Improvisation … demystified

What if …

… you could communicate musically as you can with words?

You feel something and want to share it … and you simply do it.

Whether you play a Schumann piano piece, some Scriabin, a Beatles song …

OR …

you don´t need sheet music at all !!!

You´d be able to express yourself musically instantly, with musical words floating through your mind!

Never gonna do it? You can´t? You´re not a jazz musician? Yes, but …

What other excuses do you have?

It´s simply a matter of gathering the vocabulary, the musical words.

You don´t need to be the next Keith Jarrett or a professional Jazz musician.

But we all can communicate with music, be it a simple rhythm, or … one day, not too far away …

doing your own little or not so little notes!

I can help you. It´s easy and it´s fun!

Let´s learn improvising!

Can´t imagine?

How does it actually work, what can be taught?

Find it on the next page (Jazz Education).

Meanwhile, let´s discover some improvisation examples as shown below.

!Classics

Jazz Education for Classical Students

with

MICHAEL PUBLIG

(Piano, Jazz Chamber Music)

Have You ever Heard Scriabin like this?

Chick Corea

Impro on Prelude #2, Op. 11 (Scriabin)

LISTEN: Michael Publig (w/ Stefan Oser, guitar) play «Amadeus no Brasil», which is the theme of Mozart´s Two-piano sonata, followed by a Brazilian Choro by Michael based on it.

… Or Chopins Famous Valse like this?

Makoto Ozone

Valse No. 6 (Petit Chien) (Chopin)

Gabriela, the True Master of Classical Improvisation:

Gabriela Montero

„What if Mozart ...“ Improvisations on various masters of the Classical Piano (Mozart / Brahms / Venezuelan Pajarillo / Boulez)

Warren Bernhardt´s rendition of Chopin:

Warren Bernhardt

01 Prelude, Op. 28, No. 20 and Variations (Chopin)

Here is a short selection of improvisations

of the masters which represent several styles:

Two of Michaels pieces:

a rather modern one:

Michael Publig

Ligetations (originally Improvisations, based on Ligeti´s Etudes)

Michael Publig

Dos manos encontrandose (excerpt)

… and a rather romantic,

Spanish-influenced one:

Watch some variations

on a famous theme of Paganini

(Video & Sheet music)

Warning: this is a concert piece for a crazy pianist friend,

she really asked for something like this !!!

:-)

Why Improvising?

First and foremost–it´s real fun! It´s most enjoyable to express yourself instantly.

The other thing is, it sharpens your mind and helps to understand music in general. By knowing detailed musical material you will be able to understand the underlying musical concept(s) - which, in turn, also improves your CLASSICAL playing!

Obtaining rhythm stability isn´t bad either; in fact rhythm is the means of communication in music.

And then, we´ll discover other musical cultures, incorporating other musical worlds like South America, Africa, Asia and so on.

Music is language

Not new, but true. It´s like having a large vocabulary, it improves one´s ability to communicate. My musical heroes are musician who CAN communicate (ever seen Bobby McFerrin onstage?)

This can be learned - in the beginning it might be fine to play a short improvisation with two or three notes only (have you heard the «ONE-Note Samba by A.C. Jobim»?)

On the next page you´ll find a short but effective improvisation workshop, based on the pentatonic scale in the right hand (and a minor seventh in the left hand).

You like Tango? Like to know the chords for it?

Easy (when you know them …)

You love Chopin? Great – have you ever heard of Brazilian Choro?

Discover similarities!

The list is endless – take the first step!

for

You also can read along the transcription on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HolsFnpud0