Halloween Improvisations With Keyboard Sounds

I have a pretty old digital ensemble piano that is a mammoth sound factory.  This instrument adds a lot of excitement to seasonal projects such as Halloween improvisations.  What is a Halloween improvisation, you ask?  Allow me to elaborate..

I don't believe in the occult or really "celebrate" Halloween, but it is a fact that most my students participate in Halloween customs such as trick-or-treating and wearing costumes.  They also associate Halloween with scary sounds and songs.  I have several awesome Halloween-style sounds on my keyboard, including goblins, dark movie scene, and crystal. 

For our Halloween improvisation duet today, my student improvised in pentascales, following my chord progressions.  For instance, if I played A minor, he improvised in A minor 5-finger position.  If I played G major, he improvised in G major 5-finger position.  The pattern continues.  Here it is:

http://soundcloud.com/jennifer-warren-baker/halloween-duet-with-goblins

I think he enjoyed it.  I will post the sheet music for the teacher part for anyone interested, but the progression is A minor, G major, F major, D minor, and repeat.  It's just a tad spooky sounding, but not over-the-top.

Another student, ecstatic about my goblins sound, just enjoyed sitting on long, slow "goblin chords" while I improvised a dramatic piano part.  Here it is:

http://soundcloud.com/jennifer-warren-baker/the-fear

I just had to watch his hands closely to see what goblin chords he was playing so I could do the same chord with piano.  On a second track, I had him add some orchestral percussion with my gong sound!!!  As we sat back and listened to our creation, he began to dramatize a fight scene he was imagining and said he couldn't wait to show it to his friends.

So Halloween -- even though I'm not a huge fan -- can be a springboard for exciting projects which get them excited about music and keep them coming back!!!