Improvisational Approaches.

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Steve Aston

Improvisational Approaches

Introduction


Improvisation has been an integral part of music since its very beginning, and it has been a very important element in Western Classical music for most of the past 1000 years. For example:

a) Original score notations for Medieval organ music commonly include
instructions for improvisation and embellishments. Scales that were used were
selected according to the same improvisation principles now used in Jazz.

b) Improvisational sections were often included in many classical scores. For example, the preludes to keyboard suites by Bach and Handel consisted solely of a progression of chords. The performers used these as basis for their improvisation. In the scores of today most of these progressions have been translated into full music notations by various editors.

c) During the Baroque - (1600 - 1750), Classical - (1750 - 1830), and Romantic -
Periods (1830 - 1900) improvisation flourished, especially for keyboard players. J.S. Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt and many other distinguished composers
and virtuoso pianists, excelled in the art of improvisation, in those days called
'extemporization'.

Towards the beginning of this century, improvisation inexplicably disappeared from Classical performances, and Classical music as a whole has been totally dominated (and in my opinion, restricted) by the written score.

Good improvisation skills rely on a thorough understanding and knowledge of chords,
chord progressions and chord - scale relationships. The written score on the other hand can be (and often is) played without such knowledge. One simply reads and regurgitates input, with little (if any) interpretation of the music.

Despite the prevalent lack of constant improvisation in music throughout history, a few types of European music have been affected by the general trend, and have continued uninterrupted with their traditions of improvisation.

Examples of this can include:

a) Irish folk music

b) Hungarian Gypsy music

c) Organ improvisation in churches (as discussed previously)

d) Spanish Flamenco music.

I would define improvisation as being the instant creation of a new melody. Improvisation is based on three main components:

  • Melody
  • Chord progression
  • Scale progression

You can compare these three levels with a painting. The melody represents the shapes in the painting. The chords represent the colours filling and surrounding the shapes. The scales are the resource from which the melody notes and the chords are selected. They represent the palette of the painter:

Improvisation can be guided by any one of these components. For example, an improvisation can just be an embellishment of the original melody:

Alternatively, the improvisation could be based on the tones of the underlying chords (through use of the notes in the arpeggios):

Yet another alternative is to improvise on the underlying scale  (which of course includes all melody notes and chord tones):

 

Improvisation is important because a good soloist can dramatically change the atmosphere and feel of a piece. I also believe that good composition is intrinsically reliant on improvisation and that as improvisation is normally done over a pre-composed piece or chord progression, the two are very much inter-related.

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Jazz Improvisation (modal)

Over the years, Jazz improvisation as a whole has gradually developed through various levels. In the early days of Jazz (around 1900) improvisations were very simple and largely embellishments of the original song's melody. Gradually improvisation started to focus on chord tones, until in the Bebop era improvisation tapped the deepest level of the song, the scale progression. Experienced improvisers descend to an even deeper level by playing 'outside' the scale of the song. This occurs for example in so called 'side slipping' where the improviser uses a scale a semitone or a whole ...

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