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:

• Really get a good technique
• Develop a good sound
• Become familiar with:
  • Dominant seventh voicings
  • The blues form
  • The blues scale
  • More basic levels of improvisation

What we're going to do today is kick this up a level and take it into more advanced areas of understanding.

The Role 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
• Get good technique
• Master everything in a cool way

However, being a piano player, like a guitarist or any other instrumentalist, it's really important to develop your own musical voice and sound when going out into the real world.

Why Improvise?

To be able to improvise effectively is crucial. While it's great that the pieces are arranged the way they are, we also want to learn how to develop our own voice.

Today's Focus

We'll be doing this by using:

• The blues
• The blues scale
• Chord tones

Within this series, we'll incorporate more advanced elements, such as:

• Chromaticism
• Other cool techniques

Let's get started!