[[Notes]] - Topics: [[Creativity]], [[Self-expression]] - People: Donna Schwartz - Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYasp8luWDw --- ## Summary - Listen to the tone and identify the chord change. Focus on the bass as it outlines the beat and the chords. - [[Observe the world in motion. Identify the moment of change for you to groove alongside it.]] - [[Improvisation is the act of playing your own music. It is the art of honestly expressing yourself.]] - [[Being proficient in theory isn't the same as being practiced in expression]]. - [[Theory speaks from the mind. Expression speaks from the soul.]] - [[Getting lost from the world helps you find yourself and to rediscover your place within it]]. - [[Improvisation is the courage to move from one note to the next]]. ## Notes - When Donna first started improvising in public, she was nervous because she's classically trained , which meant that she was used to reading everything from sheet music. - She was used to playing that wasn't her own. - When you play sheet music, you speak someone else's words with your own voice. When you improvise, you speak your own words that echo from your soul. - [[Improvisation is the act of playing your own music. It is the art of honestly expressing yourself.]] - "...I was great at theory. That wasn't the problem. But gosh, what do you play?" - [[Being proficient in theory isn't the same as being practiced in expression]]. - [[Theory speaks from the mind. Expression speaks from the soul.]] - Without being practiced in improvisation, it's easy to get lost. - [[Getting lost is deviating from the rhythm of the world without knowing how to get back]]. - "[[One, easy. Two, harder. Three, harder. Why? United. One people, we get lost.]]" - In loss, you often discover who you truly are. - [[Getting lost from the world helps you find yourself and to rediscover your place within it]]. - [[Some beautiful paths can't be discovered without getting lost]]. - In music (improvisation). before you play, **listen to the tune and identify when the chords change**. - The key to hopping on a moving train is knowing roughly where it will be in the next while. - [[Observe the world in motion. Identify the moment of change for you to groove alongside it.]] - [[You can listen for the right chord change, but you may be focused on the wrong instrument]]. - Focus on the bass and hi-hat. Not only does the bass keep the beat, but it outlines the chords. - Focus on the rhythms that resonate with you and groove. - Focusing on the backbeat may be hard, because you're so use to hearing the leads. - Find the bass. Find the backbeat. **Discover the subtext**. - You listen to the lead instruments to passively enjoy the music. You listen for the bass instruments to actively play it. - [[Navigate the changes]]. - "For some folks who are classically trained, it's really hard when there's no written notes in front of you. **The security blanket is gone**!" - "Some players are simply bored of their solos, and want to add more **excitement and emotion to their lines**." - "Get started on your **next best step**". - [[Improvisation is the art of being completely OK with not knowing what the f___ you're doing]]. - [[Improvisation is the courage to move from one note to the next]]. ## Original ![[How to not get lost during jazz improvisation-1.jpg]] ![[How to not get lost during jazz improvisation-2.jpg]] ![[How to not get lost during jazz improvisation-3.jpg]]