"A Preview from the Presenters"
Making Something from Nothing: Group Exercises to Build Improvisational Confidence
The Instrumentalist | December 2016
[Note: this short write-up, about my upcoming presentation at The Midwest Clinic, was included in a larger article with previews from 13 other presenters.]
Although many musicians think they cannot improvise, the simple truth is that each of us is improvising most things we do throughout the entire day. The conversation you just had with your colleague was improvised. Your lesson plans when you discover the real problem is not what you thought it was are improvised. Your drive home from work when you hear there has been an accident on the freeway is improvised.
Improvisation, like nearly everything you do, is a learned skill. You may not have worked on improvising with an instrument, and your ability to do it may be poor at best, but you cannot lack an ability to improvise. If you are an educator who struggles with the idea of improvisation, keep this in mind.
Start small. Practice a scale with new rhythms instead of making every note even. Create a new way of going up or down a scale, skip some notes and keep some others. Play around with just a few notes at a time and see what you can create. If you think nothing of interest can be done with three notes, remember that the main melodic hook of Vince Guaraldi's Linus and Lucy uses just three notes. If you are helping students to cultivate their improvisatory abilities, make sure they realize this, too. Improvisation is not an elusive ability only some are born with; improvisation is a way of life.
Although many musicians think they cannot improvise, the simple truth is that each of us is improvising most things we do throughout the entire day. The conversation you just had with your colleague was improvised. Your lesson plans when you discover the real problem is not what you thought it was are improvised. Your drive home from work when you hear there has been an accident on the freeway is improvised.
Improvisation, like nearly everything you do, is a learned skill. You may not have worked on improvising with an instrument, and your ability to do it may be poor at best, but you cannot lack an ability to improvise. If you are an educator who struggles with the idea of improvisation, keep this in mind.
Start small. Practice a scale with new rhythms instead of making every note even. Create a new way of going up or down a scale, skip some notes and keep some others. Play around with just a few notes at a time and see what you can create. If you think nothing of interest can be done with three notes, remember that the main melodic hook of Vince Guaraldi's Linus and Lucy uses just three notes. If you are helping students to cultivate their improvisatory abilities, make sure they realize this, too. Improvisation is not an elusive ability only some are born with; improvisation is a way of life.