Improvisation - what is it?

Introduction to Improvisation

Hey, this is James, and today we're going to talk about improvisation.

Understanding Improvisation

Now, improvisation sounds like this big, scary thing that you probably don't know much about, but actually, it's simply the idea of playing something that's not written down and something you made up.

Within Rock School, many of the grades for piano and keyboard don't have improvisations that you can do yourself; you have to play written-out solos. While this is great, as a musician who's developing their own sound and language and looking to play with other people, it's really important to be able to develop your own sound and your own voice.

The Journey Ahead

Through these videos, I'm going to show you how to go from the basics to developing a confident and simple way of approaching improvisation.

• I'll show you what improvisation is.
• I'm going to play, record, and improvise something on top of it.

"So that wasn't something which I rehearsed or something which I read; it was something that came out the top of my head."

This is basically what improvisation is.

The Role of Harmony in Improvisation

Within the Rock School grades that we're working towards, there are pieces with chords above them. These chords represent the harmony that is written within the piece.

Although you're playing the music that's already written down for the exams, it's a great exercise to practice playing the chord tones of the harmony of the piece you're working through.

For example, with a C chord, you may have something written on top of the score that's already there. However, there's no reason why, with the backing track provided within the Rock School grades, you can't play your own thing and explore, creating using the template already given by Rock School.

Your Role as an Improviser

As an improviser, it's our job to play the harmony that is given out by the rest of the band. We're playing chords and scales and solos on top of the bass and drums who are laying it down.

There's a sequence of chords that normally happens with each piece, and I'm going to show you how to approach playing all these different chords and the different harmony on top.

Your job as an improviser is to take the harmony. For example, we've got two bars of A minor and two bars of D minor, and we need to develop something interesting over the top of this.

"What we have is a sequence of chords which are telling a story and creating something interesting, and we're trying to express ourselves personally over this."

Overcoming Intimidation

This all may seem fairly intimidating. However, with some practice and by following the exercises that I show you, you can go from being a beginner improviser to sounding confident and skilled in no time.