Re: Improvisation

On Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:26:50 +0900, Greendistantstar
<Greendistantstar@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Can we ever truly improvise, or are even our most inspired improv moments merely repeating what we
already know?

I thought I had come up with a cool single note riff the other night.
Sped it up, moved up a few frets, threw in some double-stops and
voila...."Can't You Hear Me Knockin'"! Later I was fooling with F,
A#, A#m, Am, IIRC, on banjo. I started humming to this cool, fresh,
new progression...."Creep", Radiohead. Dunno what all that means.

tony


I'm not so sure I have the answers, but I do have some ideas. It's probably best to agree if
possible on what exactly improvisation means; Wiki's definition is a good place to start:

"Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in
the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This
can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols,
and/or new ways to act. This invention cycle occurs most effectively when the practitioner has a
thorough intuitive and technical understanding of the necessary skills and concerns within the
improvised domain. Improvisation can be thought of as an "on the spot" or "off the cuff" spontaneous
activity."

Now there's plenty of stuff worthy of debate in that definition, especially "thorough...technical
understanding" but for the moment, I'm thinking the operative concept here is "new". Can I really
play something 'new' ie that I've never played before? Well yes, all of us could do that right now,
but would it be melodious, or would it be discordant or atonal? If asked to solo to an established
chordal framework, is it not natural for us to conform our playing to established patterns? Is
what's 'new' the arrangement of notes, rather than the notes themselves?

Or is it more what Ritchie Blackmore said of himself and Jeff Beck years ago, that they both like to
play 'chance' music, and when it doesn't come off, it can sound a bit average, but when it *does*
come off, the results are stellar?

Your thoughts?

GDS

"Let's roll!"

.

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