Listening To Recording
Listening to a recording of an improvisation immediately after creating it is an effective way to gain a broader perspective. We listen with different ears from when we are in the midst of playing. This takes a significant amount of time, especially when discussion of the music follows the listening.
It can be made into a repeated procedure. The composer Helmer Nørgaard describes a rehearsal practice for a group that played regularly. They began each time by playing for thirty minutes without previous verbal agreements as to the nature of the music. The entire recording was subsequently played back.
Discussion may be without an agenda or focus on themes such as:
- what became musically/aesthetically significant and how did we arrive there?
- what were we individually attentive to?
- on which grounds did I take decisions during playing (consciously, intuitively, spontaneously, thinking ahead…)?
- etc…
Listening to improvised music not created by the group itself may help to expand the perspective.
See also: Analyzing Recordings (↓)
Rounds
While sitting in a circle, each participant plays for a brief time before the next person plays. This can be done vocally and/or instrumentally. What each participant plays may be a variation of the music immediately preceding it or a free reaction to it. Rhythmic motifs may be used. The purpose may be to work with unity (doing something collectively) or with variety (to risk making a personal statement). Can also be done with a large group with sub-groups instead of individuals (see also "Dividing the Group" (↑)).
Instrument-Storm
developed from an exercise by Inge Nygaard Pedersen
Choose one instrument and — rather than focusing outwardly on the group — attend to your instrument by exploring possible ways to contact it, such as how to touch, manipulate, and move it. Explore the variety of sounds it can produce. As individuals have been well engaged in doing this for some time, go on but direct your attention to all the sounds in the room and be aware of playing together. If time allows, let your attention alternate freely between an inward and outward focus.
Variations: 1) Use an instrument you are not familiar with. 2) Use an instrument you know well, but use it in new ways. 3) While playing, be active with your body and be aware of working hard and becoming tired (precautions may be taken in the form of warnings and even earplugs to prevent possible noise of harmful strength). After this, play while being completely at rest. 4) Utilize a material you do not use much (for instance, metal, skin, wood, etc). 5) Sit or stand without movement (not being stiff, but at rest). 6) Try dancing. 7) Try playing "nicely," "not nice," etc. 8) combine with directions of the kind focused upon in the other exercises.
Vocal Improvisation In A Circle
This could be good for starting a lesson. The circle gathers people together and instructing the participants to close their eyes helps them to be more confident in their own soundmaking; instructions are supportive without being restrictive.
Participants should sit in a circle. The teacher states that in a short time the group members will close their eyes. He/she will then provide a sound to begin. The group itself then discovers what to do with the sound. The initial sound may determine the resultant process, especially if the group is new and has not yet come into its own. You can start, for example, with a quiet glissando on "nnn" moving slightly up into a higher register, for an example of something apt for gradual warm-up. Or the initial sound could be slightly more challenging. The improvisation could last for approximately ten minutes — it remains up to the group itself to decide when to stop. When the improvisation is over, people are instructed to open their eyes if they have not already done this on their own.
Homage to Nils Harbo
See the recipe (enclosed [in the original]).
I now usually use it as a basic training in making different and contrasting kinds of musical sound, and use the individual concepts (staccato-legato etc.) for the whole group alternatingly. These words can be read aloud, thus avoiding the necessity of photocopying. As you see, the sound categories are then taken one by one, avoiding the thick texture of many at a time. The exercise functions very well as a preparation for parameter exercises but uses more well-known words.
This may be also be performed polyphonically ad lib or on one tone, with either few or many parameters set for each musician. Take care, however, that the sounds does not get too thick. It is also good for training of improvisation in jazz, rock, and other popular forms. It can be done with improvisation which follow scales, too.