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 a good technique
• Create a strong sound
• Familiarize yourself with dominant seven voicings
• Understand the blues form and the blues scale

These are more basic levels of improvisation, and what we're going to do today is kick this up a level and take it into more advanced areas of understanding.

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 really work on playing someone else's solo
• You can focus on getting good technique and executing everything in a cool way

However, as a piano player, like with guitar or any other instrument, it's crucial to develop your own musical voice and sound.

Developing Your Own Voice

To do this effectively, you'll need to be able to improvise. It's great that the pieces are structured the way they are, but we also want to learn how to develop our own voice.

Tools for Improvisation

We'll be using the blues, the blues scale, and chord tones to assist in this development. Within this series, we'll incorporate more advanced elements, including:

• Chromaticism
• Playing out

These concepts will help you enhance your improvisation skills.