How to improvise at the piano when you’ve never improvised and don’t want to play jazz

I’ve often had adult students say to me that they wish they could improvise, but that they thought improvisation belonged to jazz musicians and people who could reel off complex scales and chords at lightning speed. They say they often feel chained to the score, and don’t have the confidence to play anything but the classical music in front of them. These adult students frequently say they want to play the piano as a way of relaxing, and sometimes that feeling of being dictated to by the score can set up performance pressure and a need to “get it right”, which sometimes interferes with the relaxation and enjoyment.

For these learners, exploring modes as a gentle way of getting started with improvisation can be a good way to find that freedom and relaxation. With modes (or any improvisation), you can make it as simple or as complex as you like. Just start slowly and simply with no performance pressure, no striving to “get it right”, and just experiment with sounds and rhythms.

Find a structure or texture that allows you to keep a flow  instead of something overly complicated that requires hard thinking and inevitably leads to stopping and starting — this stopping and starting can become a habit that is hard to break. You can progress to something more complex once you’ve built up your skill and confidence.

Modal playing can lend itself to spacious, atmospheric and calming sounds, which fits perfectly with the idea of slow, simple and flowing. It can also be as dramatic and complex as you like, which allows for a natural progression once your technique and confidence have increased.

Here is one of my more atmospheric improvisations:

The problem — classical perfectionism vs creative freedom

Classical training can sometimes make us perfectionists. We’re taught to reproduce, not to invent. The idea of improvising feels terrifying to a lot of my piano students and listeners — “what if I play a wrong note?” Yet, there’s a quiet craving to breathe at the piano — to let go of correctness and rediscover sound itself. If you have classical training, rather than being a restriction, it can actually give you a gateway to improvisation due to all the internalised musical patterns, techniques, keys, textures and music theory understanding that you will have gained in your training. 

You can read more about how classical training can help here: Why Classical Training Gives Pianists the Freedom to Play in Any Style

Modes as gentle frameworks

Modes are a natural evolution if you already understand diatonic harmony, and major and minor scales; but if you don’t, some of the simpler and grounding modes can be quite accessible, such as the modes of the major scale. Some might even be quite familiar sounding due to their frequent use in pop, film scores, folk music, impressionism etc. Each mode has a particular character or colour.  Dorian has melancholy and wistfulness with a subtle lift; Phrygian, a sense of mystery or darkness; Lydian, a fragile brightness and otherworldly sound, expansive like an open sky. When you linger in these colours without worrying about rules, improvisation becomes less about performing and more about listening.

Here is an improvisation of mine that explores the different colours of several contrasting modes:

Take a look at my complete guide to modes, and maybe pick one, and play around with it. Try just playing the scale itself at first, then start varying the direction and rhythm and creating a melody in this way. See where your ear or fingers want to go. 

The character of modal improvisation — why it can create calming and atmospheric piano music

Without the classical style modulations to related keys and goal oriented driving towards strong cadences with their resolutions, modal improvisation often feels meditative. The harmony can float and hover; the melody can breathe. It invites reflection, space and atmosphere — which is why many listeners describe it as relaxing or hypnotic. It is versatile though, depending on what modal combinations you use, which chord progressions, textures, rhythms and melodies — it can have drive, excitement and passion. 

I’ve explored the darker sound of the Phrygian mode in the following improvisation: The Unspoken Current – Improvisation in D Phrygian, Eb Lydian and Ab Lydian

If, on the other hand, you like the idea of exploring classical style strong cadences in your improvisation, you might like my example of an improvised piece of music that does just that here: Through the Prism: C Minor and the Neapolitan 6th — Improvisation

For a more lyrical sound listen to Aeolian Nocturne in G — Improvisation with G Aeolian, Dorian and Phrygian Modes

Guidance — how to start exploring improvisation 

If you’re a classically trained pianist longing for freedom, or even a beginner pianist, start simply.

• Choose a mode and stay with it for a while.
• Choose two or three chords that fit within that mode, with one of them being the tonic triad. E.g. in A Aeolian, you could pick Am, Dm and Em. Play these chords in the left hand in any order you like; as block chords, or arpeggios, or even just a single bass note — or any texture you like. In the right hand, experiment with playing notes from the A Aeolian scale, and see what fits the harmonies in your left hand. Read more about basic chords here. 
• Play slowly. Aim for a speed that allows flow, listening and contemplation, not a speed that impresses. Don’t think of it as a performance. Think of it as listening to yourself. When you develop the habit of flow, you can then progress onto faster tempos and more complex textures. 
• Let the sound lead your hands. Listen. 
• Record yourself — not to judge, but to hear your own voice emerging, and see what particular sounds you liked, and what you’d like to develop further.
  
  

You might be surprised by how much music you already have inside you.

You can find a basic guide on getting started with improvisation in general here.

Final thoughts

Improvisation doesn’t have to sound like jazz or mimic anyone else’s style. But if you like Ludovico Einaudi, Satie, Debussy, Philip Glass etc, these sounds can be a source of inspiration. It can be a quiet act of self-discovery — spacious, soothing, and entirely your own, not a pastiche. There’s no right or wrong.

You can find more of my modal improvisations here.