Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum How to structure an improvisation?

I know how to improvise. I find it quite easy. Though, that's because I do it without a plan. My improvisations don't have any structure, they don't create a 'whole' or so to speak.

How do I structure an improvisation? For example, I heard Mozart improvised a lot, how did he structure that?

You have to know the chord progression of the music you are working with.

Well, I do understand chord progressions. It's what I usually improvise with. But even then, it misses an intro, buildup, end, etc. Many classical pieces never seem to follow a progression it seems. Or is it just harder to see so?

K545 for example, it does follow a pattern with the alberti bass, but there are many points when there isn't a clear (And yes, with just using the alberti bass, I can improvise easily.) Though, it's more my left hand, which I find it hard not to have much repetition with.

Classical pieces follow a chord progression, also. They just do not notate it in the music.

As you say ... the pattern may not be clear but there is one.

You have to know what it is in order to select the notes for your improvisation.

If you do not, then you are just taking an educated guess according to what you are hearing and anticipating what comes next. That can work for a bit.

You could start with this kind of thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1r_gE7nlL0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifNDidsEa6o

Basically you use a set chord progression but provide your own figuration over it. Trying to play like Mozart off the top I think is going to be prohibitively difficult like you say. There are too many parameters to manage all at once.

Well, too give an example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlUM1VtvNC8

THis is one of my attempted improvisations. (Yes, the rhythm is very bad, this was before I had a teacher.)

I've posted this improvisation before. The feedback I got, was that there wasn't a certain structure. It didn't tell a story. But how do I create a 'story'?

Well, here is one type story ...

You start at home and move around a bit at home.

Then you go off to some place else and move around a bit there.

Then you come back home and stop.


Twinkle Twinkle Little Star might be thought of like that.


Your improv is just fancy notes played in harmony with some other notes.

There does not seem to be any particular path you are following.

If the listener cannot hum along then it is too unpredictable to be enjoyable and it is not considered music.

Mhh, I guess that makes sense.

So for example: Simple melody (We'll call X) > Fancy Notes > X > Fancy notes > X

Would that work? Or should I get rid of fancy notes entirely?

You have to have a recognizable portion of the music that you play through once and then you use the same chord progression as that portion and play some made-up melody that sounds good with it and then you go back to the original recognizable part. You don't have to play the recognizable part exactly the same as the first time you played it but it must sound similar to that.

I've tried doing it.

https://soundcloud.com/dario-sanchez-martinez-417965971/sounds-from-thursday-afternoon

Is that better?

Much better.

Some thoughts ...

The part from 0-20 is a great start. Play that again right away. That is your HOME theme.


Then play some other right hand stuff that utilizes the same left hand accompaniment as in the HOME theme.

Then play the HOME theme again ... with an ending. DONE


That is a simple story.


If you want a longer story ... don't end after the HOME theme the second time ... go into another part that plays an improvisation with right hand with same left hand accompaniment .

AND then go to HOME again ... and END.


Do a few of these types of tunes to get those concepts in your ears.

Listen to jazz music and try to hear those ideas being played out.

Good Luck

Thanks, that info helped a lot!

https://soundcloud.com/dario-sanchez-martinez-417965971/practice

I've tried applying it here. Though, I also change progression. Is that logical?

Nuthin wrong with the impro, it doesn`t have to tell a story, why should it? It is it`s own story. A moment in time. In a busy street amongst the traffic, a quiet moment by a babbling brook, an intimate moment maybe, fighters slugging it out in the ring, Let the listener decide.

Mozart and Chopin would improvise around notes they`d played previously, and include it in the score.

Blues improvisation is fun, and makes a good noise! I reckon there`s only 3 blues scales to learn which encompass all 12 key signatures . .

That was much, much better.

Changing chord progressions is perfectly fine as long as it seems to blend in with the overall feel of the music. I think what you did was fine.

The middle improv part got a little long but it was ok.

The ending seemed unnecessarily harsh but again ...ok.

I think you have the concept very well now.

Now, you just need to listen to other music and try to recognize those concepts.

Not everything will be that exact formula but somewhat similar ... if you listen for it.

I have to let you go now, buddy (Or I might have to send you an invoice, LOL ...)

You are on your own.

Good Luck

I understand, still thanks a lot for your time/help!

I'll try to find them in the songs I hear!

Well done, dmd and hyena! Your advice, dmd, has been helpful to more than just hyena.

What a great forum!

Thank You ... that is nice to hear.

Yes, I do think it was a useful topic for this forum.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4426722/

The main paragraph of this article:

Anticipation

Anticipation means thinking ahead about features and characteristics at the rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic levels during musical improvisation. It refers to the ability to foresee, in a relatively accurate way, the objects, patterns, phrases, and process arrays that correspond to the musical event clusters that are to be played. Anticipation is a fundamental aspect of idea generation, and it affects the overall quality of musical improvisation by influencing the decision-making process. It is correlated with the real-time dynamics of improvisation and the ability to instantaneously generate musical ideas. Anticipation is a logical activity that involves a cognitive effort, and it facilitates the improviser in finding complex solutions at the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic levels. Anticipation relates to the ability to plan sound events in the sequence that is required for the performance. Thus, the generation of fresh ideas is combined with the ability to define a framework .
Musical sequences are considered as a gestalt rather than single tones.
Anticipation involves the skill of gaining an extensive idea about an entire solo and designing an improvisation. It concerns the definition of a general plan that allows one to collocate needed musical material in the right place during a musical improvisation.