Music Improvisation Fundamentals: Pithy insights to get your whole approach toward improvisation moving in the right direction…
Music Improvisation Fundamentals (Micro-Lessons)
Bite sized wisdom on the true nature of improvising music… shared in order to challenge so many misconceptions about what improvisation is and isn’t…
The secret to success is that there is no secret to success. The ability to improvise with confidence and conviction is the inevitable reward for studying and practicing the right musical things the right way. ~fjp
You cannot improvise by knowledge alone. You need SKILL…the skill to automatically and instantaneously translate your musical ideas into physical execution at the keyboard. ~fjp
Learning how to improvise will transform you from a mere consumer of music into a creator of music… able to play things that only YOU can play… in a way that only YOU can play them! How cool is that! ~ fjp
Learning how to improvise is the process of learning how music works and then translating that knowledge into the practical skill to express yourself with your instrument. ~ fjp
CREATIVITY isn’t just for “creative” people. “Creative“ people do things that “non-creative” people don’t do… or refuse to do. ~ fjp
There’s a lot less making stuff up when you improvise than most people think. Just like speaking English, you typically don’t invent new words or phrases when you speak. What you ARE doing is spontaneously expressing yourself in your own manner of speaking… in a way that is appropriate to a particular situation. Improvising music works the same way. ~fjp
The ability to express ourselves in words is so commonplace, and we are so good at it, that we take it all for granted. But it’s easy to forget that the words that flow so easily now are the fruit of a lifetime of effort and experience: listening, speaking, reading, and writing… in a variety of real-life situations. We learn how to “speak” music the very same way. ~fjp
You can’t improvise fluently “one-note-at-a-time” any more than you can speak English fluently “one-syll-able-at-a-time”. Trying to think “one-note-at-a-time” is not only cognitively overwhelming, but playing “one-note-at-a-time” is not how music works. ~fjp
Just like learning any language, the more grammar you understand… and the more words you know… the more things you will have to say… and the more ways you will have to say them… in a variety of real-world contexts. Learning to improvise music is no different. ~fjp
Music is a LANGUAGE… a unique language that’s both universal and un-translatable… with its own wordless grammar and vocabulary. And so, learning how to improvise is about learning how to speak the LANGUAGE of music. ~fjp
Fluent improvisation is a very learnable skill. Learning how to improvise is no more difficult than, but requires no less effort than, learning how to speak a second language. ~fjp
One reason people “can’t” improvise… or are afraid to improvise… or don’t do it well… is that they intellectually get the music theory, but they don’t know what to do with it. And so, learning how to improvise is largely the process of closing that gap between theory and practice. ~fjp
Mastery of the basic elements of music… things like scales, chords, chord voicings, chord progressions, tonality, form, meter, and rhythm… allows you to “forget” them when improvising… just like you “forget” your ABCs, phonics, and grammatical rules when you speak English in everyday life. ~fjp
It is not enough to merely know what the elements of music–scales, chords, chord voicings, chord progressions, form, meter, and rhythm–ARE. You need to understand what these things DO. In other words, you need to understand these musical patterns not as NOUNS, but as VERBS. THIS is the bridge that closes the gap between theory and practice! ~fjp
You cannot COMMAND yourself to improvise; you can only PREPARE yourself to improvise… by internalizing lots of musically-useful patterns in your musical mind beforehand. ~fjp
The ability to speak the language of music is the inevitable reward for internalizing lots of musically-useful patterns… by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle. ~fjp
Your musical voice… your very personal style of playing… will emerge spontaneously from YOUR unique choices of chord voicings, licks, rhythms, and other musical patterns… as well as your unique technique, phrasing, articulations, and artistic sensibilities. ~fjp
When you study and practice the right things the right right way, you are doing more than just memorizing stuff. You are building a rich, multi-dimensional model of how music works… an intuitive, practical, personal theory of music that enables you to express yourself spontaneously… just like you do when you speak English. ~fjp
You cannot improvise fluently one-note-at-a-time any more than you can speak English fluently one-syl-la-ble-at-a-time. Trying to think “one-note-at-a-time” is not only cognitively overwhelming, but playing “one-note-at-a-time” is not how music works. ~fjp
Every musical pattern that you internalize has the potential to magically appear in your improvisations as needed… just as English words and phrases magically appear in your everyday conversations… without even thinking about it. ~fjp
You can only fluently play music that is already inside of you. In other words, No MUSIC IN, no MUSIC OUT! So, if you want to get more music out, you need to put more music in! ~fjp
When you STUDY, it’s OK to let your “LEFT-BRAIN” lead, but when you PERFORM, let your “RIGHT-BRAIN” lead. ~fjp
Improvisation, at its best, is a collaboration between structure and freedom… a deeply personal expression within a collective tradition. ~fjp
Improvisation, at its best, is not a clever calculation, but an honest EXPRESSION of who you really are. ~fjp
Improvisation, at its best, is not about imposing your will, but about being RECEPTIVE to what is happening in the moment. ~fjp
You don’t learn to speak a language by spelling, but by sound. The same is true for music. You don’t want to play symbols ( S Y M B O L S ) symbols; you want to play the sounds you are hearing in your mind’s ear. ~fjp
Don’t get distracted by each and every note; PLAY the IDEA! ~fjp
Learning how to improvise will absolutely transform your relationship with music… The profound understanding and skills you develop from learning how to improvise will elevate your performances… even when playing composed music… from merely competent renditions to the level of artistic expressions. ~fjp
“Don’t be thorough… BE MEMORABLE.” ~Michael Callahan
Don’t try to be unique. Just BE YOURSELF! ~fjp
If your music is fun to make, it will be fun to listen to! ~fjp
As you expand your musical vocabulary, you will develop the confidence to be spontaneous… not as some contrived skill… but as a whole new way of playing and being. ~fjp
Flashy playing might impress some people, but AUTHENTICITY will move people. ~fjp
Improvisation, at its best, is about CONNECTING… with the universe of music, with your deepest self, and with others (the kinds of things that happiness is made of). ~fjp
Each musical genre has a tradition… an already established grammar and vocabulary of forms, meters, rhythms, tonalities, scales, chords, chord voicings, chord progressions, left hand patterns, and melodic devices… that make that style tick. So, for example, if you want to improvise jazz blues, you need to put jazz blues vocabulary and grammar into your musical mind. ~fjp
Technique matters… a lot. You need to learn how to play your instrument so well that it’s not an obstacle to expressing yourself. The good news is that making your instrument an aural, analytical, visuospatial, and kinesthetic extension of your musical mind is a very learnable skill. ~fjp
The biggest obstacle to becoming a fluent improviser is not lack of talent, but self-doubt. As Henry Ford said: “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right.”
learn more… A Case Study in Music Composition