Improvisation for Classical Musicians

Improvisation for Classical Musicians PDF

Author: Eugene Friesen

Publisher: Berklee Press Publications

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780876391297

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(Berklee Guide). Learn the creative mindset and acquire the technical tools necessary for improvisation. These concepts and exercises will help you to discover a deeper source of music making, a greater quality of authenticity, and a discernable change in sound and phrasing that will enhance your performances of written music. You will learn to play by ear, apply musical theory to your instrument, and engage creatively with the elements of music, giving you a long menu of musical options. The accompanying recording includes demonstration and play-along tracks. You will learn: tools to connect melodic imagination to your instrument, with an enhanced sense of physicality; how to use scales, chords, modes, progressions, and other structures in your improvisation; a broad rhythm vocabulary; improvisation techniques for standard progressions, such as blues and II V's; to create richer lines by using approach notes, neighbor tones, and embellishments into an improvised melodic line.

Improvisation Games for Classical Musicians

Improvisation Games for Classical Musicians PDF

Author: Jeffrey Agrell

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13:

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Why don't classical musicians improvise? Why do jazz players get to have all the fun? And how do they develop such fabulous technique and aural skills? With these words, Jeffrey Agrell opens the door to improvisation for all non-jazz musicians who thought it was beyond their ability to play extemporaneously. Step-by-step, Agrell leads through a series of games, rather than exercises. The game format takes the pressure off of classically trained musicians, steering them away from their fixation on mistake-free performance and introducing the basic concepts of playing with music itself instead of obsessing over a perfect rendition of a written score. Agrell draws an analogy with sports that illustrates the absurdity of the traditional approach to classically-oriented music performance.

The Musician's Way : A Guide to Practice, Performance, and Wellness

The Musician's Way : A Guide to Practice, Performance, and Wellness PDF

Author: Gerald Klickstein

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2009-08-06

Total Pages: 357

ISBN-13: 0199711291

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In The Musician's Way, veteran performer and educator Gerald Klickstein combines the latest research with his 30 years of professional experience to provide aspiring musicians with a roadmap to artistic excellence. Part I, Artful Practice, describes strategies to interpret and memorize compositions, fuel motivation, collaborate, and more. Part II, Fearless Performance, lifts the lid on the hidden causes of nervousness and shows how musicians can become confident performers. Part III, Lifelong Creativity, surveys tactics to prevent music-related injuries and equips musicians to tap their own innate creativity. Written in a conversational style, The Musician's Way presents an inclusive system for all instrumentalists and vocalists to advance their musical abilities and succeed as performing artists.

From Sight to Sound

From Sight to Sound PDF

Author: Nicole M. Brockmann

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2009-04-07

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 0253220645

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From Sight to Sound provides practical and creative techniques for classical improvisation for musicians of all levels and instruments, solo or in ensembles. These exercises build aural and communicative skills, instrumental technique, and musical understanding. When students use their instruments to execute and improvise on theoretical concepts, they make vivid connections between abstract ideas and their own playing. This then allows students to unite performance with music theory, ear-training, historical style and context, chamber music skills, and listening skills. Many of the exercises in this book are designed for players working in pairs or small groups to encourage performers to communicate with one another and build an atmosphere of trust in which creativity and spontaneity may flourish.

Music Theory Through Improvisation

Music Theory Through Improvisation PDF

Author: Ed Sarath

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-07-04

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 113521526X

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Designed for Music Theory courses, Music Theory Through Improvisation presents a unique approach to basic theory and musicianship training that examines the study of traditional theory through the art of improvisation. The book follows the same general progression of diatonic to non-diatonic harmony in conventional approaches, but integrates improvisation, composition, keyboard harmony, analysis, and rhythm. Conventional approaches to basic musicianship have largely been oriented toward study of common practice harmony from the Euroclassical tradition, with a heavy emphasis in four-part chorale writing. The author’s entirely new pathway places the study of harmony within improvisation and composition in stylistically diverse format, with jazz and popular music serving as important stylistic sources. Supplemental materials include a play-along audio in the downloadable resources for improvisation and a companion website with resources for students and instructors.

The Piano Improvisation Handbook

The Piano Improvisation Handbook PDF

Author: Carl Humphries

Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 492

ISBN-13: 9780879309770

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"The Piano Improvisation Handbook" offers a comprehensive overview of the practical skills and theoretical issues involved in mastering all forms of piano improvisation. It explores a wide range of styles, including classical, jazz, rock and blues. Whereas other books on improvisation typically offer little more than models for imitation and exercises for practising, this one adopts an approach specifically designed to encourage and enable independent creative exploration. The book contains a series of graded tutorial sections with musical examples on CD, as well as an extensive introductory section detailing the history of keyboard and piano improvisation, an appendix listing useful scales, chords, voicings and progressions across all keys, a bibliography and a discography. In addition to sections outlining how melody, harmony, rhythm, texture and form work in improvised piano music, there are sections devoted to explaining how ideas can be developed into continuous music and to exploring the process of finding a personal style. A key feature is the distinctive stress the author puts on the interconnectedness of jazz and classical music where improvisation is concerned. This book is best suited to those with at least some prior experience of learning the piano. However, the rudiments of both music theory and piano technique are covered in such a way that it can also serve as an effective basis for a self-sufficient course in creative piano playing.

Improvisation at the Piano

Improvisation at the Piano PDF

Author: Brian Chung

Publisher: Alfred Music

Published: 2007-03-02

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1457425122

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This unique text uses a step-by-step approach to guide the reader from fundamental concepts to advanced topics in improvisation. Each subject is broken into easy to understand segments, gradually becoming more complex as improvisational tools are acquired. Designed for the classically trained pianist with little or no experience in improvisation, it uses the reader’s previous knowledge of basic theory and technique to help accelerate the learning process. Included are more than 450 music examples and illustrations to reinforce the concepts discussed. These concepts are useful in all improvisational settings and can be applied to any musical style. For pianists interested in jazz, there are three chapters dedicated to introducing jazz improvisation, which can be used as the basis for further study in this idiom. Teachers using this text can go online to www.improvisationatthepiano.com to download lesson plans, ask specific questions about improvisation, and view answers to the most frequently asked questions about this book.

The Improvisation of Musical Dialogue

The Improvisation of Musical Dialogue PDF

Author: Bruce Ellis Benson

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2003-02-27

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 9780521009324

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This book is an important contribution to the philosophy of music. Bruce Benson's concern is the phenomenology of music making as an activity. He offers a radical thesis that it is improvisation that is primary in the moment of music making.It will be a provocative read.

Improvisation and Music Education

Improvisation and Music Education PDF

Author: Ajay Heble

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-02-19

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 1317569938

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This book offers compelling new perspectives on the revolutionary potential of improvisation pedagogy. Bringing together contributions from leading musicians, scholars, and teachers from around the world, the volume articulates how improvisation can breathe new life into old curricula; how it can help teachers and students to communicate more effectively; how it can break down damaging ideological boundaries between classrooms and communities; and how it can help students become more thoughtful, engaged, and activist global citizens. In the last two decades, a growing number of music educators, music education researchers, musicologists, cultural theorists, creative practitioners, and ethnomusicologists have suggested that a greater emphasis on improvisation in music performance, history, and theory classes offers enormous potential for pedagogical enrichment. This book will help educators realize that potential by exploring improvisation along a variety of trajectories. Essays offer readers both theoretical explorations of improvisation and music education from a wide array of vantage points, and practical explanations of how the theory can be implemented in real situations in communities and classrooms. It will therefore be of interest to teachers and students in numerous modes of pedagogy and fields of study, as well as students and faculty in the academic fields of music education, jazz studies, ethnomusicology, musicology, cultural studies, and popular culture studies.