Musical improvisation

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Musical improvisation is the spontaneous creative process of making music while it is being performed. Improvisation exists in almost all music, but is closely associated with particular genres such as blues, jazz, bluegrass and Indian classical music. To use a linguistic analogy, improvisation is like speaking or having a conversation as opposed to reciting a written text. Among jazz musicians there is an adage, "improvisation is composition speeded up," and vice versa, "composition is improvisation slowed down."

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It has been suggested that Jazz improvisation be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

Improvisation is one of the basic tenets of jazz. Typically in a jazz piece, the "head" (the song's melody along with any backing harmony) is played once by the musicians and often repeated. Improvisation by any of the musicians follows, and this is typically the longest section of a song as each musician improvises their own melody over the harmonic and rhythmic foundation of the head. When the end of the head is reached it is repeated and a solo's length is specified by the number of repetitions of the head necessary. After one musician has finished improvising, another will begin, and no instrument is forbidden from improvising. A repetition of the head will usually end a jazz piece. There are many variations to this pattern; new sections can be added before and after the head, two musicians can alternatively improvise for short amounts of time (known as "trading"), or several musicians can improvise in a group (collective improvisation is common in Dixieland jazz)

Many varied scales and their modes can be used in improvisation. These mainly depend on the nature of the harmonic framework. Against a C Minor seventh chord, for example, an improvisor would usually have a choice of using C Dorian, C Aeolian, C blues, and others, depending on the situation and personal taste. Chord changes are very important in jazz improvisation as well. Whole solos can be built around chord tones. The variety is achieved with the rhythmic aspects of the solo.

In the bebop era of jazz in the early 1950s there was a common theme of urgency and technical proficiency. Performers would often construct intricate melody lines at speeds of up to 300BPM (Beats Per Minute). These improvisations varied considerably from the song's main melody. The modal era of jazz, mainly started by Miles Davis, moved the harmonic framework for a piece from the fast, dynamic chord progressions of bebop to more static, relaxed chords with longer durations. The prevailing tendency of modal performers was to improvise not over specific chords, but in a musical mode instead. Free jazz performers eschew the explicit harmonic framework for improvisation; the harmony in free jazz is less rigid and less traditional.

Improvisation is absolutely essential for jazz musicians. Illinois Jacquet, for example, is best known for a single solo on the tune Flying Home, and such solos are often transcribed. They are often not written down in the process, but they help musicians practice the jazz idiom. In university jazz programs, transcription tends to be the main weekly assignment in improvisation class. Charlie Parker's improvisations were distinctive, helping to shape the bebop period. Though it is helpful to transcribe on one's own, Parker's solos are often studied in a published collection known as the Omni Book, and groups such as Supersax arrange his solos with their own harmonic backing. Often, an improvised melody can give rise to an entirely new jazz head.

Vocal jazz improvisations is known as scat singing and made up from syllables that help articulate jazz phrasing.

Throughout the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, improvisation was a highly valued skill. J.S. Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, and many other famous composers and musicians were known especially for their improvisational skills. Many classical scores contained sections for improvisation, such as the cadenza in concertos. The preludes to some keyboard suites by Bach and Handel, for example, consisted solely of a progression of chords. The performers used these as the basis for their improvisation. Handel, Scarlatti, and Bach all belonged to a tradition of solo improvisation that was not limited to variations, but included the concerto form, typically with moving voices in both hands, occasionally exploring fugue.

Classical musicians are rarely taught to improvise even in professional academe. Ironically, however, while there is something intimidating and (for some) all-too-serious about the bravura of Beethoven, the set of variations Mozart wrote on "Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman" is very popular, implying that the stereo-typically non-adventurous listener of classical music in fact is drawn to at least this form of improvisation.

With the increasing importance of the written score and the rise of publishing, music that was once performed with improvisation such as baroque music and the cadenza section of concertos are now rarely performed with improvisation. Few classical artists in the world today are known to have improvised publicly on a known or on-the-spot theme, yet in the early 21st century the art is experiencing a revival, and it is taught at such schools as Juilliard and the Martyn Ferenc Free School of Art in Budapest. Top performers include pianists Leslie Howard and Robert D. Levin. On the other hand, there are pianists who blend classical idiom with jazz and rock such as Fazil Say, Gabriela Montero, Jacques Loussier, or the David Rees-Williams Trio, and there are the jazz interpretations of John Bayless. The roots of synthesizing jazz and baroque music are not new, however, but date back to earlier artists such as P.D.Q. Bach and The Swingle Singers. Between these two stylistic groups, classicist embellishment and classical-jazz, which are in fact radically different, an unacknowledged controversy may rage. It is the idiomatically more free group that has the widest popularity and list of exponents.[1]

Several excellent pianists also teach improvisation and perform, such as David Dolan, William Goldstein, and Eric Barnhill. It is probable that most of the best concert pianists have explored this art. In classicist arranging and composing in a manner related to improvisation, Sergio Tiempo is most remarkable. Glenn Gould was said to improvise in the style of Beethoven and others.[2] There is a tradition of improvised organ competition, because of the more solid foundation of organ improvisation. But there is not a similar competitive tradition for the piano, on the level of composed-music competition.

Furthermore, more historical tensions and crises are associated with improvisation on the piano, such as the break between various modern forms of improvisation and the astute study of embellishment and cadenza. The piano presents such difficulties because of its immense versatility. The improvised cadenza is a very creative skill, but it is not a substitute for improvisation of a rondo, sonata, scherzo, or the many other forms that can be composed and played impromptu.

Besides the idea of theme and variation, there are many possible kinds of musical score or blueprint that apply to improvisation, as well as different times in which the score might actually be prepared. An improvisor could start from no overall structure, and merely explore familiar and unfamiliar patterns and shapes. Or she could prepare an outline ahead of time, one which might not restrict her to a harmonic or melodic progression, or on the other hand, create or prepare the outline on the spot. Finally it is at least possible to imagine composing the entire piece on the spot before playing it. Musical improvisation is thus like the tradition of storytelling, since many experts in that art, such as Garrison Keillor, use an outline.

Because of the principles of progress and individual expression which oppose anachronism, any purely classical improvisation might be marginalized, even if it falls into one of the above four types. Glenn Gould, in one of his filmed interviews, declared that "all the basic statements have been made for posterity," by which he may have meant the complete arsenal of basic approaches to composition and expression. For Gould this meant that the best alternative was to promote interpretation, not on the concert stage, but in audio recording and its creative parameters. He was biased against concert performance, and he tried to use recording creatively, while only in a few cases finding traditional interpretation inadequate. For example, he felt that Mozart was sufficiently "jaded" to require unorthodox interpretation. Gould, though himself an improvisor, did not seriously consider that improvisation might provide a diverse alternative to an aging repertoire. Despite his desire for spontaneity, in recordings he found a permanence akin to that of composition.

Improvisors like Say and Montero gravitate towards jazz and a fusion with classical music. It is very difficult to untangle jazz and improvisation (and perhaps not possible or necessary), conceptually or in the popular consciousness. What follows here may appear to read like a compositional treatise without much reference to jazz. The sense of this, however, is that improvisation relies on a summary of music theory, much in the way that it takes up the basic outline of a theme in order to develop or emebellish it.

In Baroque keyboard music, as well as for the lute and guitar, there are some fundamental techniques that are a good place to start improvising. The pattern of chords in many baroque preludes can be played over a pedal tone or repeated notes in the left hand. Such progressions can be used in many other structures and contexts, and are still found in Mozart, but most preludes begin with the treble supported by a simple bass. J.S. Bach, for example, was particularly fond of the sound produced by the dominant seventh harmony played over, i.e., suspended against, the tonic pedal tone. Bach's Cantata BWV 54 uses this suspension as the opening chord in E flat Major.

A favorite progression of Bach was the passage from the tonic, to the tonic dominant seventh, to the subdominant, to the dominant, and the tonic again. Here the subdominant, or fourth scale degree triad, would be the crest of the series. On the other hand, a popular folk melody, on which the Violin Sonata in G Major and the Great Fugue in g minor are based, also figures prominently in Bach themes that move initially from the tonic, only to the dominant and back, as an alternative to moving to the subdominant.

Both of these varieties, however, compressed into a short theme, are the bases of many of the fugue subjects in the Well-Tempered Clavier. The Goldberg Variations are also influenced by this theme. This limits the possibility of emulating in an original way the Well-Tempered Clavier fugues, and makes them a more likely candidate as an improvisatory source. It is also wise to begin by improvising minuets, and to continue this practice when arriving at Mozart's style.

The polyphony in late baroque music also lends itself to improvisation. One ought to avoid parallel fifths and parallel octaves in this style of classical playing, except perhaps when playing chords in parallel, such as in Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. If he was indeed the composer, here Bach ignored the prohibition. In later music such exceptions apply more often. Practicing polyphonic improvisation, one will mostly encounter the problem of parallel octaves. Contrary motion, and parallel thirds, sixths, and tenths are the basic methods of avoidance. Parallel fifths and octaves are noticeable to the ear, if not the more difficult to discern hidden fifths and hidden octaves, which are hard to find even in a written score.

Baroque melodic lines, in any case, are similar to the later homophonic styles, except that more passing tones are added. There is also a more strict pulse in baroque music. But much like the later classical style, in the melodic passage from one scale degree to another there are usually constant shifts between tonic and dominant. One difference, however, may be in baroque harmonic progression. As such music comes continually to rest on any particular tonic chord, it may seem more like a plagal cadence than in the later style.

There is little or no Alberti bass in baroque keyboard music, and instead the accompanying hand supports the moving lines mostly by contrasting them with longer note values, which themselves have a melodic shape and are mostly placed in consonant harmony. This polarity can be reversed--another useful technique for improvisation--by changing the longer note values to the right hand and playing moving lines in the left at intervals--or with moving lines in both hands, occasionally. This shift of roles between treble and bass is another definitive characteristic. Finally, in keeping with this polarity, the kind of question and answer which appears in baroque music has the appearance of fugue or canon. This method was a favorite in improvisation of Scarlatti and Handel especially at the beginning of a piece, even when not forming a fugue.

Fugue is another option and is rather difficult, though common practice among organists and some music theorists. Adorno found the practice pedantic, and many are surprised by its existence today. To begin learning to improvise short fugues it is helpful to play a fugue subject and attempt to add an answer in another voice, i.e., simply to play an exposition. Or one may begin by playing a one voice improvisation with occasional statements of the subject. If the two voice fugues are practiced consistently, the next step is to add a third voice. Not all of Bach's fugues use the diatonic sequences of harmonies mentioned in the next section, but they are found in similar forms in many of his compositions.

Classical music after the baroque period involves less polyphony, and a basso continuo is no longer common. However, it also departs from baroque style in that sometimes several voices may move together as chords involving both hands, to form brief phrases without any passing tones. Though such motifs were used sparingly by Mozart, they were taken up much more liberally by Beethoven and Schubert, who had a more percussive approach to the piano. Such chords appeared to some extent in baroque music, as mentioned before in Bach's organ preludes, toccatas and overtures. But there they were often in one hand or consisted only of a scale or series of more or less equally emphasized chords. Continuing to improvise minuets, one will find that Mozart's and Beethoven's feature percussive melodies and more accented bass notes not found in Bach.

Schubert's sonatas are closely related to improvisation. His Sonata in c, D. 958, has an introductory theme which Beethoven had created, for his 32 Variations in c, WoO 80.

Beginning with the age of J.C. Bach and W.A. Mozart, musical phrases often form more isolated structures of question and answer. The question phrase might seek a harmonic resolution in the answer, for example, or the answer might follow more like a repetition or echo. Musical phrases, in other words, are characterized by how they end, which is determined by the cadences that they use.

In general, the shorter phrases are, a somewhat greater variety of harmonies is possible. It may be objected that a longer phrase provides more space for harmonic variety, but this will not appear to be the case, if it is observed that the longer phrase limits harmonic variety by its structure.

The harmonization of any series of very short phrases might be achieved by chromaticism, or by a deceptive cadence that ends in a rather unorthodox way, such as on a dominant or diminished chord. In a drawn out phrase, on the other hand, the options are mainly restricted to the tonic, dominant, and subdominant. But one must never assume that the melody note is the root of the harmony (see below regarding harmony). Adding the supertonic and submediant to the root movement of a phrase tends to have a more high classical sound--archaic, that is, in relation to Beethoven in particular and all later music in general.

Classical phrases can consist of several bars, however, which was the norm in the high classical style. These typically moved from the tonic to the dominant and back again, in which case even some extra harmonization added in between would be more strict.[3]

Different moods are associated with classical improvisation. Bach's music may be said to have primarily a religious focus, while the second movement of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 is marked "affetuoso." Bach also shows an admiration or love for nature and mathematical beauty that anticipates much later music. Beethoven and Mozart, on the other hand, cultivated slightly new musical moods. These are often indicated by mood markings such as con amore, appassionato, cantabile, and expressivo. While all music should have some degree of cantabile, con amore (with love) playing is associated very much with Beethoven and some of his piano works such as the Variations Opus 34, the Diabelli Variations, and Für Elise and other bagatelles. In fact, it is perhaps because improvisation is spontaneous that it is akin to the communication of love.[4]


It is very helpful in classical improvisation, as it is in jazz playing, to break down the major and minor scales by assigning alternative harmonies for each note of the scale. To make this task even simpler, on any instrument, one may begin by playing single notes and experimenting with possible accompaniment harmonies for them as played by a pianist.[5] This may seem to lead to a habitual and oversimplified chordal left hand for the solo pianist, but there are many ways to avoid such constraints. The left hand harmonization can be reversed, for example, by harmonizing bass notes with two or more notes in the right hand. Jazz pianist Barry Harris similarly advises against playing more than a couple of tones in the left hand at once.

Playing three or more voices in such combinations between the hands, a pianist can practice inversions of the triad, which are mainly distinguished by whether the root, mediant, or fifth appear in the bass. These three inversions each have a distinct quality and use. Harmonization can be taken even further when it is applied to passing tones and chromaticism.

An improvisor can practice by "reharmonizing" the major scale for example, by playing the scale tones in succession in the right hand (or left) while providing a progression of single notes, chords, or arpeggios with the other hand. It is best to start with the simplest options and work forward. Triplet arpeggios are also common, in various patterns.

The first four notes of the major scale, for example, can be harmonized as I, V, I, V, or I, v (minor), I, IV, or I, V, I, IV, or I, V, VI, ii. Homophonic structure such as this is one of the first steps to improvisation, and it is also the basis of some of the idioms common in mid-18th century homophony. The technique is also reflected in the first fugue theme in C Major in Book I of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.

Another useful technique is the harmonization or adding of tones directly within melodic lines. This may involve the use of extra passing tones in a repeating pattern, or a series of arpeggios.


A piano improvisor is helped by observing the distance of certain harmonies from the tonic triad, in terms of cadences and melody, and how one might approach and depart from certain harmonies through modulation. This is important for understanding classical idioms but it does not mean that one must imitate exactly any particular composer. Modulation is greatly aided by the Circle of Fifths, but in two different senses. The true circle of fifths shows all 12 keys usually as major keys. From the point of view of any one of the 12, the circle appears as a series of dominants or subdominants in either direction, depending on how they are interpreted. An adjusted circle of fifths keeps within the tonic key signature, creating a much shorter circle of modes, each of a different quality, which still may be adjusted in modulation. The chords created by this diatonic circle, or simply by playing a triad shape through the major scale,[6] help make certain modulations and cadences smoother and less harsh, i.e., they form the secondary dominants. In the late classical style, the supertonic is often used, and would be harmonized as a minor triad (Dorian mode).

The adjusted or diatonic circle, within a particular key, is played as a sequence, a technique polished in the Baroque period, for the purpose of cadencing either on the tonic or the dominant. Typically in Bach this sequence starts on the tonic, but then moves within the dominant key. In Mozart, by contrast, at least in the major key version that he typically used, it begins on the dominant or on any tonic chord, and proceeds in the key of the initial harmony of the sequence. Mozart and other classical composers did not revert to the minor key version of such a sequence, which remains a strictly baroque idea.

An improvisor approaches this series of harmonies, in other words, with the question whether to revert to a neighboring key signature. But the goal of the sequence is the dominant in relation to the current key. This sequence was also a very frequent habit of Mozart, who reworked it as part of his individual style, at various tempos. While it is true that the third scale degree, for example, produces a minor triad, in Mozart's embellishment of it (and to some extent Bach's) it is articulated as a Phrygian mode, which reveals its character more clearly.

Though classical music makes use of modes in several ways, it generally differs from jazz, however, in the following way. In both classical and jazz there are frequent accidentals, but in jazz, many of the transitions that give rise to these are more streamlined. In classical music, on the other hand, the harmonic shifts are more emphasized, rather than merely moving from one mode to another--such as in modulation to the supertonic or relative minor (submediant). Jazz, therefore, is more modal.

Classical improvisors tend to impose minor scales within major key phrases. For example, the supertonic and submediant are outlined by melodic lines using the melodic minor--not the modes that correspond to the tonic key signature.

Jazz is more free in the alteration of scales, lest it might have a stilted and not "hip" sound. This is yet more the case in later jazz (Many late romantic and early modern composers, however, such as Rachmaninov, make harmonic use of modes that are of linear use in jazz such as the fifth mode of the melodic minor, or Mixolydian flat-6).

Mozart, on the other hand, experimented with modal passages a great deal, in particular in the Piano Concerto in c K. 491 (a personal favorite of Beethoven, who played it at his Vienna debut in March, 1795). In the K. 491 there are a few scale passages in the first movement where Mozart appears to have been uncertain about what mode to use, making the accidentals a matter of some debate. In modern jazz one has the option of respecting the modes of harmonies in modulation, playing them as modes, in addition to many further modes derived from the melodic minor and harmonic minor scales themselves.

Typically, the phrase leading to an authentic cadence in Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, and to some extent in Beethoven, is preceded by a deceptive cadence on the submediant, which is also minor (Aeolian mode) to be answered by the authentic cadence. In this case question and answer taken together can be thought of as one phrase.

Improvisors might also reverse the method of harmonization by creating melodies over existing and well-known harmonic progressions, such as Bach's Prelude to the aforementioned fugue, and many other ground basses or passacaglias such as the Spanish Folia. An improvisor who wishes to become more serious about playing variations might then try some of Mozart's arias, which at one time were prime territory. More freedom and inspiration might be derived from applying alternative sections or endings to various sonatas, sonatinas and other works of the 18th or 19th century.

It is appropriate to discuss Western Classical music last because it really represents the exception rather than the rule in music making. Improvisation is such a natural mode of music making that its absence should be regarded as unusual. It should also be recognised that it is only in relatively recent history that improvisation has essentially dropped out of Western Classical music completely. As dance, for example, became more generalized in form, improvisation lost a great deal of its individuality with respect to form, placing more of the task of differentiation on the solo interpreter himself. After this event, the era of expressionism had begun to develop. Composers did not want to return to trying new combinations of old materials. Instead, they entered into a period of radical structural exploration, that helped give rise to modernism. On this view, modernism arises as a reactionary movement to romantic banality, but at the same time modernism retained something of the kind of expressivism achieved by Beethoven, which is said to involve a truth content in addition to a purely sensual or emotive aspect.[7]

The exhaustiveness of theory and technique, in the mid-Romantic period, moreover, also gave rise to skepticism about the spirituality of music, issues faced by Wagner (see modernism and existentialism). Wagner, in turn, and his milieu are believed to have inspired the beginnings of modernism, and new modes of individual, more spiritual expression which, for better or worse, took Beethoven as their ultimate guide. Though there were exceptions, some such new views were opposed to improvisation as belonging to a casual, non-intellectual creative process (for which it is arguable they were entirely off the mark), or were too pre-occupied to take it up. At the same time, the romantic period still produced composers who were very much interested in improvisation, such as Brahms.

Finally, improvisation was a divertissement of the aristocracy, whose self-identity changed dramatically after the early 19th century. These trends appear to have had their beginnings in the period just after Beethoven, but only finally reached completion in the last quarter of the 19th Century, which also coincides closely with the emergence of atonality. The process also suggests a correlation between improvisation and the popularity and familiarity of music, linking it to the greatly varied melodies of opera and folk music.

Such issues of musical form are dealt with at length by Adorno in his 1970 treatise, most recently translated into English by Robert Hullot-Kentor as Aesthetic Theory. This is considered the definitive text for questions of anachronism, modernism and form in art and music.

Beethoven and Mozart leave excellent examples of what their improvisations were like, in the sets of variations and the sonatas which they published, and in their cadenzas. It is also known that the duels in which they competed featured practices similar to jazz, such as the famous "trading fours" and trading eights, in which jazz musicians share choruses of a standard tune, often with some degree of competitive spirit recalling the cutting contests of the Harlem stride era.

Mozart left an unfinished Fantasia in d minor, and a harmonic prelude that he intended to serve as exemplary of his habitual modulations when improvising. Beethoven, on the other hand, expressed regret at how little he had finally published in terms of keyboard instruction (his planned "piano method"), and his hard-won improvisatory battles over such rivals as Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Joseph Woelfl are relegated to obscure legends, informed by published themes with variations. But it is clear that Beethoven emerged triumphant from among a large society of Viennese keyboard improvisors who were determined to wrest the top position from him.

The improvisations of Mozart and Beethoven, however had no true rivals in their time. Furthermore, theme variation and keyboard exploration were essential avenues by which they conceived music. Many of Beethoven's themes, especially those belonging to the heroic period, for example, focus heavily on the first inversion of the major triad, melodically, and this triadic signature of Beethoven's can be traced to certain themes of Mozart such as the "Ah, Perdona, al Primo Affetto" duet from Mozart's La clemenza di Tito. Beethoven played variations on this aria during one of his concerts in Prague in the late 1790's, (possibly at the famous 'Konvikt' residence which is today a bar on the ground floor).

As composers Beethoven and Mozart were not distinguished so much by altering the established modulatory and melodic vocabularies, but by molding these vocabularies into a personal signature that left the established structures largely intact. Adorno described Mozart's musical texture as an unshakable formal rigor always pushed to the brink of apparent chaos. Beethoven's, on the other hand, he described with somewhat more reverence as a "continuum of nothing" indicating again its extemporaneous quality. Adorno credited Beethoven with making the high classical style capable of individual expression, but this claim is quite debatable.

Improvisation is a form of composition. To improvise in the late 18th and early 19th century style without departing from it for reasons of individual expression or theory would be to compose in it. The difficulties inherent in this are impressing individual expression into tonal music, and avoiding the social implications and historical trappings that belong to the period in which the style was popular. It is probably this set of dilemmas, and not the intimidating genius of either Bach or Beethoven, that prevents such anachronistic improvisation on a wide scale.

Original score notations for medieval organ music commonly include instructions for improvisation and embellishments. The scales that were used were selected according to the same improvisational principles now used in jazz. When the single voice plainsong started to develop into the 2-, 3-, or 4-part organum (during the period 1000-1300 A.D.), one or more of the parts were also commonly improvised, weaving free counter-lines around the written melody line.

Improvised accompaniment over a figured bass was a common practice during the Baroque era, and to some extent the following periods.

There is one exception to the general pattern of loss in classical improvisation and that is in the role of the church organist. The organist's role includes the necessity of accompanying the movement of liturgy and filling voids of silence during church services, and guide the congregation in singing. This practice precludes the use of written music, primarily due to the extent, as well as the harmonic simplicity of the liturgy and hymns for which there is little or no pre-arranged accompaniment. As a result all practical organists are expected to extemporise in a manner appropriate to the atmosphere of the service. Within the upper ranks of church and cathedral organists, particularly in France, one is expected to be able to improvise in all compositional forms, including symphonic and sonata forms, and fugue.

Since the 1950s, contemporary composers have placed fewer restrictions on the improvising performer, using techniques such as vague notation (for example, indicating only that a certain number of notes must sound within a defined period of time). New Music ensembles formed around improvisation were founded, such as Lukas Foss' Improvisation Chamber Ensemble at the University of California, Los Angeles; Larry Austin's New Music Ensemble at the University of California, Davis; the ONCE Group at Ann Arbor; the Sonic Arts Group; and the San Francisco Tape Music Center, the latter three funding themselves through concerts, tours, and grants. Significant pieces include Foss's Time Cycles (1960) and Echoi (1963). (Von Gunden 1983, p.32)

Other composers working with improvisation include Vangelis, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski, Karlheinz Essl, Christian Wolff, John Zorn (for example Game Pieces, including Cobra), and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Examples of famous individuals and rock groups who use improvisation as a composition tool:

  • Keith Jarrett — solo piano performances
  • Genesis (band) - Much of their album material stemmed from a studio improvisation.
  • Grateful Dead
  • King Crimson
  • Pink Floyd (Live at Pompeii)
  • Primus - Are known to go on lengthy improvisational jams during shows.
  • Buckethead - Many of his songs are played (live) with entirely improvised solos blending notable signatures by Buckethead.
  • Can - Have been known to do extremely lengthy improvisations and once did a show that lasted for 6 hours.
  • Sonic Youth (Sonic Death)
  • The Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East
  • Frank Zappa
  • Bruce Hornsby - All of his work from 1990 onward.
  • Phish - Phish wrote music and played it in the studio, then jammed to it and improvised on the stage.
  • Cream- Many of their live performances are improvisational jams.
  • The Necks - Live performances are improvisational pieces of up to an hour in length.
  • Led Zeppelin - Many songs during live performances, including Dazed and Confused, would last up to a half an hour.
  • The Mars Volta
  • Red Hot Chili Peppers - A large amount of their live shows are improvisational.
  • Acid Rodeo - Many live songs are extended with lengthy improvistional jams and some songs have been known to last up to 20 minutes.

  • Adorno, Theodor W. transl. Hullot-Kentor, Robert. Aesthetic Theory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997.
  • Nachmanovitch, Stephen. 1990. Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art. Penguin-Putnam, New York.
  • Bailey, Derek. 1992. "Improvisation." Da Capo Press. Philadelphia, 146 p.
  • Berliner, Paul. 1994. Thinking in Jazz: the Infinite Art of Improvisation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press)
  • Kertz-Welzel, Alexandra. "Piano Improvisation Develops Musicianship." Orff-Echo XXXVII No. 1 (2004): 11-14.
  • Von Gunden, Heidi (1983). The Music of Pauline Oliveros. ISBN 0-8108-1600-8.
  • Lucy Hall (2002). They're just making it up - Whatever happened to improvisation in classical music? The Guardian 22/02/2002

  1. ^ It is possible to compare such a divergence of aesthetic views to the debate in literary studies between Harold Bloom and his opposing supporters of multiculturalism, such as Nikki Giovanni.
  2. ^ Friedrich, Otto. Glenn Gould: A Life and Variations
  3. ^ The shortening of phrases and greater harmonic exploration are aspects of the nominalist turn or "nominalist assault" as Adorno describes the changes brought about by Beethoven. Aesthetic Theory, p. 141. Adorno means by a "nominalism" in music the treating of certain elements in isolation or more as pure sound, which was a new degree of freedom from formality.
  4. ^ It has been suggested that the opening chords of Beethoven's Sonata Opus 78, having the characteristic of a prelude, communicate feelings for a young lady then in Beethoven's life, possibly Josephine von Brunswick. (In Heinrich Schenker's remarks in his edition of Beethoven's Sonatas, vol. 2, Dover Publications.) Beethoven also dedicated the so-called "Moonlight" Sonata, a piece with certain improvisatory characteristics, to his fiancée, Giulietta Guicciardi. For example, this sonata is near in its tonic key as well as other factors to Mozart's d minor "fantasy," secondly the second movement returns to a signature theme of Beethoven's, and finally the third movement features elements of theme and variation.
  5. ^ In jazz, where it is also important, this results in a much greater harmonic palette.
  6. ^ The manner in which these modes are to be treated in modulation is not peremptory, and could account for the distinct sound of an improvisor or composer.
  7. ^ For Adorno, classical music and Beethoven in particular have a truth content on the one hand, and on the other hand, and relatedly, also an ecstatic contemplation of the oneness of things.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_improvisation"
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