top of page
John Riley
Organist - Pianist -Teacher
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.
bottom of page