Stuttgart, Museum of Making Music Carlsbad, soundSCAPE Festival Italy, and the Vértice Festival Mexico City. In Fall 2023, she joined the faculty at the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music as Assistant Professor of Practice in String Bass.