Organ Improvisation

“Improvisation is the primary act of all music making.” 
-Rod Paton

“I would sit down and begin to improvise, whether my spirits were sad or happy, serious or playful. Once I had captured an idea, I strove with all my might to develop and sustain it in conformity with the rules of art.”
-Joseph Haydn

“Improvisation enjoys the curious distinction of being both the most widely practiced of all musical activities and the least acknowledged and understood.”
- Derek Bailey (b. 1930. British Jazz Guitarist)

"Improvisation is a gathering together of all the evidence of how to resolve going from here to here to here."
- Dizzy Gillespie

"Think of a note, then don't play it." -- Miles Davis on improvisation

"Il faut chercher" ("one must search") -Philippe Lefebvre, Organist Titulaire, Notre Dame Cathedral

"The way to improvise is to improvise." -T. Carl Whitmer (The art of Improvisation, 1934, currently out of print)

Improvisation – The Art of Illusion
Jeffrey Brillhart (for Yale University PRISM, December 2005)

What is improvisation? What is involved in the improviser's art?

Simply put, improvisation is the art of making up something on the spot. Whether in the art studio, on the dance floor, the jazz club, the practice room, the garden, the kitchen, or in the midst of conversation, improvisation permeates daily life. One has only to spend a few minutes watching children at play to remember that we began life as natural improvisers. Or, reflect on what happens when you hear a lively piece of music. The natural response is to tap your foot. In that simple, natural act, you are improvising.

The Harvard Dictionary of Music defines improvisation as “the art of performing music spontaneously without the aid of manuscript, sketches or memory.”  Improvisation is thought by others to be “composition-in-performance.” Arnold Schoenberg wrote that, “composing is a slowed-down improvisation; often one cannot write fast enough to keep up with the stream of ideas.” Jazz great, Dizzy Gillespie, wrote that, “Improvisation is a gathering together of all the evidence of how to resolve going from here to here to here.” Perhaps, that’s an overly simple explanation of the improviser’s art, but in essence, “going from here to here to here” is at the heart of improvisation.

I believe that, at its best, improvisation can give the illusion of being a composed work, with well-crafted melodies, supportive harmonies, and a coherent structure. I view the act of improvising as an unleashing of one’s inner musical self, which can lead to the harnessing of one’s inner spiritual force. When one is improvising well, one is immersed in the liberating act of creation. And, when everything goes well in improvisation, few musical experiences can equal the exhilaration.

What is involved in the improviser's art? Can one learn to improvise? The answer to this is a qualified “yes.” In his recent book, Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art, Stephen Nachmanovitch wrote that, “the fruits of improvising may flower spontaneously, but it arises from soil that we have prepared, fertilized, and tended in the faith that it will ripen in nature's own time.” To be sure, some musicians seem born to the art; improvising just comes easier to them. Yet, with enough self-motivation, enough discipline and study, and with a willing and open attitude, I believe anyone can experience the art of improvisation and do so in an authentic and musical way.

So how DOES one learn to improvise?

My training was in the French tradition, having studied in Paris with French improvisers Olivier Latry and Philippe Lefebvre, both of whom serve as organists at Notre Dame Cathedral. Their approach was primarily through 20^th century French harmonic practices, particularly as approached by composers Olivier Messiaen, Jean Langlais, and Jehan Alain. They were primarily concerned with issues of color, dissonance, and musical atmosphere.

My own teaching of improvisation has evolved into a process that begins with analysis of the melody… the theme. What is its character? What is its structure? How does it want to be supported, harmonically? What are its rhythmic qualities? And, in the case of improvisations on submitted themes, one often has to ask, what is missing from the theme in order to create a successful improvisation?

Once the theme is analyzed we begin the process of supporting that theme through harmony, form, registration, and counterpoint. I prefer to begin the improvisation process through liberating the student from conventional harmonic practices. The beginning improviser is generally trapped into supporting a given theme with the most basic of harmonic ideas, most of which come from the organist’s hymn playing background.

I begin by imposing a variety of restrictive harmonic ideas on the student. For example, we might commence by placing the theme in the right hand, harmonized with 5ths placed in the left hand. A second step might be harmonizing that theme with 4ths in the left hand. A third step might be to place only a major 6/3 chord beneath the theme.

From the earliest stages of learning to improvise, we begin to combine these ideas. For example, an exercise might entail placing a major 6/3 chord below each note of the melody and in the left hand, playing 5ths. At this stage of development the student’s “ears” begin to open and interesting sonorities are created, often to the astonishment of the student. Thus we’re slowly building a variety of harmonic treatments for the accompaniment of the theme and developing a harmonic facility that can be used freely by the student over the course of an improvisation.

This ensures that the student will harmonize a melody in creative ways and at the same time, begins to expand the student’s ability to listen. They begin to develop their own musical improvisatory voice. My hope is that the student will come up with a new idea each day of the year. And with every new idea comes confidence. Improvisation ceases to be a nerve wrecking experience and becomes a liberating act of creation.

Aside from sheer nerve and an ability to keep cool in the heat of the moment, the improviser must develop the ability to listen deeply or to “actively listen” as one is playing. As active listening takes place, the improviser is memorizing the theme and its variants, memorizing an interesting harmonic or rhythmic idea that unfolded because of the theme, memorizing the key centers one has traveled through in the course of the improvisation. Perhaps this is better thought of as “total recall.” One must develop the ability to totally recall everything that has happened in the course of the improvisation. With this total recall comes the possibility of balance in the improvisation.

So, the study of improvisation begins with the theme. Everything else- harmony, form, counterpoint, registration-flows from that.eSecond year graduate student, John-Eric Gunderson put it this way: “Improvisation is learning the ‘building blocks’ of creativity. Awareness of mind, and body is important as it dictates music. You reap what you sow, in other words, practice is the only way to perfect improvisation.