Interactive workshops and presentations exploring how play, experimentation, movement, and creative music-making can help learners of all ages become more curious, confident, and creatively engaged.
Children experiment almost instinctively—moving, inventing, trying, changing, and beginning again. Yet as musicians gain experience, the desire to “get it right” can sometimes make experimentation feel increasingly risky.
My work explores how play, movement, improvisation, and creative experimentation can create space for curiosity and agency within musical learning—and what these ideas might offer children, experienced musicians, adult beginners, educators, and intergenerational communities.
Why can becoming more skilled sometimes make us less willing to experiment? An interactive exploration of play, improvisation, movement, and low-stakes experimentation—and how educators can create conditions that encourage curiosity and creative agency.
A hands-on workshop inviting teachers to experience playful approaches to improvisation, movement, listening, storytelling, and experimentation—and consider how these ideas can be adapted across ages, levels, and learning environments.
What happens when adults willingly become beginners again? Drawing from years of work with adult learners, this session explores inhibition, vulnerability, experimentation, and the conditions that help adults take creative risks.
Natalie's workshops invite participants to experience ideas rather than only hear about them. Depending on the setting, sessions may incorporate movement, improvisation, collaborative challenges, musical games, reflection, discussion, storytelling, and unexpected invitations to play. No special performance level is required unless otherwise noted.
For educators, musicians, organizations, and communities who value creative and innovative approaches to learning—and who are willing to experiment, play, and explore new possibilities together.
Music teacher associations • Universities & pedagogy programs • Arts organizations • Community organizations • Business organizations • Lifelong-learning programs • Schools & educator professional development • Educational retreats
Bring an existing workshop to your community, or let’s imagine something new together. Presentations and experiences can be adapted for different audiences, settings, and goals.
Natalie Doughty is a pianist, music educator, and founder of inRenaissance Music & Arts whose work explores play, creativity, embodiment, and musical agency across the lifespan. She directs and teaches through the JMU Music Academy, has taught piano pedagogy at Eastern Mennonite University, and has developed programs for learners ranging from early childhood through adulthood. Her work brings together music pedagogy, improvisation, movement, collaborative learning, and community engagement to ask how musical environments can make greater space for curiosity, experimentation, and creative freedom.
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