Improvise

[meli]

Hi, I am pretty happy with my sight-reading & playing skills but there is just one thing I haven't been taught how to do : improvise! I have a very nice teacher who's helping me with my teaching diploma, and has given me a student to teach last week. When she asked me to improvise a tune for her student to clap to, it was enjoyable for her, but nerve-wracking for me! What skills do you need to be a good improviser? There is also this church pianist I have seen play, and he just looks at the hymn and improvises a beautiful bass part. I thought of trying that at home, but it would sound terrible  Are there any good books that teach you how to improvise or do you just have to experiment and do it!

[emmdoubleew]

You have to experiment, but experiment right. Always try new things, and don't get caught up in habits all the time, other wise your improvisations will get repetitive and boring. Knowing scales, keys, fingerings, chords, etc... inside out helps a great deal.

[skyfire]

come up with a chord progression you want to use and then just mess around with your right hand in a scale that fits the chords, and think of it as making a melody over it, just make sure you handle your non-chord tones properly and experiment!

[gyzzzmo]

Just mess around alot on your piano. Take famous tunes and try to varry and riddle with your left hand. Better improvisations come with time.

Gyzzzmo

[infectedmushroom]

I'm quite a good improviser, mostly I just start doing something on the piano. Don't think too much about musical theory, just play something. A lot of times when I do this, suddenly I come up with nice melodies. Also, if you discovered a nice melody, you can compose a new piece/song of it of course, wich is also very nice.


Improvise is the greatest thing to do on the piano imo. You can express yourself in every way you want to. Experiment is the key, and while improvising; let all of your feelings/emotions go...


Maybe it's a good idea to record yourself while improvising. Listen back to it and see what your musical ideas were at that time (and maybe post it here on this forum, if you're planning to record something of course  ).


Good luck!

[plunkyplink]

Those are wonderful suggestions. My suggestion is to consider taking jazz piano lessons, it's very enlightening and fun. Jazz piano is based on improvising, and there is a method to it, you learn tons about chords and cadences. I'm in my third month of jazz lessons and I'm still enjoying it, although I'm chomping at the bit to get to the improvising part. After this jazz education I should be able to sit down at the piano and improvise some cool jazz and not have to read a single on paper! 

[henrah]

My AS Music composition came about through a quick improvisation before I went out for an Indian meal (which was gorge!!). I remember in the Raindrop prelude how there was a part where a compound second sounded so nice, and so I played around and found that a high F# and A# sounded lovely when coupled with a sustained F bass, and it just kept coming You can find said composition here: https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,17353.0.html (be wary: I hate the ending from the arpeggio, and it ends in major when it should end in minor...must be fixed)

Anyway, I love improvising. A good sesh comes about when I'm playing something (like at the moment: Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik) and I make a mistake which stops me and makes me think about leaving; but then I play a note or two, sometimes in conjunction with what I just made a mistake on, and lo! here comes an improvisation sesh


I think I might record a sesh at some point...be on the look out
Henrah

[jam8086]

Well, I, for one, am very glad to see another classical pianist willing to experiment with improvisation.  A big problem among most classical musicians today is that they do not know how to improvise or compose, so I applaud your decision to learn!

First and foremost, never give up...it is very common for someone to get frustrated when they begin practicing improvisation, and think "why can't I be as good as _____?"  The truth is, basically no one is very good at it when they begin.  Every great improviser had to practice to get as good as they are, it won't just magically come to you.

It is actually pretty simple to improvise in a classical style on the piano, there are just a few basics you need to know...
First, learn the common classical progressions (I - IV - V - I, I - ii - V - I, etc.)
Then, just play the chords of those progressions in your left hand, improvising a melody on top with your right hand.  It is pretty easy to come up with melodies, just be sure you know what key you're in.
Finally, and probably most importantly, learn how to modulate! Otherwise you will probably get caught in the same progressions over and over.  Moving to new keys (especially unexpected ones, but you have to know how to do it right and make it not sound awkward) is what makes pieces interesting!  After you move to the new key, just play a few more progressions in that key, and then move on to another key.

Be sure to practice, and don't give up!  Good luck!