A quick improvisation:
Ah, I’m overwhelmed.
Ah, I’m happy.
Ah, my crazy mother drives me crazy.
Ah, the craziness of my mother is a delight.
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Love and hate.
Self-love and self hate.
Too much to get done today.
Only that which gets done today needs to get done.
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I long for the cello
I enjoy being free from the cello.
And no matter what, it feels [...]
I was delighted to see that today’s Wall Street Journal feature article on the return of improvisation to classical music performance and the training of classical musicians features what my DePauw University improvisation students are doing. Several photos of DePauw students in action, and video footage from DePauw, are included in the online version.
If you [...]
Those of us trained in the traditional, improvisation-phobic classical musical culture often don’t realize that improvisation played a key role in the way people made music, even much of what we now think of as classical music, through the nineteenth century. While most (but not all) of my own improvising is in non-performance situations, in [...]
Cresting an extended improvisation (longer than one note, anyway!), listening inside yourself for the first note, then the next and the next.
Throughout the United States (and the rest of the world), an increasing number of classical musicians are finding themselves drawn to improvisation. Sometimes we’re forced in the improvisation direction, especially those of us who are educators. The National Association of Schools of Music accreditation standards and the National Standards developed by MENC mandate that improvisation [...]
After a good bit of trial and error, I have finally managed to get video from my camcorder all the way to YouTube. Here’s the first part (2 more to come) of the solo improvisation set I did at the University of Iowa School of Music Contemporary Improvisation Weekend two weeks ago (November 3). [...]
I had an email earlier today from a new friend at the University of Iowa regarding recording improvisations and then discussing them. This is a great thing to do–if you are a teacher running an improv class, for a group to do themselves, and to do with your own solo improvisations. You can [...]
I’m at the University of Iowa this weekend, and have started blogging about it here.
Today we had our final session with this rotation. Great students; I wish I could be with them longer.
We started by sharing the societal/world issue that most concerns each of us. The students were very open; one was, I think, crying at one point. Then we made music. I [...]
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