...improvisation As A Way Of Life

... an honest opinion on this document?

http://www.consmilano.it/fileadmin/storage/laboratori/2010/Schede_per_il_Laboratorio__di_Improvvisazione_.pdf

It starts right with some reflections on the subject

I haven't read the document yet, but I am passing along this checklist, drafted by J. Aebersold at the end of a seminar titled "Anyone can improvise!".

I report it below:

The purpose is to leave the reader with ideas to reflect on and meditate upon. Since Aebersold is a jazz musician, there are many references to jazz music; however, this does not mean that what is written cannot apply to all music in general. Happy reading.

1. There are two factors that block those who want to improvise: the fear of getting lost, and the fear of playing wrong notes.

2. Record yourself and listen to yourself without being critical. Just listen to yourself.

3. TV and ignorance kill imagination.

4. If you don't think before executing a phrase, it is not improvisation. It is just exercise.

5. Sing! Sing! Sing!

6. Think about every single note before playing it.

7. The chromatic scale is your alphabet. Learn it before you speak!

8. Don't practice the same thing forever; explore new territories.

9. Jazz musicians generally use eight-note scales. Practice with this goal in mind.

10. After learning the alphabet, learn how to pronounce it properly.

11. One of the reasons why you don't play like a certain musician on a certain record is because you haven't yet learned how to pronounce the alphabet properly.

12. Learn and play a solo along with a record to improve your pronunciation. Imitate the great musicians!!!

13. Listen and steal ideas from records.

14. Listen! Always! All the answers to your questions are in the already released records!

15. Listen to jazz every day. Your soul will thank you one day.

16. If you have developed good technique, you will probably be able to combine something good.

17. It is important to play with people more skilled than you. They will push you to improve.

18. No one was born knowing how to play.

19. You have no idea of the amount of time and energy jazz musicians pour into their work.

20. Sing a 12-bar blues while driving or taking the subway.

21. Charlie Parker studied from 11 to 15 hours a day.

22. Learn the distance that exists between notes (intervals). Play them and memorize them!

23. When you sing, try to visualize the keyboard. If you don't know which key, reason in C, the simplest one.

24. Study scales for at least 5 minutes a day. You must reach the point where you can do them with your eyes closed and in all 12 keys.

25. If you THINK about what you are doing, you will remember it more easily.

26. It turns out that no one has ever died from thinking too much.

27. To learn a new piece, memorize the chord changes one measure at a time. Then play the scales of each individual chord, and then the arpeggios. But above all: MEMORIZE!

28. Turnarounds bring you back to the beginning of the piece. Memorize the III VI II V I.

29. When performing a voicing on the guitar, it is not necessary to play too many notes. 3, maximum 4, are enough.

30. Try to spend about ten minutes a day at a piano keyboard even if your instrument is the flugelhorn.

31. Always look at the last chord of a piece (or the one closest to the last measure) because it will reveal the key of the piece in question.

32. Learn to transpose a piece into other keys.

33. Once, when sheet music books did not exist, pieces were transcribed directly from records: USE YOUR EARS AND MEMORIZE!!!

34. A good musician has a large repertoire in their memory.

35. MUSIC does not care who plays it.

36. "Play what is written, we don't want to hear your lies" - Art Blakey.

37. When you finally play what you have in mind, you will encounter yourself for the first time!

38. "It takes a long time to play like yourself" - Miles Davis.

39. Very few adults dedicate the right amount of time to playing jazz.

40. A characteristic of bebop solos is that they explicitly highlight the harmony.

41. Transcribe YOUR repertoire into YOUR own little book.

42. Your goal: THINK IT! SAY IT! DO IT!

43. It is not easy to keep time. Help yourself with a metronome.

44. In jazz, time is essential. Always use a metronome to practice. When studying chords and scales, always do so while keeping the tempo you have set for yourself. And use the correct pronunciation.

45. Music is supposed to be fun. Study while having fun.

46. When I asked the great musicians: how much time do you spend thinking about music? The answer has always been: 24 hours.

47. When performing a solo, keep the chord changes clearly in mind and play ahead. Always think 'ahead'.

48. Obstacles are the opportunities offered to us to improve day after day.

49. Do not approach your study as if you had to learn a huge amount of information. PLAY!

50. The effective use of a bebop scale separates those who know how to play from those who

close to sounding.

51. Don't forget: behind every chord, there is always at least one scale.

52. You will never spend enough time listening to others play.

53. If you don't pronounce your alphabet correctly, who could be interested in listening to what you have to say?

54. To find a minor seventh, go down a whole tone from the tonic.

55. The third and the seventh are the most important notes for highlighting the quality of a chord.

56. Record yourselves, listen to yourselves. Do it objectively. After all, others are listening to you too.

57. In 4/4, if you want to give harmonic stability, emphasize the first and third bars.

58. Lydian is the preferred scale to replace a major one.

59. You will be able to answer all your questions about jazz in only one way: LISTENING! LISTENING! LISTENING!

60. Jazz? It's chaos. A great chaos. Until it meets a brain capable of putting order into it.

Points like number 7 leave me a bit perplexed ... but ...

Here I am not talking about improvisation performed on a theme taken from the Real Book.

I am talking about total improvisation, that "universe" that goes beyond the theme and its improvisation; it requires careful study of musical and technical possibilities. The challenge is twofold because, on one hand, the audience must trust completely, and on the other, the pianist/composer must fight the risks that improvisation entails (the risk of boredom, lack of ideas, etc., etc.)

In my case, as an improviser, study does not consist of studying the classics nor even improvisation as an exercise, because extemporaneous composition requires a particular state of mind.

Technical skills are certainly the "conditio sine qua non"; furthermore, in improvisation, it is indispensable to have a profound knowledge of harmony. It is good if such competence is also present in the performance, but it is not indispensable.

Certainly, extemporaneous composition is risky for the audience because if they are not ready for the message, they risk getting bored.

If a pianist presents themselves as an improviser in a "solo piano" performance, it means they have the ability; the real problem is the quality of the piano, which is often inadequate, and the "ambient". These latter factors significantly influence the piano performance. My experience as an improvising pianist has taught me that music is a weed, not a garden plant.

It is also true that if music is a weed, one must know how to recognize it. The level of musical education in Italy borders on the ridiculous. Concert halls struggle to see young people; concert programs are repetitive and overused. Greater musical culture would foster musical vitality, but instead, there is a preference for flattening everything to make room for industrial products.

Of course, this phenomenon can be fought, but it is like pushing a large car that isn't moving up a hill. One should go to the origins of the phenomenon to understand its solution. The superficiality with which music is approached is an aspect of the superficiality with which practically all aspects of social life are approached, both in relation to others and in relation to one's own self.

The final outcome, however, of all modern ideologies, whether communist or liberal, has been the fall of all ideals and all values.

In conclusion, it seems to me that the new philosophers of morality, self-proclaimed critics of the system (to be clear, those who organize shows in theaters or cultural events within municipalities with public money) are actually conventionalists; that is, being aligned with the dominant line, they reflect the idea of morality and art as a convention, as a set of rules and norms justified by their utility for social order; which would be laudable if it weren't for the fact that such an order does not seem to be placed in defense of values, but has value in itself.

What do you expect, then, from a decadent and prosperous bourgeois society? Stagnation! Culture is uncomfortable.

To cure this evil, a pill is not enough; one must uproot a culture and plant another.

But this is difficult as long as there are people who believe that the fire should be extinguished by those who lit it.

I don't know if I have spoken too much or too little, well or poorly, it depends on the point of view; regardless, I thank this forum for giving me the opportunity to do so. I continue to be an involuntary improvising pianist; my music, whether liked or not, is a weed, anti-bourgeois; it is not the garden plant created by major record labels, it is not Allevi's pop propagated as "contemporary classical music," and so on... I don't do it out of a spirit of heroism or to be difficult, but simply because I like it this way. In past years, I too interpreted the classics, but then I said to myself: "what is the point of striving to interpret Mozart or other musicians of past centuries having a cell phone in my pocket and a car parked outside, etc., etc..." It is right and useful to do so anyway, so as not to forget, out of passion, to build foundations, for culture.

Pay attention, then, to improvisation as a choice of life... I consider it a path against the current of which one must be aware.