I don’t claim to be a great composer or improviser, like the famous composers who were also known for their exceptional improvisation skills — e.g. Bach, Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart …
But composing and improvising is a huge part of my life and identity, and has been since I was very young. When I was a young girl, shortly after starting piano lessons, I started composing and improvising, mainly in the Dorian mode, without much understanding of the theory behind it, but following my ear and the sounds I had in my head. I am told by relatives that even before that, as a toddler, I was creating melodies on a glockenspiel, and one relative said “I think we all know what she’s going to be when she grows up!”. That relative was onto something.
Now in my (very!) late 40s, after many years of classical training and music theory teaching, I have found myself revisiting some of those earlier modal ideas, with a more in-depth perspective.
(You can find my most recent improvisation below, or go to full post here: Displaced — Improvisation in F Mixolydian & Mixolydian ♭6, With E♭ Dorian.)
When you have a deep understanding of music theory, and well ingrained muscle memory for musical patterns (as tends to happen with extensive classical training), it can be easier to let go and start to see what emerges when playing spontaneously at the piano. If you are having to think about every note, or work out every chord, it is impossible to be spontaneous. Extemporaneous composition requires some level of implicit memory — that is, skills, habits and movements that are so deeply ingrained from repetition that they can be carried out without thinking.
Many students of mine have thought that they shouldn’t be focusing on the mechanics if they want to play expressively, and this is understandable, because it seems counter-intuitive to do so. But without plenty of work on the mechanics of technique, musical patterns and music theory concepts; you don’t develop the muscle memory which is necessary for flow. Embodied skills are necessary for musical communication.
Like I say, I don’t pretend to be up to the standard of the great composers, but I do feel the music freely and deeply, and improvisation for me is a way of letting my non-verbal “voice” “speak”.
I like this quote, attributed to Bach:
“It’s easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.” – Johann Sebastian Bach
Clearly he was joking – there’s nothing easy about playing any instrument, especially a piano when you have 88 notes to choose from, in the right order (which reminds me of another quote, which I’ll save for another day…). But there is something in the idea. If you learn and deeply know all the right notes for every key, chord and mode; and you have the correct fingering systems for scales, arpeggios and broken chords well ingrained; it can almost feel like the music plays itself. In fact I often feel like that when I improvise.
Maybe not quite so closely related to improvisation and composition, but I thought I would close with this – another quote by Bach that I like:
“Without my morning coffee I’m just like a dried up piece of roast goat.” – Johann Sebastian Bach
I’m not in Bach’s league, but on this particular matter, I’m right there beside him.
Listen to Displaced — Improvisation in F Mixolydian & Mixolydian ♭6, With E♭ Dorian:
Listen to more of my original music here: My Improvisations – Original Music Created in the Moment
