Musical Improvisation:
Making your Own Music
by Craig Rusbult
This page has not been revised
since January 2001, but
the version on another website has been revised many times
since then, so I strongly recommend that you read
THE
REVISED VERSION.
This page (as-is, unrevised since 2001) will show you its humble beginnings, before it was expanded to become the much-improved page it now is.
A General Principle
To learn how to improvise, experiment
in low-risk situations (when neither you nor anyone else cares
what your music sounds like) to discover what does and doesn't work, to
gain valuable experience. Listen carefully for
feedback, but don't worry about making mistakes. Just relax,
listen, and learn.
A Simple Starting
Method
One easy way to begin is by playing only the black
keys on a piano. These five notes form a pentatonic scale, which is
used in cultures all around the world. Try using each of the five
notes as a "home note" that is a focal point for the music, and
experiment with different melodies, rhythms, and moods. It is impossible
to make a melodic "mistake" with a pentatonic scale, but you'll
find that some sequential combinations are more useful than others (for
purposes of enjoyment, personal expression, aesthetic appeal,...), so listen
for these combinations as you play.
Or play only the white notes,
using C (or A) as a focal point. { Where are C and A? Check
the colorized keyboard below for C, and use alphabetical logic to find A.
}
Melodic Variations
The melody of a song is only one of many possible
similar melodies.
To produce "variations on
a basic theme" you can change some of the original notes in the melody,
or you can add or eliminate notes,.... Or try out different "moods":
For example, here is a musical
mood from the pen of O. Henry: "As Whistling Dick picked his
way where night still lingered among the big, reeking, musty warehouses,
he gave way to the habit that had won for him his title. Subdued,
yet clear, with each note as true and liquid as a bobolink's, his whistle
tinkled about the dim, cold mountains of brick like drops of rain falling
into a hidden pool. He followed an air, but it swam mistily into a
swirling current of improvisation. You could cull out the trill of
mountain brooks, the staccato of green rushes shivering above the chilly
lagoons, the pipe of sleepy birds."
Harmony
Try to harmonize with the main melody.
For inspiration about how to do this, listen carefully to a group
with good harmony, and then sing along while you listen!
Or try another type of supporting
role by providing a bass line, counter-melody, chord structure, backup rhythm,...
Chord
Progressions
Another harmonizing strategy is to begin with
a chord progression instead of a melody, and make up your own melody
that "fits" the chords. { The following description
assumes you either know some musical terms -- notes and chords, beats and
bars,... -- or are willing to invest a little effort to learn, maybe by
studying the color-coded keyboard below. }
A common chord progression is
12-Bar Blues. In the key of C,
the chords for the 12 bars (each one lasting 4 rhythmic beats) are "CCCC FFCC GFCC". To learn how to
improvise with the blues, play these chords -- each chord lasts 4 counts,
so the whole chord progression (CP) is 48 counts -- on a guitar or keyboard
(or have a musical friend record the CP on a tape for you), then sing along
(or play an instrument) to find out which notes and note-combinations sound
good with a particular chord *, how to make smooth transitions from one
chord to another, and how to make a "turnaround" on the final
two C-chords so the 6 consecutive bars of C-chords are clearly divided into
2 bars (ending one 12-bar CP) and 4 bars (beginning the next CP of 12 bars).
* These notes could be part of
a melody, or chord-notes (C E G for a C-major chord, F A C for an
F-major chord, G B D for a G-major chord), or other notes.
If you have a keyboard, or if
you like visual patterns, the following strategy may be useful: The
color-coded keyboard below shows the chord-notes for C-major (red), F-major
(blue), and G-major (green). To improvise, just play lots of red notes
(plus some other white-key notes, and occasional black-key notes for variety)
during a C-chord, then shift to "lots of blue notes" (plus...)
during the part of the CP with F-chords, and "lots of green" when
G-chords are played. As usual when you're improvising, experiment,
listen, and learn.
I mark my keyboards with press-on colored dots. To play in another key (besides C), just use the "transposing" feature (which is on most electronic keyboards made by Yamaha or Casio) to shift every note you play up or down by the same amount. For example, you can play a melody in the key of C, punch a button for "+1" transposing, play the same melody, and instantly you're playing in the key of C# with every note automatically increased in pitch by one semitone. And you don't have to learn how to cope with 7 sharps or 5 flats! { This "Music by Color" Improvising System was invented by me in the late-1970s: copyright 1998 by Craig Rusbult, all rights reserved. }
To make analogous "12-Bar
Blues" chord progressions in other keys, just move all of the chords
up or down by the same amount. For example, in the key of D each chord
is raised a full tone, so C, F and G (the chords built on the 1st, 4th and
5th notes in the key of C) become D, G and A (the corresponding 1, 4 and
5 chords in the key of D). On guitar, a good blues key is E, using
the chords E, A and B7: EEEE AAEE BAEE. }
other chord progressions:
There are many variations on 12-Bar Blues, made by replacing the basic major
chords (1, 4 and 5) with similar "functionally related" chords
(substituting B7 for B, and so on), and in other ways. Another simple
progression is "CFCG CFGC". Use chord progressions you learn
from other musicians or from a songbook. Or just experiment and listen,
to find your own progressions.
Active Listening
Listen to a song (on the radio, on a CD,...) very
closely, with awareness. Relax and enjoy what you'll discover.
You might try to listen to "the
song as a whole" or for specific aspects of the music. For example,
you can try to hear each individual instrument, and how it relates to other
instruments and to the whole, and what "functional role" it is
playing in the musical mix. If you want to move from "what is"
to "what might be" you can try to imagine how could some instruments
could play their roles differently, and how these changes would affect the
overall musical result.
Listen to different styles of
music, and ask "What makes each musical style sound distinctive?"
{ what combinations of tempo, rhythms, melodies, harmonies, chord progressions,
instruments used, playing/singing styles,... }
Playing in a Group
Experiment with cooperative interactions, try playing
various functional roles with good taste (in deciding what to play and when,...)
and with rhythmic precision. And by "playing through" perceived
mistakes (by yourself or others) you can develop and sustain a rhythmic/melodic
continuity that keeps the musical flow moving through time.
Music Theory
(simplified and systematized)
On a piano keyboard, if you play a "major scale"
beginning on C, you'll use only the white keys, with no sharps or flats:
C major: |
C |
C# |
D |
D# |
E |
F |
F# |
G |
G# |
A |
A# |
B |
C |
But if you play an analogous major scale beginning on any
other note, you'll need to use one or more black keys.
For example, beginning on G requires the use of F-sharp, while beginning
on D requires the use of F-sharp and also C-sharp.
| C major: | C |
C# |
D |
D# |
E |
F |
F# |
G |
G# |
A |
A# |
B |
C |
| D major: | D |
D# |
E |
F |
F# |
G |
G# |
A |
A# |
B |
C |
C# |
D |
The relationships between sharps and flats for each type of major scale are summarized in the table below, with sharped notes symbolized by #, and flatted notes by %. If you already know some music theory, or if you're good at pattern recognition, you'll be able to make some sense out of it, in several ways.
| B# | F% | |||||||||||||
| E# | E# | C% | C% | |||||||||||
| A# | A# | A# | G% | G% | G% | |||||||||
| D# | D# | D# | D# | D% | D% | D% | D% | |||||||
| G# | G# | G# | G# | G# | A% | A% | A% | A% | A% | |||||
| C# | C# | C# | C# | C# | C# | E% | E% | E% | E% | E% | E% | |||
| F# | F# | F# | F# | F# | F# | F# | B% | B% | B% | B% | B% | B% | B% | |
| 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| C# | F# | B | E | A | D | G | C | F | B% | E% | A% | D% | G% | C% |
PATTERNS: Notice the "BEADGCF" patterns in the bottom row (for keys) and for the order of adding flats and sharps. Also notice that the three chords used for 12-Bar Blues in the key of C (C, F and G) are next to each other in a 5-1-4 order. { This is true for any key. For example, the chords for a blues progression in E (E, A, and B) are adjacent in the chart. } Because there are 12 notes in a scale, 6 sharps and 6 flats are the same note, so F# and G% are the same key; and C# (7 sharps) is D% (5 flats), and C% is B.
For a minor scale, three notes
(the third, sixth, and seventh)
are a half-tone lower than in the corresponding major
scale:
| C major: | C |
C# |
D |
D# |
E |
F |
F# |
G |
G# |
A |
A# |
B |
C |
| C minor: | C |
C# |
D |
D# |
E |
F |
F# |
G |
G# |
A |
A# |
B |
C |
| C minor: | C |
C# |
D |
E% |
E |
F |
F# |
G |
A% |
A |
B% |
B |
C |
Both minor scales are the same: D# and E% are
the same notes, as are G# and A%, A# and B%.
For minor scales, the key with no sharps or flats (analogous to C major) is A minor:
| A minor: | A |
A# |
B |
C |
C# |
D |
D# |
E |
F |
F# |
G |
G# |
A |
Here are the MINOR KEYS, ranging from 7 sharps to 7 flats:
| 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| A# | D# | G# | C# | F# | B | E | A | D | G | C | F | B% | E% | A% |
Compare these with analogous MAJOR KEYS, from 7 sharps to
7 flats:
| 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| C# | F# | B | E | A | D | G | C | F | B% | E% | A% | D% | G% | C% |
The simplest chords are formed from the 1st, 3rd and 5th
notes of a scale:
C-major chord: C
E G
C-minor chord: C E% G
Earlier, in Chord Progressions
, there is a color-coded keyboard for C-major.
Here is the analogous color coding for A-minor, with chord-notes
for the
1st, 4th,
and 5th notes of the scale (A, D, and
E) in red,
blue, and green:
If you want, try playing along with a chord progression
like those described earlier, except with minor chords:
"a a a a d d a a e d a a" or "a d a e a d e a"
or ...
the URL of this page is
http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~crusbult/methods/music.htm
copyright 1998 by Craig Rusbult