This is an excellent video!!! I am so happy to see this. As a musician who was classically trained while concurrently having the other leg in rock, pop, jazz etc and having gone on to play and teach professionally in many contexts, styles, instruments, the lack of this mode of playing in the classical world has always saddened me because improvising can do wonders for many aspects of your playing. Everything in this video is true. What Tatiana describes about hearing a melody in your head and then being able to play it, is true, and develops pretty rapidly. Also, you will gain the ability to hear what someone else plays, and then duplicate it on your instrument. Also, through exploratory improvisation, you will hip your ear to new sounds and relationships. For instance an assignment: improvise using the D Harmonic Minor scale for 4 minutes, staying only within the scale, but navigating it in any order of notes you want. Pay particular attention to the sound/feeling of moving around the b6 to nat7 of the scale, how it resolves to the 5th, root. What happens when you avoid the root? You will gain a feel for new musical relationships and sentences by messing around like this. Also, improvising gives a whole different tactile/ear/mind connection that will greatly enhance your playing overall. You will feel more in control of your instrument, like you can sing through it, or that it is an extension of your mind. Improvising over a referential sound source is excellent, like a recording of a song you like, or highly recommend apps like iTabla Pro, or iRealB (which has 1,000’s of existing song progressions or you can create your own chord progression to play over). If you can improvise, which leads to being able to learn stuff by ear, you will be able to play with musicians in many other styles of music - more gigs.
Improvising has been the bane of my flute existence. Oddly enough, I can improvise on the piano but have a block on the flute. Thank you for this video!
Hi Tatiana, today during my flute lesson my teacher asked "What do you know about improvisation"? I mentioned how I watched your video yesterday and what a coincidence. His response "Not strange… It was a perfect synchronicity from the universe for our lesson today!" So what he did was play an Indian Music drone in the background and we took turns playing some short melodies and it was wow I can do this! I found having the drone relaxing and my teacher advised this is also a good way to improve my intonation. I would have really liked to have attend your courses but at 2 am (AEST) that is not going to work.
That is so wonderful 😁😁😁 I hope you can have some joy in improvising. The recording of the workshop will be available soon so if you would like to take part in the fun you still can. Enjoy the journey!
I remember my teacher (a very long time ago), who was also a good friend, going completely blank when asked to jam with me. Now, she was a much better flautist than I'll ever be but she was at a loss when it came to improvising, her's was a different musical universe. Me, there's nothing I love more than coming up with an idea and going with it.
Yes to all you said here! My own path was not exactly classical in my youth, but it was elementary school orchestra first, rock bands next and though I ditched sight reading when clarinet was traded for electric bass my musically inclined school mates and future band mates really only played songs, covers and originals. We never really jammed. I could jam in private, that's how I got my first original songs. It took the last 13 years with regular jam band therapy sessions to get where I am with lead vocalist skills where I can feel myself totally embedded in present time, witnessing, taking in all the players including this last Sunday in the park birds, dogs and children all responding to our sounds, then when my sounds emerge they quote all the others in some way. Before the jam therapy, and I call it that because it is in really deep ways, I was locked in a crouch obsessed with getting MY part perfect to impress the projected judges in my mind enough to be considered worthy of the Craft. Even if I had stayed Jazz and pop Classical as our elementary school orchestra that old geezer of doom was part of my life's bargain, and even jazz cats and classical wonks can go self obsessed and ego driven. Rock though adds some really potent juice to the tank. Gladly also part of my life's bargain is that the jam is now 13 years jamming and it gradually got me from broken down once was lead vocalist, bassist and songwriter then just bassist, then just drummer in the ritual theater pit back to a different kind of band leader where I know how to play everyone's instruments, and if I don't know the details I understand the principles of vibration and materials and music so well that I feel how they all fit together. The discipline of Jam is really simply to be present to what IS as it flows and respond to that. If quotes from elsewhere have something to say they appear in my flow and no cling to keep it in the path of the prefab. In my Chiron return phase my kind, the Manifesting Generators of the Human Design map it all comes together into my musical power being of service to whatever group I'm in, to uplift the quality of the music capable of coming through us and also uplift the confidence and joy in all the group. The fearlessness with making noises and not caring if it's ugly helps me learn any instrument fast and well. It takes daily practice to keep things keen, but I could pick up a trumpet and figure it out quick. Trombone. The lip muscles between flute and brass are almost identical. I've always had some of this but only after being rehabilitated by a group of jammers do I have such a wild touch with accuracy also. In flute the thing is without the fearlessness to punch into the higher octaves and shriek I wouldn't have the touch to then hone it down to where I can make even the highest notes sweet and lovely. Thanks for speaking to the value of this discipline. In the age of recordings there's a lot of juke box heroes, few who can really let loose and jam and make great music without a prefab pattern.
True but that's only at first though right? I'm only just starting to learn music theory so fingers crossed I'll eventually learn to improvise. I just wish someone could tell me how long it could take a beginner to learn to improvise, lol! I just learned about major scales and am just starting on harmonic minor scales.
This is an excellent video!!! I am so happy to see this. As a musician who was classically trained while concurrently having the other leg in rock, pop, jazz etc and having gone on to play and teach professionally in many contexts, styles, instruments, the lack of this mode of playing in the classical world has always saddened me because improvising can do wonders for many aspects of your playing. Everything in this video is true. What Tatiana describes about hearing a melody in your head and then being able to play it, is true, and develops pretty rapidly. Also, you will gain the ability to hear what someone else plays, and then duplicate it on your instrument. Also, through exploratory improvisation, you will hip your ear to new sounds and relationships. For instance an assignment: improvise using the D Harmonic Minor scale for 4 minutes, staying only within the scale, but navigating it in any order of notes you want. Pay particular attention to the sound/feeling of moving around the b6 to nat7 of the scale, how it resolves to the 5th, root. What happens when you avoid the root? You will gain a feel for new musical relationships and sentences by messing around like this. Also, improvising gives a whole different tactile/ear/mind connection that will greatly enhance your playing overall. You will feel more in control of your instrument, like you can sing through it, or that it is an extension of your mind. Improvising over a referential sound source is excellent, like a recording of a song you like, or highly recommend apps like iTabla Pro, or iRealB (which has 1,000’s of existing song progressions or you can create your own chord progression to play over). If you can improvise, which leads to being able to learn stuff by ear, you will be able to play with musicians in many other styles of music - more gigs.
Improvising has been the bane of my flute existence. Oddly enough, I can improvise on the piano but have a block on the flute. Thank you for this video!
Hi Tati, how nice to see you and hear from you again, beautiful!
Hi Tatiana, today during my flute lesson my teacher asked "What do you know about improvisation"? I mentioned how I watched your video yesterday and what a coincidence. His response "Not strange… It was a perfect synchronicity from the universe for our lesson today!" So what he did was play an Indian Music drone in the background and we took turns playing some short melodies and it was wow I can do this! I found having the drone relaxing and my teacher advised this is also a good way to improve my intonation. I would have really liked to have attend your courses but at 2 am (AEST) that is not going to work.
That is so wonderful 😁😁😁 I hope you can have some joy in improvising. The recording of the workshop will be available soon so if you would like to take part in the fun you still can. Enjoy the journey!
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I remember my teacher (a very long time ago), who was also a good friend, going completely blank when asked to jam with me. Now, she was a much better flautist than I'll ever be but she was at a loss when it came to improvising, her's was a different musical universe. Me, there's nothing I love more than coming up with an idea and going with it.
Yes to all you said here! My own path was not exactly classical in my youth, but it was elementary school orchestra first, rock bands next and though I ditched sight reading when clarinet was traded for electric bass my musically inclined school mates and future band mates really only played songs, covers and originals. We never really jammed. I could jam in private, that's how I got my first original songs. It took the last 13 years with regular jam band therapy sessions to get where I am with lead vocalist skills where I can feel myself totally embedded in present time, witnessing, taking in all the players including this last Sunday in the park birds, dogs and children all responding to our sounds, then when my sounds emerge they quote all the others in some way. Before the jam therapy, and I call it that because it is in really deep ways, I was locked in a crouch obsessed with getting MY part perfect to impress the projected judges in my mind enough to be considered worthy of the Craft.
Even if I had stayed Jazz and pop Classical as our elementary school orchestra that old geezer of doom was part of my life's bargain, and even jazz cats and classical wonks can go self obsessed and ego driven. Rock though adds some really potent juice to the tank. Gladly also part of my life's bargain is that the jam is now 13 years jamming and it gradually got me from broken down once was lead vocalist, bassist and songwriter then just bassist, then just drummer in the ritual theater pit back to a different kind of band leader where I know how to play everyone's instruments, and if I don't know the details I understand the principles of vibration and materials and music so well that I feel how they all fit together. The discipline of Jam is really simply to be present to what IS as it flows and respond to that. If quotes from elsewhere have something to say they appear in my flow and no cling to keep it in the path of the prefab. In my Chiron return phase my kind, the Manifesting Generators of the Human Design map it all comes together into my musical power being of service to whatever group I'm in, to uplift the quality of the music capable of coming through us and also uplift the confidence and joy in all the group.
The fearlessness with making noises and not caring if it's ugly helps me learn any instrument fast and well. It takes daily practice to keep things keen, but I could pick up a trumpet and figure it out quick. Trombone. The lip muscles between flute and brass are almost identical. I've always had some of this but only after being rehabilitated by a group of jammers do I have such a wild touch with accuracy also. In flute the thing is without the fearlessness to punch into the higher octaves and shriek I wouldn't have the touch to then hone it down to where I can make even the highest notes sweet and lovely.
Thanks for speaking to the value of this discipline. In the age of recordings there's a lot of juke box heroes, few who can really let loose and jam and make great music without a prefab pattern.
new to the channel! Love the videos and they are super helpful. (I also hope in your profile picture you didn't actually bite your head joint LOL)
As if playing the written notes isn't difficult enough? 😀
True but that's only at first though right? I'm only just starting to learn music theory so fingers crossed I'll eventually learn to improvise. I just wish someone could tell me how long it could take a beginner to learn to improvise, lol! I just learned about major scales and am just starting on harmonic minor scales.
haha I can't believe you had a memory slip during a live performance, that would have been stressful
🙈🙈🙈 very but I survived!
My flute is “not a flute”🥲