Improvisation

Seven Skills of Improvisation

“Improvisation is the spontaneous expression of musical ideas—analogous to speaking and conversation in language, improvisation is ‘in the moment’” (Azzara, 2015, p. 185).

Teaching students to improvise meaningfully requires much more than saying, “make something up!” It’s beneficial to play within restrictions before playing freely (like training wheels). Start small with something like, “Sing a different tonal pattern that uses the same three notes I sang,” and students will have a much higher chance of success because of the guidelines in place.

The Seven Skills of Improvisation offer one such method in the book series, Developing Musicianship Through Improvisation (Azzara & Grunow, 2010). These seven skills guide students to free improvisation, lessening the restrictions as they progress.

Find all four DMTI books on the Further Reading page

Pre-Step

Learn the Melody & Bass Line

Teach it by rote the way you would introduce any tune!

Skill 1

Improvise Rhythms on the Bass Line

Now that your students know the bass line, have them improvise simple rhythm patterns (restricting them to play within boundaries).

Skill 2

Establish Voice Leading

Teach the chords, showing students that inner voices follow the “law of laziness” and want to move to the next closest note (voice leading). This is done separately from the harmonic rhythm of the tune. For example, if my tune stays on the first chord for 7 beats, I ignore that for now and just teach that the Cm chord goes to the Fm chord, and so on. Putting it in the meter will come next!

Skill 3

Learn the Harmonic Rhythm

Now we bring back the harmonic rhythm of the piece! Students know what chords lead to where, and can now sing the voice leading they’ve learned as though they’re accompanying the melody of the tune.

Skill 4

Improvise Rhythms on the Inner Voices

Now that they have sung through the chords in time, they can add some rhythmic improvisation on the voice leading, also known as “inner voices” of the chords.

Skill 5

Improvise Tonal Patterns: Macrobeats Only

If you can successfully perform Skill 5, you’re ready for anything! Now students can play any notes in the chords, not just the “lazy” voice leading. This skill really tests that you know which notes are in each chord and that you can move to them exactly on the beat.

Skill 6

Improvise Tonal Patterns & Rhythms: Chord Notes Only

This is Skill 5 but adding in rhythmic variation! You can still only play chord notes, but you can play any rhythm you want. Just no passing tones!

Skill 7

Improvise Melody: Add in Passing Tones

And finally, now that we have slowly taken away our training wheels, you can improvise whatever you want. In Skill 7, anything goes.