What role does improvisation or composition play in your musical journey? Care to share with us?

I love to arrange, especially Christmas songs (don't know why, probably because of the nostalgic vibe)

Improvisation has played a very large role in my personal journey - I went back to school specifically to learn to play "jazz". It was very difficult for me during the first few years. At this point - it is a critical skill for playing church or synagogue gigs (filling meditation spaces, elaborating on accompaniments, etc), also in accompanying singers or choirs. I can change the accompaniment if I want, simplify if it's too difficult or I think I have a better idea. Things like that. Classical piano is still my deepest journey and actually where I spend most of my practice time to this day - because I really can't live without it. But being able to improvise allows me to work in so many environments, adjust to situations easily. I also make it a point to teach improv. to my students beginning early in their musical journey - I consider it "practical piano", and the majority, who will not become accomplished performers of the traditional literature, can find a satisfying path via improvisational skills.

Improvisation is hugely important to me.

History teaches us very clearly that, until the modern age, improvisation was a standard part of musicianship, and there were no dividing lines between performance, improvisation, arrangement, elaboration, and composition. It is very exciting to see how, at last, attitudes in music teaching are starting to change back again. And, thanks to the work of a few pioneers, the movement for classical improvisation, based on historical pedagogy, is gaining momentum.

But (in my experience), one cannot learn to improvise without regular access, one to one, with a specialist teacher. Ten minutes at the end of a lesson on repertoire with a general teacher just won’t do. And then there’s the problem of finding the right teacher. I have been on courses in improvisation many times and have come away frustrated. I have had (or shared) sessions with famous improvisers and come away inspired but not effectively taught. Some are brilliant performers but simply can’t teach; some can teach, but want to teach improvisation of the modern atonal kind – and I want to learn the classical kind.

There are now a very small number of quite wonderful teachers of classical improvisation: my admiration for them is boundless. But they are naturally so much in demand that getting regular access to one is hugely difficult. I have offered to travel regularly to another part of Europe for lessons (because there is no one here), only to be told, ‘Sorry – I’d be glad to, but I simply don’t have the time.’

And you can’t learn to improvise by reading books or watching videos, however good – and there are now several books, and stacks of videos, on the subject that are excellent. They can support learning wonderfully, but they cannot do the whole job of teaching improvisation.

So... I first became fascinated with improvisation when I was fourteen. I am now seventy-three. Next week I have my first ever individual lesson (thanks to the miracle of Zoom) with a top-class specialist, who is not only a brilliant improviser but who knows how to teach it in exactly the ways of the old masters. It is a huge privilege for a poor old amateur like me. I hope it’s not (quite) too late.

Improvisation is very important to me too, and I concur with other views that finding a specialised teacher is critical. I am very lucky to have found such a teacher. He started on the classical route around 60 years ago and transitioned to jazz around 40 years ago.

He has been preparing me by having me practice (among other things) major II-Vs and II-V-Is in all keys by going around the circle of fifths in both directions and by going up and down by a semitone. Recently we introduced improvising over major II-V-I-VIs and minor II-V-Is in a few keys.

For example, in the key of C Major, we have:

II - Dm7 (treated as II in C Maj)

V - G7 (treated as IV in D jazz melodic minor when a regular 9 is added, and as I in G dim when a b9 is added)

I - C Major 7 (treated as I in C Major)

VI - A+7 (treated as VII in Bb jazz melodic minor)

And in the relative minor:

ii - Bm7(5b) (treated as VI in D jazz melodic minor)

v - E+7 (treated as VII in F jazz melodic minor)

i - Am6 (treated as I in A jazz melodic minor)

Within a week or three the plan is to get to improvising over an eight-bar sequence as follows:

Major II-V-I-IV, minor II-V-I, Major VI (think Autumn Leaves)
 

I will upload a video example soon.

I have been composing music since my earliest days as a musician, and I discovered improvisation when I began playing jazz in high school. Both improvisation and composing remain important parts of my musical identity, both as a soloist in performances and as a composer of original works. 

I enjoy improvising at the piano, whether it is playing for congregational singing at church or just having fun at home.

I also have a passion for composition.  I have uploaded a couple of my compositions to youtube.  Here's one of them:

Tim.

When I started to learn to improvise as a classical musician it was foreign and hard.  I persevered and it changed everything about playing the piano.  More confidence, more fun and more understanding of what's going on behind the notes!

Improvisation has always been my primary way of playing the piano, based on many years of playing in piano bars and hotel lounges and studying on my own to learn as much as possible about music. I used to think I was a jazz player, but there seems to be a consensus out there that that's not what I do.  Not infrequently customers would ask me "can you play some jazz?" when I had thought that's what I had been playing all night!   A jazz musician friend said to me, "I play improvisations, but you play variations!" and I think that may capture it.  I am never quite able to stray too far from the melody -- it always exerts a 'gravity' on my improvisations, is the way I;ve put it. But ever since high school I've also had an obsession with classical repertoire, and virtually everything I encountered in classical pieces has been pilfered found its way into my performances of my core repertoire of American pop tunes and standards. 

I've worked and studied mostly on my own for decades and it's been a joy to connect with a music community through ToneBase!

So here's a sample of Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride", in keeping with the Christmas motif, which I also posted to the Dec. 1 concert page:

https://youtu.be/AWuTHCdvgpA