Piano Forum

Wanted to add also that from my personal experience classical players have a different tune going on in their head than jazz players. They march to the tune of a different drum so to speak. They feel rhythm differently. So to teach them improvisation from the standpoint of learn rhythm changes or autumn leaves and listen to the records, jazz musicians have been immersing themselves for years in that style however a classical player is intimately familiar with playing with rubato, how a waltz should feel, how to play with a Liszt like virtuosity. They can jump right in with what they are familiar with. If the goal is just to teach people how to be musically creative and original, It’s like trying to teach creative writing in French to people who only speak English. They’d be much better of learning in their native tongue.

Your comment comes of a tad elitist, a problem I have seen a lot in both the classical and jazz worlds. I think I’m qualitied as anyone to post on this forum. I have performed with major symphonies in my state as a soloist, won numerous prizes/scholarships for piano, etc.  The unfotunate truth is 99% of people are never going to appreciate how a good jazz player quoted a bunch of different historical solos, but they will appreciate raw emotion and musicality. You might not agree that my playing exhibited raw emotion and musicality but whatever. I believe that someone with a classical background and raw musical instinct can take that video and run with it very quickly. Maybe if more people approached the music this way, there’d be a larger audience to appreciate all the subtleties and finesse that a truly experienced and educated musician can bring. If the tradition is to carry forward, it needs to be accessible. If my approach speaks to even 2% of the people who watch it, still that’s a much bigger pool of people who can improvise/compose in the classical and somewhat jazz styles.