Playing for ballet class tips #22: With harmony too, less is more
If you’re improvising or harmonising a melody, there’s a lot to be said for just sticking to simple harmonies, and avoiding chromaticism or excessive modulation for the sake of it.…
Playing for ballet class tips #18: take a lesson in 18th century composition
A lot of pianists are frightened of ‘improvisation’ because the term is widely (mis)understood to mean that you play a chord with your left hand and wait for God to…
Playing for ballet class tips #17: Composing and improvising
Today I’m delighted to have a guest blog by Andy Higgs, friend, composer and musician who’s currently company pianist at Ballett am Rhein in Düsseldorf. This all came about because he asked…
Conference on musical improvisation
Interesting conference coming up in September 10th – 13th this year at Oxford University – Perspectives on Musical Improvisation. I’m half tempted to submit a proposal for a paper, since…
Chatroom improv man
This made me laugh: Merton, a guy with a piano improvises songs in realtime about the people who appear in his chatroom window on Chat Roulette. I could sit and…