Improvisation ā across time and styles with Noam Sivan
How did Bach, Mozart, Chopin, and Debussy improvise? What did it sound like? Can we be inspired by their examples and learn to improvise today, in the twenty first century? Please join Noam Sivan for this Tonebase Live celebration of live piano improvisation and its meaning for us today.
Pianist and composer Noam Sivan is a leading pioneer in the revival of improvisation. He improvises fugues and four-movement sonatas in his piano recitals and conducts orchestral improvisations. Formerly, Director of Improvisation at the Curtis Institute and improvisation faculty at Juilliard, today Noam is a Professor of Piano Improvisation at HMDK Stuttgart, Germany, where he directs the worldās first-ever Masterās program in classical piano improvisation.
CHECK OUT Noam Sivanās āIntro to Improvisationā course!
Follow this event link to tune in!
https://app.tonebase.co/piano/live/player/Noam-sivan-improvisation-time-style
We are going to be using this thread to gather suggestions and questions!
- What questions do you have on this topic?
- Any particular area you would like me to focus on?
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I'm an amateur pianist, and have just started exploring composition and improvisation. I compose essays all day long in my head, which is why I'd love to be able to write music. Novels, short stories, and poetry all have their own conventions and bodies of work. Although I've dabbled a little in fiction and poetry and like reading them for pleasure, what I most enjoy writing is the literary essay.
Do you think it's important to identify and mostly stay within a particular musical time period as one learns improvisation? Or look at a particular form and how it's morphed across time periods? I've perused John Mortensen's book "The Pianist's Guide to Historical Improvisation." It's well written, and I've been working on learning the Rule of Octaves in various keys and adding figuration. However, baroque and early classical is not my preferred sound world. I like the late Romantic and Impressionist sound world. Thank you!
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Wow is right! That was very beautiful improvisation, Noam! Thank you! These are different languages and Noam's playing is quite intriguing and delightful!
Sindre, thank you for the quick contribution of the four notes for Noam.
I loved what you played with Sindre's contribution. It is "enchanting", as Dominic said. Wow!
Impressive and wonderful, Noam! Undoubtedly, this is the result of "hard work, time, willingness to take risks."
This is rich, high level analysis that I greatly enjoyed. Noam's advice to "enjoy the little steps in the process...not to be intimidated by big goals, but to just enjoy the process."
Thank you, Noam! Thank you, Dominic! Thank you to all who asked questions!
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Also as part of improvisation is to try free improvs with other instruments to help your hearing and, once you are able to hear whatās happening, choosing what your reaction is to othersā¦ When to lead, when to followā¦ Although the subject here is solo piano there can be moments when you may not be sure what you just did and in that moment itās not that dissimilar to reacting to othersā¦ Hereās an example of a totally free tonal duo improv. https://youtu.be/RnTOhTuL0jk
