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Classical music is jazz after it has ossified.

I think oetzi made a really great point.. in classical music, the improvisation is not so much on the notes but how you play them.. and they are able to bring a lot more depth into the music because they don't have to think about what notes they are playing. For jazz musician the creative focus is on what to play.. they are totally different in that respect.. I guess jazz musician is more like a composer whereas the classical musician is more like a conductor.

Improvisation is common to both jazz and classical pianism/musicianship. What's not common is inflection, the difference in dialect. The notes can be exactly the same in a "jazz" work as in a clasical one.

Here's a perfect example, my improvisation on a chopin etude:

http://www.mediafire.com/?d1yc1mmitew

Aside from the intro, based on the chords of the etude, the playing of the original melody i note for note, but takes on the dialect of "jazz" in that:

1)Chopin's 12/8 melody at quarter = 224 is now phrased in 4/4 at quarter = 340, approx the same nps rate of speed.

2) each beat of two eighth notes are not articulate as 1/8ths but as shuffled eighths, which acutally would be correctly notated as 1/8th note trips, with the first two 1/8ths tied! Playing the line with that much dynamic and rhythmic control at that tempo requires a completely different technical ability far advanced beyond most clasical pianists, who are used to playing rapid note rates without much internote rhythmic, dynamic, durational diversity. I could have played this alot more rapidly, but sacrificed most of the internote diversity in doing so.

3) Along with the shuffled trips, the internote dynamics are widely varied, imparting a tremendous spin which further augments the propulsion of the shuffled eighths.

4) A quarter note bas line with contimually shifting metric implications through varied note to note dynamics (rhythmic phrasing), further increases the propulsion.

5) The bass line establishes a highly chromatic harmonically diverse underpinning, yet reliant on the C# diminsihed tonal center (C7 b9/#9 #11) for its gravitational center (toward F min.)

The notes of the melody are a pure classical contrivance, but the manner in which it's executed is pure "jazz".

This is a great example, and a great explanation of Jazz Vs Classical.

I will re-use that at a dinner table!

Don't forget the hot sauce!

Wow, that's marvelous.

I agree, however in Jazz it's not just the notes, it's how you play them as well. I realized this when I was transcribing a solo. It was not just the notes, it was how he was playing them that made the difference. Also I remember hearing Ken Peplowski demonstrating improvisation in a masterclass by playing simple arpeggios over a medium tempo standard with a rhythm section. It sounded great and musical because of the way he played it.

One essential tool in the improvisors bag of tricks is the ability to see as well as hear intervals. Some of us, unfortunately, can hear the golden thread but cannot find it anywhere on the instrument even if we can read and play pretty much anything written.

I don't think individual expression in classical playing is improvisation. And can someone link me to any improvisations by Horowitz, Rubinstein, Arrau, Gould, Richter, Michelangeli, etc?

May Jesus be with you too... i love jesus too and the pope of course... but why don't play what you like to play and be afraid to play jazz or classical or experimental music, just enjoy...

So true. Very few muicians have total communion with their instrument. More true of instruments like the piano, where a breath is not necessary to produce the note.

This is why I do not advocate the use ff transcriptions, text books, and other such "cookbooks" to augment study of improvisation before a student has demonstrated an appropriate level of communication with his instrument before moving on to other concepts.

One such exercise is geared toward having a student play simple improvised lines on basic tones (1-3-5-7) over an impromptu, simple chord progression, and sing (scat) every note played.
Then I'll have the student randomly choose a note or notes within his simple melodic improvisation that he still sings, yet instead of depressing the key(s), he just touches it while singing the tone(s).

This type of approach forces the mind of the pianist to direct the choices and hear everything played rathe than the fingers alone producing the sound and hearing it after put into production.

Excellent

Thank you BJones. I will be trying your exercise a bit each day. For those of us beginners who have not quite caught on to the jazzy articulation, could you recommend a rhythm pattern for this exercise? I do so want to sound jazzy as I play and scat sing the notes.

Thank you for your help.

Don't be concerned with articualtion with this basic exercise. It should be done slowly and completely consiously. Metronome quarter = 60, 1 beat per second, and you should stick to large note values in the beginning. quarters, halves, dotted halves, wholes. At this note rate, there is no propulsion, the main element that makes it sound like "jazz". Also, a pianist can't slur and bend notes, or use vibrato, so at this slow speed, there's little you can do rhytmically to creat a jazz "spin".
It's not about that. It's about creating a flow, and learning to faithfully reproduce that flow from your mind to the keyboard via the "correctness" of your ear.
The silent piano notes are notes you still hear in your mind and sin. They're just not reproduced at the piano.
This exercie all but eliminates the fingers as being the main source of note production. An improvisor's enmy is to hear the notes after the fingers play them instead of simultaneously, when one is in total mind/body communication with the instrument and is playing in the moment, directing the flow as it happens instead of being positioned behind the flow.

Beautiful explanation. Thank you, BJones.

Bjones, thank you for the practice I'll use it too.

I think I may even invent a peice and call it

The Buddha Blues.

For me, it's nearly impossible to play WITHOUT improvising on-the-fly.

Here is another improvised Invention.

Hi BJones,

I have been very much into your little exercise. At first, I was singing 1357 chord tones (but not in any order)within the left hand III VI II V I progression – just singing LaLa syllables. After that became too predictable (not a challenge), I opened my fakebook and picked a song. It was much more challenging using chord progressions from the standards in my fakebook.

Question: Is it time to add another note outside of the chord tones? I think the ninth might be a good one to add. What do you suggest?

Yes, 9 is good. I like 3 5 7 9 which is like a "Bill Evans rootless" extension of any chord.