Tuesday, July 17, 2012

What Did You Miss This Week? (Week 276 #319)


Improvisation!!!

Joe is out of town but the extremely talented Shoji Naito led the group classes, ending the day in the eight o'clock class with a terrific discussion on improvisation. He broke the process down into two parts that happen on the fly - composing a melody and then being able to play that melody. First hear a melody and its rhythm in your head. Practice writing it down - obviously not a part of true improvisation, but it is a great learning tool as you're perfecting your improv skills. Lastly, play it. If what you hear in your head is too complicated for you to play, you are overshooting your playing skills and will need to simplify. That's ok - simpler is better anyway!

Repeat and practice this. Keep building melodies and repeat them over the twelve-bar form. You are now composing!

Fantastic class Shoji, thanks!

Class Notes

  • Joe will be back in class next week, July 23rd and all classes run as normal. He will be away again on the 30th and Shoji will take over his group classes.
  • Shout out to Bad Brad for visiting B1 yesterday - great to see you again Brad!
- Grant Kessler, B1 Blues Crew