(part 3 of 20)
Performance-Improvisation vs Composition-Improvisation
In the days of Mozart and Beethoven, most musicians learned to improvise and compose. Today, when it comes to composition, even seasoned musicians must often start at the beginning, as improvisation and intuitive composition skills are now rarely taught (particularly true for classical musicians). Creativity is key, but all too often it’s suppressed by a narrow focus on rigorous instrumental training and studying the “rules” of music theory.
Improvisation is the heart of the composition process, but it’s a very different type of improvisation than what most people think of. Today the word ‘improv’ is often associated with jazz (of course it’s possible to improvise in any style). A general goal of many jazz musicians is to make up music on the spot during a performance, and so there’s often a motivation to create consistent polished performances. The way performance-improvisation is often taught is actually too structured for the purpose of composition. Though freedom is highly encouraged, many musicians, especially students, tend to play certain patterns that sound good over and over in slightly different ways. This can create cohesiveness and even a sense of individual style, but it’s different from the composition process as there’s simply no time to fully explore ideas while performing. There isn’t time to stop and slowly rework and perfect these ideas. Heavy experimentation and repeated failure is critical to the composition process.
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Index
- Introduction
- Why Piano?
- Improvisation:
- Notation:
- Related Skills/Knowledge:
- Composition: