Remembering ideas in improvisation

[ranjit]

How do you keep track of a motif while improvising?

One of the things I find most difficult while improvising is keeping track of an idea, and developing it. If you improvise an idea off the cuff, how do you remember it? Do you remember the entire melodic phrase, or do you only retain a rough sense of it? Do you imagine notes on a stave? How do you keep track of several improvised lines, and juxtapose them?

I find it very hard to keep track of something which I improvise and then build up on it. It is pretty much impossible for me to remember two or more separate improvised ideas at once. So,my improvisations end up being "mood pieces". Is this a bad thing, or does everyone do this to an extent?

[ted]

I can only answer for myself, and the answers are likely to be highly individual.

How do you keep track of a motif while improvising?

I don't.

One of the things I find most difficult while improvising is keeping track of an idea, and developing it. If you improvise an idea off the cuff, how do you remember it?

Again, I don't bother. I let the unconscious decide what is worth retaining.

Do you remember the entire melodic phrase, or do you only retain a rough sense of it?

An idea is a much deeper notion than a motif or a melodic phrase. My improvisation is not dependent on motif or melodic phrase.

Do you imagine notes on a stave?

No, my improvisation has absolutely nothing to do with notation.

How do you keep track of several improvised lines, and juxtapose them?

Again, I don't bother trying. My improvisation has nothing to do with mental arithmetic.

I find it very hard to keep track of something which I improvise and then build up on it. It is pretty much impossible for me to remember two or more separate improvised ideas at once. So,my improvisations end up being "mood pieces". Is this a bad thing, or does everyone do this to an extent?

I do not know what a mood piece is.

Coincidentally, I feel your whole question has a relevant connection to the section I posted yesterday, and the importance of imprecision and flexibility in idea generation. If things get too precise I might as well be composing and not improvising. Strangely though, I seem to remember far too much for my liking sometimes. It leads to what I term "attractors", personal playing forms which characterise personality at the instrument, and which are inclined to keep presenting an easy cushion to fall back on.

It occurs to me that you might be assessing your improvisation by its capability of imitating written composition. That is a perfectly valid option, but it is just a personal choice and not a mandatory property of improvisation in general.

[caustik]

I don't try to remember any specific concept in my mind, because in that case I'd probably rather compose in a rigorous and intellectual way. Improv instead to me is more about dumping your mood and some subjective mess of ideas out onto the piano. I do wish that I was able to keep an idea/motif in my mind though, because occasionally I'll wake up from a dream with an extremely vivid piece of music in my head which was apparently "composed" while sleeping. But it always just fades away before I can find any way to capture it.

It might help to keep a microphone handy and do your best to hum the idea, beat around on a table to capture the rhythm, whatever it takes to capture the rough idea. Then you can listen to that as needed to refresh yourself what the original concept was all about.