Simpedia

Cindy B., Illinois

I had to smile when I read your post. HANDS OFF MOM!! You need to keep in mind that improvisation is momentary – it isn’t composition at all and isn’t supposed to be played again! The joy and spontaneity of improvisation would be lost if anyone tried to put it into the “this is a song that must be practiced” category. If you’re talking about actual compositions, even they are his territory. You could ask permission to record them so that you could listen to them again, but that’s about it.

It reminds me of the tremendous pressure that was put on George Winston for yrs – traditionally trained musicians wanted to play their favorite Winston songs, and bugged him endlessly for transcripts of his music. He tried to tell them that there is no one way of playing any of his stuff – but they couldn’t understand, so he finally, being the gracious professional that he is, published a book for the readers out there. Now those songs will forever be set in stone – the creative, original, “Winston spark” will always be missing for those who can only play from the book.

Sheri R., California

I just got into improvising in the past year or so, and maybe it’s laziness, but I haven’t yet written anything down in order to play it exactly the same way again. And I’m loving it. I think it’s kind of like cooking. Some cooks throw things together in the kitchen from what they think will work together and not using an actual recipe. Just kind of in the moment. Others rely heavily on recipes. Some do both. I guess your son is in the first camp.

Maybe some day he’ll be in music school and have to write something out or maybe one of his SM teachers will ask him to transcribe something. If you want his music to live a little beyond him and the moment, I guess you could tape him sometimes. Maybe you’ll catch something on tape that later he will listen to and develop into a composition. Or maybe you yourself will take an idea of his and run with
it.

Maybe I’m missing something but if he’s creating at the piano through improvisation that is FABULOUS! He is learning a ton just from that. And having a great time! If he ever wants a job writing music for the movies or some such thing he’ll just learn how to structure his doodling into something more permanent.

My son has rarely ever played anything exactly the same way twice and is a much better player than I will ever hope to be. Every time I try to close the gap by an infinitesimal amount he expands his skills too so I
just dream a little. It’s just not his thing to do it the same way–he gets more value out of recreating each time he sits at the piano even if sometimes it’s just a new arrangement of a favorite piece of music. He
is a fluent improvisor (I never hear him working at the piano, just playing, but by listening to tons of music he is able to grow as a musician by taking ideas he hears–that is not everyone’s way–he’s strongly auditory and lucky him has perfect pitch, and maybe your son is a bit like that. Anyway, I just don’t think it’s a big deal to not keep anything permanently from their point of view, only from ours who might want to hear it again!

I would like to hear other people’s takes on this as I know as Simply Music teachers we are supposed to be exposing our students to all the different aspects of the curriculum and composing is certainly one of those. Even though I haven’t “composed” a song I do ask my students to do it from time to time, but I also encourage lots of improvising. I think especially for young students it’s a great thing for them to be able to say “I made this up” and have a list of their own songs. But ultimately this will also give them confidence to just fool around as your son does.

HeatherLee S., Canada

I come from a truly different perspective 🙁 I had a friend (we grew up together, our families were friends before either of us were born) who was as gifted as Neil musically. He started playing the guitar and singing before he could talk. If you could hum it,  Timmy could play it! Through his life he wrote many songs and never wrote anything down. We called him the “King of Wing” because he could fake it so well, meaning it didn’t always come out the same way twice. That just made it “Timmy”!

Timmy was murdered the year before I got married. Sadly he didn’t leave much of his music behind. There is a wedding video, he composed and played for his sister’s wedding (they divorced so nobody wants to watch that one). And a few other similar occasions on video that we treasure.

My point is: I don’t think Timmy would have appreciated being inhibited by writing everything down. But I think the world would be a better place if he had. The compromise would be, video if he will allow it and audio tape if he won’t. Kind of like a “Video Scrapbook”. That way he will have something to look back on as he grows up. He will also be able to see how well he has progressed.

I loved Sheri’s analogy of cooking. I have to admit I am guilty! I believe recipes are only meant to be suggestions. Now I think of written music in the same way. Thank you Neil!