Students have often come to me asking if they are “ready” for a musical situation. Whether it be an audition, adjudication, festival, accompanying gig, college program, a certain ensemble, a tour, etc.—my answer is always the same… Participate in as many musical situations as possible where you are the worst one. Be musically overwhelmed as … Read more
In this part of the series, we’ll explore how to use the Circle of Fifths to improvise your own melodies.
Learning cadences and voice leading are important aspects of playing music. We can also improvise to learn or reinforce these concepts. This video works through a process on how to do this.
Here is video on using triads and a basic melody in an improvised context:
Creativity Can Be an Elusive Quality to Develop There are many kids and people who seem inclined to do their own things and do them their own way. As teachers, we often categorize these students as creative and do one of three things: The Shortcomings of Each Approach The shortcoming of the first approach is … Read more
I sensed that something was amiss after a wave of students, teachers, and players came to me over the course of a few years wanting to learn to improvise. Many of them had taken jazz improvisation classes or gone to clinics/camps only to come away uninspired or confused. Several of them had worked out of … Read more
