So, Carmen and Brunnhilde go into a bar…

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Cover of "Mozart - Don Giovanni / Hampson...

The last concert of the improv class was a hoot, as they all are. Our amazing bassoonist (she of the intergalactic extended techniques) was absent (off taking a professional audition), but we were helped out by Laura G. (viola, voice), and Jim S. (trumpet & 39 mutes). We started off with everyone scattered around the hall. Alone on stage, I started a rhythm with brushes on a djembe. Then everyone came in antiphonally on a Coplandesque-wide-open-spaces sounding improv in (ca.) F. After a while, they moved slowly to the stage, finishing the piece in their chairs in a semi-circle in the middle of the stage. Then everyone moved (one by one) to the piano, segueing into the next part of the piece: everyone experimenting with extended techniques in the open grand piano just behind the chairs. Interesting sounds! After a while, the pianist (Matt) took over on the piano (using the ivories this time), very sparse, soft. Everyone else drifted back to their chairs, and accompanied Matt’s solo with various small percussion instruments. Then everyone gradually switched back to their instruments and finished with the same Coplandy-sounding music that began the concert.

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Improv Quote of the Day: Artistry and Improvisation

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curtis5.jpg

(Photo credit: LibraryatNight)

You learn music by always playing what is given to you. But how do you learn to be an artist of you don’t practice that aspect of making up your own music?

–Noam Sivan of the Curtis Institute of Music – from the article “Classical Musicians Learn to Improvise” in the Wall Street Journal by Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim

Improv Game of the Day: Yankee Doodle Boodle Noodle Nodel Yodel Rodell Loden Laden Leiden Laugh-In Tap-In Rapping Snapping Snapper

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"Yankee Doodle Boy" (sheet music) pa...

1 player. Choose a simple familiar tune. Yankee Doodle, for instance. Figure out the notes by ear. Play it through again and again. Each time through, change something about it. Make it a small change. What you are doing is not so much making variations of the tune (which you are, for a while), but rather you are very gradually transforming the tune into something else, into a new tune. Make the tune very simple and familiar and the changes small so that you can remember what you did the last time through and change it only slightly each time. But keep it up; after a while the tune should be utterly transformed.

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(Big) Improv Quote of the Day: What Does Improvisation Do For a Musician?

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Awareness

(Photo credit: Emilie Ogez)

For one, it gives me a break from tackling my wrong notes, distasteful vibrato, and being torn between interpretations in the practice room. There are no wrong notes, no wrong inflections. I wouldn’t say that a note during improv with “distasteful” vibrato/intonation/whatever was necessarily done on purpose, but was made in the moment and without expectation. There is something very freeing and empowering about this. What happens on accident- a cracked note, or a gasping breath, can turn into inspiration for what is to come.

At the same time, I can tackle my classical music troubles through improv. Lately, I’ve had issues with controlling the style of my double tonguing. I’ll start moving my fingers, with no regard to scales or my piece, and focus solely on my double tonguing. This allows my mind to be entirely focused on the production of my tonguing, because I am not going to be distracted by the fingers in an awkward passage, or by the monotony of scales.

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Last class! : <

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Masters of Chant Chapter II

I didn’t even realize it until it was over this morning: it was our last classical improv class of the semester. Sigh. Great group this semester, good ears, lots of satisfying choices. Some fear, still, of “mistakes” (it’s hard to set aside all that classical training for an hour when you’ve been doing it so long), but great imaginations.

What did we do on the last day?

Before I came to school this morning I had been rummaging around some old notebooks and found some scribbled notes on various masterclasses and was typing them into more organized files in the computer. One of them was an improv masterclass given by jazz French hornist Marshall Sealy. He said that everyone should be able to play a plaintive chant-like piece in a minor key on their instrument. So we started with that.

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Creativity in Education Quotes from All Over

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The Creativity symbol as it appeared on the fi...

The Creativity symbol as it appeared on the first edition of Nature's Eternal Religion (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Although this blog focuses on classical improve, we are also passionately interested in creativity in general and creativity in arts education (or any education, for that matter). We are very interested in spreading the word that what the World (and schools) Needs Now is a very healthy shot of a “whole brain” approach to education. Small minds in governing bodies (chockablock with lawyers and business folks) are interested in cheap (i.e. no-cost), instant fixes in education (notably All Children Left Behind – “Is Our Children Learning”?) rather than long-range and effective curriculum planning. There. I said it (again). I feel better. Sort of, for a little while. Anyway, we try to keep our ears open for trends and sentiments in this direction. We would like to share some recent clippings and videos from all kinds of online sources from all over the globe. Read on.

 

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