Khora

Ed- (and others)

I have been asked recently by a few different people whether I improvise, and my instinct is to say no, since I'm not (yet) at all comfortable with taking a jazz solo in performance.

But then I wonder if I am selling myself short. The literal meanings would include:1) to extemporize; 2) to make or arrange offhand, or 3) to fabricate out of what is conveniently at hand. The latin root is the work "improvisus" or unseen, derived from "not + to see ahead".

And I can do that - descants on hymns, cadenzas, noodling around on melodic fragments or just on mental images - I do that kind of thing all the time and don't even really think about it.

So what do you personally mean when you ask about improvising? How would you answer such a question?

ecarroll

Khora,

Thank you for launching this topic. It's high time that we discussed improv in this forum. . .

Improvisation is composition in real-time.

Most of us automatically think of playing over jazz changes when we hear the word but in my world (and I'm FAR from alone) improvisation simply means intuitive music. I don't play jazz (yet) but I improvise, both alone and in concert. I came to the realization a few years back that my intervalic and melodic ears were good enough to make my own stuff up (alone or with others) and that encouraging an exploration of intuitive music in my students would be one path towards better understanding of form and dramatic content in performances of composed works.

My brass ensemble at CalArts is playing three fabulous works of Richard Strauss tonight -- Festmusik Stadt Wien, Fanfare fur die Wiener Philharmoniker, and Feierlicher Einzug der Ritter des Johanniterordens -- and I'd like to think that their skills as improvisers (part of our core curriculum) will aid them in crafting the shape and energy of the performance (without watching the clown who is conducting!)

Are there any free improvisers on the forum? Can you tell us how you started? Khora -- tell us about your training, particularly ear training? Your noodling is a step in the right direction, by the way.

Watching here with great, great interest,
EC

Solar Bell

Well, at the last ITG jam session,

Pat Harbison described it as "Chromatic Searching", at least what was going on there!

Still one of my favorite lines, Thanks PH.

I use it all the time.

Now back to serious answers!

-cw-

__________________
Chuck Willard
The Willard of Oz

"Don't be afraid to see what you see."
Ronald Reagan

mahaberio

I recently performed in my first free improvisation entitled "Paris Subway" by a fellow student here at CCM. There were very elaborate guidelines based on a map of the Paris subway, but it was ultimately just to give us a starting point. The instrumentation was trumpet (at one point with live processing), trombone, and five computers. It was very easy to get sucked into the music that was being made and was much less about playing the trumpet than it was trying to create sounds that fit in with what everyone else was doing. It lasted about twenty minutes and we were all pretty happy with the result. Perhaps I'll have a link for a recording some time soon.

ecarroll

Matthew,

When did CCM become such a hip place? A link would be greatly appreciated. I'm sure that everyone would enjoy hearing what you came up with.

I had a wonderful experience at the California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA, a program for highschoolers: I chair the music department) last July, joining a microtonal (prepared) pianist and a percussionist (various from our Indonesian gamelan, marimba, vibes, various pots and pans) for a concert of improvisation. We created one piece and were astonished afterwards that it lasted for 90 minutes (!)

As noted in another thread, Markus Stockhausen was just at CalArts and his concert (http://www.calendarlive.com/music/cl...l=cl-classical) and classes in intuitive music were brilliant. Everyone should check out his webpage (http://www.markusstockhausen.de). Markus is more than one of my favorite trumpet players -- he's also on a very short list of my favorite musicians.

Chuck, "chromatic searching" works for me. This can be expanded to "rhythmic searching", "searching for dialogue", and "searching for structure" as well. Oops . . . I guess that we're defining composition :)

Others?

Best,
EC

tptCarl

http://www.markusstockhausen.com/


This link might work better. I was lucky enough to attend an ITG convention years ago where both Markus and EC performed.

Khora

Okay, now I feel kind of dumb -when you put it THAT way it makes a lot more sense, and doesn't feel foreign to me at all! Hmmmm.... I can't believe I've never really thought of it that way - I always just called it noodling.

I've been doing that, based on a lot of different ideas, concepts, and images for several years now. I guess I first started in earnest shortly after 9/11 when I was one of the civilians playing Taps for the FDNY funerals. I found it incredibly therapeutic to escape into my own world within the trumpet when I was alone, as a way to process some of the many images, names, memories, experiences, etc. that I was trying to process.

So, would you say that the difference between noodling and free improv really lies in the "intentionality" of what you are creating? The fact that it is based on some set of parameters - be they melodic, harmonic, structural, or whatever?

Wow. Thanks all - as always, I leave with LOTS more to think about.

Khora

Ed-

My formal ear training was the standard course in school. It was very basic and almost exclusively major -minor tonalities, with the focus primarily on melodic sight-singing. I can do atonal lines without much trouble, but I feel much less comfortable once I get into chords.

My rhythmic ear is really good, however. I can hear rhythmic modulations pretty easily, and complex rhythms are kind of a game for me. I see them sort of 3-dimensionally when I hear them, which helps a lot.

I'm trying to work on playing in different modes, but I haven't developed enough of a routine to really keep at it every day - just not enough hours in the day. I'm using basic technical materials - Chris Kase's book, Nagel's Speed Studies, some of the Vizzuti and Gekker studies - but I don't really hear in a modal context. I'm a little frustrated - I know it shouldn't be this hard. Any suggestions would be welcomed with open ears!

ecarroll

Khora,

I love reading the above. Time is, to me, the most important element of music and one that deserves a detailed thread here. . .

As for melodic/modal training, why not practice all of the modes between randomly chosen notes a 5th apart? *note that decending is trickier for many than ascending* It's astonishing how well this works in engaging the brain and developing a "knowing ear".

Most trumpet students in college dismiss ear training as an evil of the curriculum, choosing instead to spend hours working on their sound. Arnold Jacobs said it best, however: "the instrument is a mirror to what's on your mind".

I can't tell you how many students I've heard that have nothing on their mind -- but say it beautifully. Yikes.

Judging by your posts you have PLENTY on your mind, and I can't wait to hear you play sometime (!)

Best,
EC

Khora

Could you elaborate on what you mean just a bit? I'm a little confused by what you mean by "between randomly chosen notes a 5th apart". A melodic line spanning a fifth in all the modes? All the modes between those 2 notes? Afraid my feeble brain just isn't as quick as it used to be

I admit that I didn't take ear training as seriously as I wish I had, but I kept acing it and they didn't push very hard. I was doing 2 degrees in 4 years - any slack I could get I took! Now it is biting me in the backside, of coure. The sins of our youth.....