Composing : Improvisation and composing by Joanna Karselis

Reminds me of this woman I have interacted with on another social media platform: "Aretha Sills teaches improvisational theater and creative writing".

"She currently offers improvisational theater workshops online, but has taught regularly in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, the Bay Area, and elsewhere around the country. Find upcoming workshops at www.violaspolin.org/workshops".

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aretha-sills-89a4664/

Presented for your information - if helpful and intriguing.

Gratitude into your roads.

God Bless,

John German

I always improvise for a while. If I stumble across something I consider worth preserving, I will write down a few measures...enough to be able to recall the mood and ideas. In my youth, I accompanied dance classes. This was a wonderful way of improvising, noting a few measures, then able to return to the same themes the following day for a similar class. I used to say 'all composers are basically improvisers...but with the patience to actually write things down'!

In the studio on my DAW, it's super easy, especially with 'retroactive record', which eradicates the doom of 'why didn't I record that?'

Thanks for your thoughts John. She sounds great.

Roger, that's so interesting that you would note down to your themes then come back to them the following day. And you can see in real time how it affects the visuals and the mood it creates in the room, that must have been endlessly fascinating! Your saying is so true IMO, but generally there seems to be a communal mental disjointedness amongst composers between the art of composing and the art of improvising, which seems strange given the overlap between the forms. Retroactive record sounds like a lifesaver (haven't tried it myself, I record everything and end up with mammoth files with one good idea in!)

Thanks Joanna! I'm still exploring effective methods of composing, but invariably it will begin with an improvisation. If I improvise at the piano, the frustration lies in recapping the original theme...invariably I've already forgotten what I did when I wish to return to it! That's where retroactive recording can really be useful. Though, you are right...it can add up to some huge files! I think a lot of the disjointness between composition and improvisation largely stems from having the ability and knowledge to read and write music.

Just last week, I was involved in a project for our local non-profit theatre...a 50s comedy radio play. I was creating foley (great fun, btw!) as well as creating music for transitions, underscore etc. I began by improving, but as we neared the production I wrote down a few measures of the themes that were working well. This not only relieved a little pressure I had given myself, but also gave consistency to the (non-pro) actors. The end result was a success. There will be further live episodes of the play in a few weeks, and I now have a little bank of mini-compositions that I can reuse!

Such a good idea to have a bank of fragments to draw upon for theatre, I do the same for live performance theatre scores. Hope the next performances goes well!

I'm guessing that maybe not that many people do use improvisation here, perhaps. So, here are a few lessons I've find can be useful sometimes.

- Figure out how improvisation will fit into what you're writing. Are you improvising alongside other elements? Sketch those out first so you have a framework. Could be a harmonic or rhythmic framework, could be key hit points, whatever you need.

- What instrument do you feel comfortable improvising on? You don't have to be a virtuoso on any instrument or with your voice to incorporate improvisation (drones and noises can count as improvisation too). You don't have to have high end recording gear or the best virtual instruments (I recorded semi-improvised violin parts for my first feature on a broken mixer in the living room of the flat I was living in, with no dampening on the walls or floor... that's a story for another time, but with a bit of creativity and a lot of EQing, it turned out well). But you do have to be willing to make a noise, and it can help to work with an instrument you're comfortable playing.

- If you're recording one part such as a melody, where does the melody need to come in and out? What hit points does it need to react to? What kind of range will you need at each point?

- If recording multiple parts, how will you structure the order of your improvisation recording? I usually start with low sounds and work up, with some kind of concept of how the melody (if there is one) will sit amongst the other parts I record. You can start with melody and fill in around, or high and down (though that can create tuning difficulties, so bear it in mind). You can make harmony, melody, countermelody, rhythmic motifs- there are no rules for how many parts you record.

- If improvising for later processing/manipulation, what kind of sounds do you need to make? I like improvising a bunch of different sounds then manipulating them (through pitch shift, time stretch, glitch plugins, filters, etc.) To use an example on Friday I started gathering sounds for a game OST. I chose my key and affirmed the kind of sounds I need to make for this soundworld. I planned out a melody and sung it, sung a bunch of drones, and recorded some improvised grace notes and little rhythmic ideas. This week I'll be manipulating them to create raw material for the score. Having a clear concept of what I needed to record was really essential, even if I don't know exactly how they'll sound when I process them or how they'll eventually fit together.

Hope people have found that a little bit useful. Improvisation can feel scary to start with, but it's such a brilliant tool to add to your arsenal.

I do it but mostly for guitar. For piano practice it's Hanon etc .....

Sure do :)