Improv

"We embark unhesitatingly on the path, in a direction that is absolutely right and urgent, supported by everyone, in the knowledge that this path is but a learning process…[We] have to keep on learning, creating, applying, by-passing, touching upon, refining and clarifying a number of notions and details that need to be improvised and applied and which, thank God, we cannot foresee. The only rigidity lies in our will, our conviction that we are on the right road and that our initiatives are most pressing."
- Yehudi Menuhin

"Do not fear mistakes. There are none." - Miles Davis


I took 21M.355: Musical Improvisation this term. Throughout the class each student kept a journal; here's mine: http://improvinabox.blogspot.com/

I'm posting the final entry, which sums up my experience.
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The class performed last night in Killian Hall, a straight two hours without intermission. Fortunately, our audience endured.

The concert was a surprising success, considering that we started rehearsing the bulk of it two weeks ago. For many pieces it was even less than that.

For me, it was a vastly enjoyable concert. I tapped my feet and bobbed my head while in the audience. I tapped my feet and bobbed my head while on stage. I was truly having fun, whereas normally I'm nervous on stage. Perhaps the greatest personal success for me was that I didn't feel nervous at all. Okay, so a bit of adrenaline - but nothing close to what I've encountered in the past, especially with solos. Maybe it helped that it was a group setting, not a solo recital. But if you had asked me a few months ago, I could not have imagined being on stage, playing without knowing the notes to play, and not being nervous.


Incidentally, I performed my solo violin piece (Brahms' Violin Sonata No. 3 with Sarah on piano) in my violin teacher's studio recital tonight, and I wasn't nervous at all either - about the same as I was at the jazz concert. This has never happened. I've never had such a relaxed solo - ever - in eleven, twelve years. I wonder if I've finally broken a performance barrier?

This class has given me a lifelong benefit - appreciation for blues. That's one of the primary reasons I signed up.

I've gained a lot of non-musical things as well, though. For one, confidence that I can realign years of training fairly quickly. Confidence performing in front of an audience. Openness to new art.

I've made great friends through this class. It's normal that I get to know some people in my HASS classes, but usually it's not everyone, and it's not on this personal a level. Without this class, I probably wouldn't have met some of these musicians; I wouldn't have had anything to do with Dylan, Dennis, and Chih-yu, who are in jazz ensembles, or Dorian, who drums in Rambax. And without meeting Dennis, I wouldn't have started learning guitar. Domino effect.

I say "End (of the Beginning)" because I think this class isn't quite over yet... after the concert, a bunch of us wanted to get together over IAP to jam.

I look at music somewhat differently now. I value live performance a lot more, and I get my head out of the page more. I now think it's totally cool to be able to just listen to a piece and play it, and then expand on it. Improvisation is a skill that I'm going to keep nursing on my own now, alongside my classical training.