A Beginner's Guide to Improvisation

"How do I take a song as it is found in my song book and build it out to something that sounds full and exciting?"

A simple, common question that has a plethora of answers, but rarely are any of them simple.

This idea of building or expanding a song from four parts into more is called improvisation.

We have prepared a simple and easy approach to get you going on the road to improvisation.

How to Improvise Songs:

#1 - Select a Song

While this may perhaps be an obvious first step, it should not be taken lightly. Keep these things in mind when choosing a song:

• Choose a song that you can sing and play confidently.

• Make sure it is in a key that you know very well.

• Be sure to feel comfortable with the timing and time signature of the song.

• Choose a song that doesn't overwhelm you with complicated chords.

#2 - Learn the Song

Again, possibly an obvious step; however, in learning songs, there are many things that pianists either forget or forego, leaving them handicapped when it comes to improvisation.

If you want to improvise a song, you must know these three elements in the song incredibly well:

• The Melody (Consisting of Notes and Rhythms

• The Chords

• The Lyrics

Learn the melody by singing the song to yourself, playing it with one hand then the other, playing the melody in a different key, and (if you dare) quoting a familiar poem or Scripture while playing the melody.

Learn the chords by analyzing the song carefully, then comparing the chords that you find with the scale that applies to the key signature, and then softly strumming the chords while you sing the song to yourself.

Learn the lyrics by reading the song aloud to yourself as if it were a story, speech, or prayer. Ponder the words and consider what they mean to you. Then, explain the meaning of the song to yourself or another in detailed fashion.

The importance of knowing the song extremely well can not be overstated. If your mind is fretting about what notes to play or what chord is next, how is it to be free for improvising?

#3 - Improvise the Song

There are many levels of improvisation. We will look at the first few here so that you can develop a solid foundation on which to build in the future.

Level One - Applying a foundation. Play the soprano, alto, and tenor with your right hand; play the bass line in octaves with your left hand.

Take the upper three voices, and combine them into your right hand. Occasionally, you will have to adjust the tenor up or down an octave, but be sure to play the appropriate note for all three voices.

Your left hand will follow the bass line. However, instead of playing a single note, add the octave below the bass note. (Play the same letter name, but the one below the written bass note.)

Level Two - Expanding the melody. Play the melody (in octaves) with your right hand; use an "chord-strumming" technique with your left hand.

A simple octave melody really broadens the feel of a song. It is an excellent way to expand upon the melody.

The left-hand "chord-strumming" involves playing the appropriate chord on every pulse or beat. If a song has a 4/4 time signature, the primary pulses are beats one and three. If it is a slower song, you could easily strum a chord on beats one, two, three, and four.

Level Three - Filling in "dead space." While there are several options for filling in dead space in a song (whether at the end of a phrase, or just long notes), we will only address a few simple ideas here.

The first idea is to simply strum the appropriate chords through the entire held-out portion of the note. If a note is held out for three beats, then strum the proper chord for three beats with your left hand.

Another technique to try is "chord-stacking."

Take the chord and play it with your right hand one octave higher. You would continue climbing octaves for every beat that the notes is held. For instance, if the melody is on A with a D Major chord and held for three beats, you would play the melody note on beat one, then play a D Major chord an octave above that A on beat two, and then play another D Major chord an octave above that on beat three.

If you enjoy playing octaves with your left hand, you could try walking down the chord by octave.

For example, let's say you need to hold a note for four beats. The chord is an A Major chord. You could simply play the chord backwards, walking from an A octave, down to an E octave, down to a C# octave, down to another A octave.

If the note only needs three beats, consider skipping the middle note of the chord (C# in the A Major chord) and going straight to the root (the note after which the chord is named).

#4 - Practice Improvising as Many Songs as Possible

It will be difficult at first, but a skill worth having is worth working for. The more you do it, the more natural it will become. The more natural it becomes, the more ideas you will find and incorporate into your improvisation.

Listening to a lot of music is a great way to expand your ear for improvisation.

Practicing your scales and arpeggios is a great way to prepare your hands and fingers for improvisation.

Learning chords and song analysis is a great way to prepare your mind for improvisation.

The better your prepare, the better you will be at improvising.

We hope this helps you as you journey into the world of hymn improvisation!

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Aaron Dempsey

I Corinthians 15:58