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Topic: Improvisation  (Read 3193 times)

Offline pseudo.naivete

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Improvisation
on: May 11, 2007, 06:46:27 PM
Something I played without paying much attention to playing correctly. The result is by no means very coherent nor consistent as I kept changing the key in awkward parts due to screwing up and trying to adapt the music to the mistakes in an attempt to fix the discontinuity. At parts I just realized "I don't know how to play in this key" and changed it spontaneously. There are some sequences where I'm able to maintain some sort of musical logic, and parts where it just breaks apart because I don't know what I'm doing.

Any feedback welcome.

"The kid who swallows the most marbles doesn't grow up to have kids of his own."
--George Carlin

Offline Derek

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Re: Improvisation
Reply #1 on: May 12, 2007, 03:39:21 PM
I enjoyed it. I like how a lot of it flows into new passages based on what came before.

my favorite passages and comments:
3:29 - I like the left hand here, it sounds independent from the right hand in many spots.
4:14- I like tremolo figures like this
5:18- Cool left hand melody here in octaves
6:09- really nice harmony changes, I like surprises like that
6:32- creepy clockwork passage (by clockwork I mean steady beats)
8:17- cool mode change or chromaticism.
10-15- nice little rhythmic thing.
11:07- cool stairstepping octaves.
11:52- nice arpeggios and harmony changes here
12:something- you bring back that figure you played before, thats cool...
12:40- creepy
14:00-another cool rhythmic thingie
14:15-nice arpeggios and melody rising out of it
14:55-I like this melody here
16:50-I like the harmony change here and semitone dissonances

I think you're doing very well. You should keep it up! Not knowing what you're doing, and being comfortable with not knowing what you're doing (on a logical, conscious level that can be verbalized, anyway) is important for being able to improvise fluently. That is true at least with spontaneous improvisation. Anyway great work and i've added your name and your improvisation to the "Index of Improvisers and Improvisations List"  :) Hope you post more!

Offline pseudo.naivete

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Re: Improvisation
Reply #2 on: May 20, 2007, 07:49:31 PM
Hey Derek,

I really appreciate the effort you put into making such a detailed account of it...

Quote
Not knowing what you're doing, and being comfortable with not knowing what you're doing (on a logical, conscious level that can be verbalized, anyway) is important for being able to improvise fluently.

Yes, I agree completely! My problem is that I'm not very comfortable on a wide range of different scales so I often end up generating same kind of melody lines and other musical structures, and my left hand doesn't always know how to move naturally, as in I'm not good at predicting it's movements well enough to use the most efficient fingering in each instance. But I reckon I'll develop if I keep playing "free form" long enough and get my hands comfortable with other scales.

Anyway, thank you for the encouraging comments.  :)
"The kid who swallows the most marbles doesn't grow up to have kids of his own."
--George Carlin
 

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