What is improvisation?
- Improvisation is ‘instant music’
- In the exam the examiner will give you a musical idea – or ‘stimulus’ to look at and listen to. You then create a short piece of music from this idea.
- There are three musical ideas to choose from:
Stylistic stimulus
Motivic stimulus
Harmonic stimulus
- Try them all and see which one is best for you.
LISTEN
Choose one of these starting points
Stylistic stimulus
- a piece of music with a chord pattern
- the examiner will accompany you on the lower part of the piano
Motivic stimulus
- a two bar melody
Harmonic stimulus
- a four bar chord sequence
With each stimulus:
- The examiner will play it twice
- You will have 30 seconds to prepare your improvisation
- You can then perform your improvisation
LISTEN
What makes a good improvisation?
This is part of a performance exam so you need to show how well you can play your instrument.
So a good improvisation will:
- be fluent and without hesitations
- be confident
- be the correct length
- show an understanding of the key
- show some creativity
- use the stimulus in some way
- come to a natural end
LISTEN