Improvisation - the next level

Improvisation for Piano and Keyboards - Level Three

Hey, I'm James. Today, we're looking at improvisation for piano and keyboards at level three.

Understanding the Concept

By now, you know that at grades six to eight, you're starting to:

• Develop good technique
• Create a solid sound
• Get familiar with dominant seven voicings
• Understand the blues form
• Utilize the blues scale

With these foundational skills, we are going to kick it up a level and explore more advanced areas of understanding.

The Importance of Improvisation

You may have noticed that in the Rock School pieces for piano and keyboard, there aren't actually any improvisation sections. This is okay because:

• You get to work on playing someone else's solo
• You can focus on good technique
• You'll learn to execute everything in a cool way

However, as a piano player, just like a guitarist or any other instrumentalist, it's really important to be able to improvise effectively if you're heading out into the real world and developing your own musical voice.

It's great that the pieces are structured the way they are, but we also want to learn how to develop our own voice.

Getting Started with Improvisation

We'll achieve this by:

• Using the blues
• Exploring the blues scale and chord tones

Within this series, we'll delve into more advanced elements like:

• Chromaticism
• Other cool techniques

Let's get started on this exciting journey of improvisation!