Simpedia

Missy M., Nebraska

I would say that improvisation is on the spot, first-time creativity, when you are playing something you’ve created for the first time and never played before.

Composition could be the solidifying of the improvisation into a concrete song with definite perimeters. Something that you can remember and repeat purposefully over and over again. Compositions aren’t always written down. That is why beginner students can compose, because even though they are not note-proficient, they are creating and remembering.

Mark M., New York

The word “compose” means, literally, “to put together.” No actual writing down is needed in order to compose.

To improvise is to play something you’ve never played before, off the cuff.

To compose is to put notes together in a particular way that you want to preserve, and then you play it again the same time each time instead of playing something you’ve never played before.

Whether a student jots note names or other more SM-like diagrams or nothing at all, if they are able to play something they made up the same way each time you ask them, they’ve composed something.

Sandy L., Nebraska

I am not the most experienced person to answer your question, but I will share with you my little experiences of comp and improv. I don’t do as much explaining to my students as asking and showing.

I start asking at Lesson 2 if anyone has made up anything of their own. Sometimes they have and sometimes they haven’t. If not, I keep asking at each successive lesson. When someone does come with something they have made up, when they play it, I ask the name of it and then encourage them add that to their playlist. Sometimes they want to do that, sometimes not. Either way, that’s composition, something that can be basically replicated over and over like any other song I would teach them. I don’t believe it has to be notes on a staff to be a composition; it just has to be a fairly static thing—this is the song—this is how to play it.

As long as they can remember it, they don’t need to write it down. But if they wanted to have a way to remember it, or perhaps have a way to teach it to someone else, I think a good Simply Music thing to do would be to ask them how they would represent it on the page. If they were stuck on this, their level 1 (or 2, 3…) book could provide examples of how Neil has represented his songs with diagrams and notations that are not notes on a staff. If they are at the level of reading rhythm and reading notes, that could be a whole different matter.

I think I have read of some teachers who would transcribe it for the student, which could be valuable in showing the student that what they have done is the same thing as anyone else who has composed a song—they would see it can be written in musical notation just like any sheet music they could buy at the store. I confess I have not done this.

However, since I have been asking if they made up any songs every single week they come to lessons, the legitimacy of what they might compose has already been validated simply by my question. They are playing their own compositions just as they are playing anything I teach them. Also, I have verbally acknowledged their songs to be as valid as any other they are learning by encouraging them to add them to their playlist, play them for others, and simply rejoicing with them at their success in composition.

So far, to my knowledge, no one has taken my question to mean that they should write some music on staff paper. In Lesson 1, I have very specifically told them that we will not be using the music book now and they need to just put it away until the day down the road when we will need it. I have made it clear we will not be reading music in that fashion for quite awhile, so I think that is why I have not had anyone try to write it or ask me to write it. If they did say something indicating such a misunderstanding, I think I would just explain to them that I am asking if they made up a song to play, just as they learned songs from me—without musical notation. And, we could discuss again the difference between playing-based and reading-based.

Improv I take to mean just like improv in drama, comedy, speech. It’s on the spot, not pre-planned, not scripted. This I have the students learn by doing together. So, I will start them off with some bass like the LH of NS, which I or another student will provide. Then I have them place their RH in same position as NS but just play anything. Another one that almost always sounds good is having someone play both hands of Honey Dew. Then have another student place 5 fingers over 5 notes higher up on the keyboard and play anything. If they don’t like how it sounds together, they can just move their hand and try another location.

Once they become more comfortable, they can do their own LH bass and improvise with the RH. The more experienced they become, perhaps they will do different things with LH as well as RH, as opposed to using an established pattern that I have shown them.

Sometimes improvisation turns into a springboard for composition if the person sees a pattern in what they are improvising, likes it and decides to keep it as a song. Then of course, I would encourage them to name it and add it to their playlist if they choose.

As far as “why,” I just asked that same question to a fellow teacher—how to tell a student why he has to play the blues! She gave such an excellent answer. This is not a direct quote but my memory of what she told me. “Every facet of Simply Music is foundational to your learning to play the piano and to becoming self-generating. So I require you to learn this part of the Simply Music program…blues, comp and improv…because it is critical to your success with piano lessons. Some things will be harder for you and some easier, but everything I assign and require of you is valuable to your learning music.” I’m sure you could go on and put your own spin on that.

Sheri R., California

My understanding has nothing to do with it being written down (although a composition could be written down and improvisation can’t but it doesn’t have to be).

A composition is played the same way each time (so it obviously helps to have it written down) and improvisation is creating in the moment which means not being able to replicate it exactly the next time.

A composition can be used for improvisation (think about jazz solos which is standard practice in jazz pieces where they fool around for some measures within the structure of the piece). Or one can simply improvise from scratch.

On the other hand, an improvisation can be a jumping off point to compose. In fact I’m sure many compositions started off as improvisations. But improvisation is a stand-alone, I guess you could say style, as it’s not a genre, and one could improvise within any genre. Improvisation is simply fooling around and it’s really fun once you get the hang of it, which isn’t hard to do!

So beginning students can compose even though they don’t notate. One thing I ask of my students sometimes is to see if they can make a diagram using ideas from the reference book or others that they may come up with to help them remember their composition. And of course they can improvise too, from their first lesson!

Laurie Richards, Nebraska

It doesn’t have to be written down to be considered a composition. It just needs to be remembered. I tell my students they can create a diagram for their compositions if it helps them, but not a string of note names – something in the same vein as Neil’s melody and rhythm diagrams.

Sometimes a student will make up something on the spot when their assignment was to compose a song – but it’s usually pretty obvious when they do this. So then I’ll say, “Wow, that was great! Can you play it again for me?” If it’s not exactly the same, I talk about the difference between comp & improv.  Beth S. posted a great idea to help students get started on a composition if they have trouble.

I do sometimes provide students with sheet music for their compositions so they have something official-looking with their name on it. I use Finale and my ‘weird ear’ [perfect pitch], which gives me a huge advantage. But I’m going to look into using MIDI capabilities on my digital to do some of the work for me and save time. Students love seeing their compositions in print.

Cindy B., Illinois

I’ve thought of an example where the distinction between Comp and Improv is blurred. George Winston is one of the pianists I enjoy listening to and seeing live in concert. His “compositions” are never quite the same from performance to performance, creating a great deal of frustration for the traditional pianists who want to learn his songs. He resisted putting any of them in print for a long time, because he said that there is no absolute, final way to play any of his songs.

My point is – that GW has composed a multitude of songs, each is named, and few written down. When he performs a composition, it is instantly recognizable as “—“, but the actual notes/rhythms/tempos/dynamics that you hear from one performance to the next can vary a great deal, which I suppose is based on his mood that day!

What I see in this is that there is a reason composition and improvisation is taught together, one representing structure and the other representing the personal musical expression of what’s within us at the moment.

Gordon Harvey, Australia

This is a great response, and others have made a very straightforward distinction between composition and improvisation, but I would suggest there’s also a large and interesting region between the two.

Although improvisation is obviously off-the-cuff, it doesn’t mean every note has to be totally un-preplanned. As Sandy points out, you’ll probably start students out with something they already know, such as the LH of Night Storm. For most students, this is helpful because one of the scariest things about starting out with improvising is having too much to choose from. That’s like being given a blank piece of paper and being told to write an essay. It’s so much less intimidating when you’re given a topic. It might be a good idea to help students as they explore by making sure they’re not overwhelmed, by deliberately limiting the piano’s enormous musical palette. You could also help them along the path towards turning their improv into a composition, by adding context or structure along the way.

Here’s a few ideas:

• A student might like to compose their own simple LH pattern. They can keep coming back to it and see if they can develop the RH and perhaps also the LH.

• You can compose a LH. It could be a few notes, a series of chords or a longer pattern with a clear beginning and end. If it’s chords or if the student is reading, you could write it down.

• If the student is at the stage of looking at scale and key signature, you can nominate a key to work with, and only play notes that are in the key. I have a few suggestions for LH structures in different keys.

• For students who feel they’re not good improvisers, I find it’s helpful to focus on rhythm. Have them play a simple two-or-three note pattern in the RH along with a prescribed LH pattern, and limit them to always playing on the beat of the LH. Then have them shift a single note to between two LH notes, and listen to the difference that makes. Control the events if necessary. Gradually have more RH notes fall between beats. A little syncopation really makes improvisation sound more like ‘real’ music.

• Have the student improvise with an accompaniment piece by playing the chords with the LH, or if they’re working through the Jazz program, playing the appropriate jazz clue in the LH, and improvising with the RH. To begin with, try to stick with pieces that have few out-of-key notes in the chords. They’d have the choice of playing in the key of the piece or simply limiting their RH to notes from the chord, a little like projects from the Blues & Improv program.

  As they listen to their playing and hear what does and doesn’t work, they can make more informed decisions moment by moment. They can then start to add elements to the LH such as broken and inverted chords, and patterns borrowed from Arrangements projects.

• You or the student can compose a simple RH theme – a melody or chord pattern – that they can launch the improvisation from. If they’re a little timid, they can repeat the theme, then add a note or two, gradually moving away from the theme until they’re playing freely. As an additional project, they can see if they can return to the theme at an appropriate time, thus creating a finishing point.

As well as creating compositions, improvisation is a great way to develop arrangements. As an example, I’ve been working on a version of High Five from the Jazz program. It’s been a mix of using my knowledge of chords, borrowing from Arrangements, using the ear to work out ideas I can hear in my head, exploiting mistakes, and just letting go and seeing what comes out. Although, as I explore, more parts become fixed, my aim is to leave enough space for exploration, so that it’s never the same twice.

For me, composition, improvisation and creating arrangements is the best opportunity to be truly self-expressed on the piano, because I can create something that’s genuinely mine, without needing advanced technical skills.

I hope others have as much fun as I do in this arena.

Mark M., New York

This is common, especially in jazz. A piece is composed, but not note for note, and then a recording is made, with the composed parts serving as foundation for improvisation, whether in melody, arrangement, whatever. The recording becomes well known, and fans think this is “the” song, but it never was, because every time the performer plays it, the same approach is taken, so it’s different every time, and the recording only appears to be definitive.

It’s clear that improv and comp have to do with each other and can be taught together because they both involve the performer making up things. But the distinction isn’t simply about structure vs. expression. I can do Twinkle Twinkle as a samba, but I can also take an actual well known samba and improvise a Twinkle Twinkle melody during a solo. In that jazz piece, the composed parts can be anything melody, chord progression, etc., and in another piece by the same composer the composed parts can be different elements.

Remember, improvisation is just talking, using a musical vocabulary off the cuff. Sometimes the “words” and “phrases” we use from that vocabulary are more recognizable as things we’ve heard before, sometimes they’re smaller and smaller pieces put together in what seem to be more novel ways. But improvising in a way that seems “wholly” original isn’t fundamentally different from improvising around a “composition.”

There is no pat distinction between the two other than that composition means planned ahead and repeated the same way, while improvisation means off the cuff. The fact that some things are not 100% one or the other — that one can take a composition and improvise around it — doesn’t change the fundamental distinction between the two. Indeed, that very fact *relies* on the fundamental distinction between the two.

Cindy B., Illinois

I call adding your own ‘touch’ – ARRANGING. They can call it whatever they like, if they have no ideas I’ll call it, for instance, Night Storm 15. Then they have to prove to me they can play the original as well.