Improvise to Compose

As a classically trained pianist, I was never given the opportunity to learn improvisation skills growing up. I became highly proficient at reading and playing notated music scores in the tradition of Western art music. I could even competently play jazz and popular music, as long as what I had to play was all written out for me. In my undergrad days I would admire the improvisational skills of the jazz musicians, knowing that I could not sit at the piano without a piece of music in front of me. I also felt deficient in compositional skills. I never considered myself a composer and the whole process made me feel uncomfortable. Lacking confidence in my own compositional and creative abilities, I developed the mindset that I was not good at it, that it was not for me.

I draw a link here between my undeveloped skills in improvisation and my lack of confidence as a composer. I believe improvisation, with its focus on uninhibited, spontaneous creative expression and risk-taking, is a fundamental part of the composition process. Improvisation is a form of composition.

Typically, in our Composition in Music Education classes, we begin with a piece of music, or an Orff-style arrangement, that we learn and perform as a class. We are then invited to take turns improvising during performance – that is, to change some part of the music and make it our own – while the rest of the class provides accompaniment. It can be as simple as changing the rhythm or the order of notes. This then becomes a starting point for a composition activity, such as writing a new rhythm or a melody and notating it (traditionally or graphically). By the time we even realise we are composing, we have already created something new. Composition thus becomes a natural extension of performance through improvisation.

Improvisation needs to occur in a safe and trusting learning environment, and works best when specific parameters are set, such as a pitch or rhythmic set, from which students can select ideas. These are some ideas we discussed in class to help students build their confidence in improvisation:

• Students can improvise first with rhythms on non-pitched percussion instruments.

• Give students safe notes: a whole solo can be performed on a single note, and then expanded to include 2 or 3 pitches when students are ready.

• A rhythm can be provided, and the student just chooses the pitches.

• The teacher can provide a simple model by soloing first.

• If students are uncomfortable, they can do a group improvisation, where they all improvise at the same time.

• An accompaniment can be provided in Soundtrap or Garageband and students can improvise on their own while wearing headphones.

Here is a palindromic melody that I composed in grid notation following improvisation on Humberstone’s Palindromes from Noise Husbandry:

This composition is a 4-bar rhythm based on rhythmic cells in Humberstone’s Gun Bay from Noise Husbandry. The document below shows the rhythmic cells, while the mp3 is my rhythm which I created using a template in soundtrap. In Pokemon language, my rhythm goes like this:

oddish nidorina (sigh) gloom jynx | nidorina bulbasaur bulbasaur (sigh) gloom |

nidorina pikachu jynx oddish | jynx (sigh) gloom pikachu oddish |

Pokemon rhythmic elements.pdf

Download PDF • 362KB

This one is a recorded improvisation from a soundtrap file containing the groove of Papa is a Rolling Stone as a backing for soloing over. We improvised using either:

Bb Dorian mode (Bb C Db Eb F G Ab Bb)

OR

Bb blues (Bb Dd Eb E F Ab Bb)