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 |
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)