The whole reason we are drawn to improvising is because it offers the promise of complete creative freedom. So isn't it ironic that the first thing we do with this freedom is to look for licks and formulas so we can sound exactly like everybody else?
I see the importance of knowing the sounds from the tonal map and being able to sing what you play. However, isn't improvisation also a matter of transcribing other artists' music to absorb the "feel" and "time" they have?
This is a demonstration of some of the sounds we can create with IFR Exercise 2: Melody. Throughout this entire modal improvisation, both musicians are using just seven notes.
I am wondering if there is a "method" for using the major scale in a melodic way rather than playing the scale notes randomly?
Here are five great improvisation exercises that all work together to help you learn to play what you hear.
This great Ted Talk by Jeremy Chapman offers many surprising insights about musical creativity. His talk includes improvisation with the audience and guest musicians, and he even mentions Improvise for Real about halfway through the talk.
In this excerpt from the IFR Jump Start program, Jelske Hoogervorst offers ideas about how to begin experimenting with outside notes in your improvisations.
Bill Evans was a visionary artist who made an enormous personal contribution to our modern concept of jazz piano. And yet at the same time, he believed that ALL human beings have an innate understanding of music.
