Improvisation Workshops - Piano.

 

A flexible and pragmatic 'mix and match' of materials is applied to all workshops.  

Below are a few samples, which in themselves have the scope for considerable adaptation.

 

 

 

Preliminary

 

• 'Picture this' - Creating moods and images through different types of rhythm, tempi and melodic shapes.

• ‘Blues and Jazz Echoes’ – Two-part call and response melodies above a fixed bass.

• ‘Dancing round the triad’ - Simple two-part melodies built around the common triad with I-V and V-I Cadences

• ‘Far Eastern Impressions’ – ‘Free’ improvisations using the Pentatonic mode.

• 'Spice up the song' - Simple embellishments of songs, (from a written score) using melodic decoration, octave  displacement and arpeggio figuration.

• 'Independent Hands' - Two part ostinati.

• 'Modern Freestyle' - Accessible contemporary style improvisations on simple motifs or melodic phrases.

• 'Renaissance Rhythms' - Renaissance style dances using modal melodies and one or two chords.

• ‘Explore The World - I’ – Single hand position melodies around a fixed bass, using various characteristic modes,  such as Lydian, Pentatonic, and Arabic (Double Harmonic) modes.

 

 

Intermediate

 

• ‘In Pastoral Vein’- Modally based preludes in an 'English' style, using fuller textures, parallel thirds and sixths and elements of counterpoint.

• 'Extend the Song' - Short song extensions through such techniques as motivic development and elaborated cadences.

• ‘In the Spirit of Mozart’ – Short aria and variations using primary triads.

• 'Sequence the Jazz and Blues' - Jazz and Blues style sequences using primary triads.

• ‘Let’s Dance’ - Romantic style dances based on primary triads and simple modulations.

• ‘Celtic Moods’ - Preludes and dances based on modal harmony.

• ‘Explore The World - II’ – Free-ranging melodies around an elaborated fixed bass, using various characteristic modes, such as Lydian, Pentatonic, and Arabic (Double Harmonic) modes.

• 'Go Contrapuntal' – Fughettas in two or three parts.

 

 

Advanced

 

• ‘In the Spirit of Beethoven’ – Variations on a given theme using primary and secondary triads and motivic repetition and development.

• 'In the spirit of Debussy’ - Preludes based on Whole Tone, Octatonic and Pentatonic modes.

• ‘In the spirit of Joplin’ – Ragtime style movements using primary and secondary triads.

• 'Romantic Prelude' – Romantic style movements using primary, secondary and diminished triads.

• 'Go Fugal' - Complete fugues in Baroque, Romantic and modal 20th Century styles.

• 'Contemporary Freestyle' - 'Contemporary' style improvisations using tonal, atonal and modal idioms, and a full range of textures and forms of thematic  development.