Calypso

Get your students improvising using the musical style of the Caribbean. The composer, Martin Norgaard (famous for his Fiddle Wizard series) recommends teaching the style with call and response between teacher and pupils, using the rhythms on open strings without the sheet music. Then use the rhythms in conjunction with a scale. By the time they have the Latin rhythms ingrained in their muscles, you can then show them how they are notated and they won't seem the least bit scary! The students also then have a basis for building an improvisational solo, which is open to any instrument. It's totally cool!