My journey finding improvisation (+ a free resource!)

Improvisation used to be scary for me.

Well first it wasn’t, then it was, and now it’s definitely not.

When you’re told to just make up anything, that can instil some major indecisiveness. Such indecisiveness can make you freeze up.

Let’s rewind.

When I first learned how to improvise, I was in high school music class doing a unit on jazz where we learned about blues scales and improvising on them - and we had to choose our second instruments. I chose trombone, joined jazz band, and took a lot of solos on my flute. Jazz flute anyone?

Then I went further in my studies on flute, doing post-secondary in performance, but still holding onto my love of music styles outside of what I was studying and wanting to incorporate some of that appreciation in my practice. But despite all the training on my instrument, I had grown nervous and stuck about improvising. It was like I was stuck in a box of what’s already written on a page and getting it right instead of making something up. I had no idea where to start because the possibilities were endless, and I didn’t want to make a mistake, even though in classical music, improvisation is also a practice.

Fast forward a little bit and I started participating in new music creative arts festivals, which is where I started to feel comfortable with improvisation. A technique that was introduced to me was creating parameters for your improvisation - which I know there’s planning with that to some extent and improvisation is spontaneous, but it helped make the starting point less infinite and more in reach.

The one that kick started it all was to use the rhythm of language and speech as a tool and starting point. Use a set of words like your favourite place or your favourite food, a short sentence even, feel the rhythm of saying that. Where are the emphases? What parts are shorter than others? Feel that rhythm. Play that rhythm on a note. Expand the notes you use. Expand the rhythm and the techniques you’re using. I use this one with my students the most, and those who give it a try absolutely LOVE IT.

There are so many possibilities for parameters to start that that can also be overwhelming - so I made a free guide with 3 of my starter favourites for people who want to start improvising but are like I used to be - overwhelmed to start. You can find that by clicking here. 🙂

If you’re looking for a flute teacher, wanting to try flute lessons, and/or want to dig deeper with improvisation, I have space available in my online studio - I would love to work with you! Click here for more information about my flute lessons, or click here to contact me!