Three recent improvisations.

I selected these because I felt they would be of most interest to composers.

A modern folk dance

A Romantic Impromptu

A hymn-like March with a Romantic finale

I was thinking of telling you to come and post those on here, after listening to them on your myspace! But here you are anyway.

Very enjoyable, and a high-standard of creativity throughout.

I didn't really get a sense of the march, in the march one, but it was still very good.

Wow. I wish I could improvise like that (referring to the romantic one). Any good tips?

I was thinking of telling you to come and post those on here, after listening to them on your myspace! But here you are anyway.

Very enjoyable, and a high-standard of creativity throughout.

I didn't really get a sense of the march, in the march one, but it was still very good.

Thanks so much Daniel! I dunno why I thought March 29th sounded like a march (no pun intended), it just felt like...like a piano adaptation of a real march. without the march accompaniment, really.

Wow. I wish I could improvise like that (referring to the romantic one). Any good tips?

Thanks musicwiz. I'm a regular guy just like most everyone, and I firmly believe improvising is accessible to anyone. I know first hand the struggles I went through learning it. It is just like learning anything that is challenging and creative. First you have to enjoy doing it from the very start, even when your improvs aren't yet to your standards. You have to take a lot of satisfaction in making our own sounds. Also try to have courage when you feel like your music won't ever be as good as Beethoven or Chopin, etc. Everyone gets these feelings now and then, but realise that you don't need to sound like an exact clone of any of your idols----your OWN sounds are just as worthy.

In addition, never worry about rules, harmony or voice leading while improvising. That is to say---if you do like studying rules or harmony, its okay to do "stop start" improvising with them to see how they work and absorb them into your fingers, but then allow your instincts to run free when you actually improvise spontaneously. It is hard to flow easily when you're thinking too consciously. It doesn't mean you aren't thinking when you improvise, its just not the "visible," logical or verbal part of your brain that works when you improvise. Let me qualify this by saying I certainly wasn't playing spontaneously from the start. When I started, it was mainly playing a few riffs in minor keys, with the left hand playing octave chords. Spontanaeity comes with time. Just like language, we've got to say "gah gah goo goo" before we recite (or improvise) a poem.

Record yourself. A lot. And listen to yourself. This aids in your own "evolution," in that, your ears will inevitably perk up at some random moment in your improvisations that came out good, and it won't be too hard to pick those out again (if you want), and chances are by hearing what you played already it'll reinforce what your fingers are currently able to randomly do.

Never stay in a comfort zone. If you haven't improvised much in some key or other, start doing it, even though it'll feel uncomfortable at first. If you haven't used a technique that you think is musically appealing, don't hesitate to start practicing it so it becomes a part of you and thus can come out at a musically poignant moment. If you don't like atonal music, try improvising atonally anyway. It might not become your favorite style to improvise in, but it might help you find some really creepy chords that would fit in well in a more tonal improvisation.

Ignore negative criticism, from others, or even from yourself. Every moment in every improvisation you make has potential. That that potential was not necessarily realised in any given improvisation is just a part in your musical evolution. Think about that when you listen to yourself and imagine the potential every moment in your improvs contain.

Find a more experienced improviser to start a correspondence with. While not absolutely necessary for learning to improvise, getting encouragement from someone who has been improvising longer is extremely helpful.

Holy crap, I'm an idiot. the so called "hymn like march with romantic finale" is NOT the piece that links to. I didn't even upload the "hymn like march." its on my myspace page though, haha. oh well lol! the one that actually links to is like a short romantic prelude or something... if you want to hear the actual hymn like march, it is "march 29th" on my myspace page...link in my sig...

Interesting improvs, very cool.

Thanks for that! Very helpful