Week 1: Kickoff! Start Improvising with F-E-D
Welcome to the first week of "Imagination on the Piano: Improvising Classically with George Ko"!
This is the thread for posting the submissions and assignments for the first week. Watch the first Livestream to learn more about the Week One Assignments!
This underrated, rarely utilized chord progression in the traditional classical repertoire unlocks the entire world of improvisation. See how just 3 chords can get you improvising instantly with the piano knowledge you already have.
Week One Assignment
Watch the first Livestream! Share a quick 20-30s improv using the chords F, E, and D (all qualities, Major, Minor, Major 7th, welcome!). Just use your iPhone to record, and remember, all mistakes welcome! (This is a safe space!)
57 replies
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Hi George, thank you for offering this workshop.
do you want us to post some attempts BEFORE watching the live stream or wait until after that?
I've been playing around with these chords & I'm finding it rather challenging, as well as intriguing to try to make them work together. My ear wants to establish a tonal center with at least a dominant and subdominant, but none of these chords serve that function with any other (although you can get close with some alterations and substitutions). I'm sure that's part of the reason you chose them, to open our ears to other possibilities & relationships. are we allowed to use diminished versions of the chords also?
I started out as a "Can't make it" and then a "Maybe", but with some schedule shuffling, it now looks like I'll be able to attend , so I'm looking forward to the live stream!
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Just attended George Ko鈥檚 fabulous 1st session on how to do classical improv. He did say that all mistakes are welcome. Here is my first minute or so attempt at being spontaneous on F-E-D... 馃槉
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Here鈥檚 my first short improv for this assignment. I did what George suggested - I started by singing a short conversation while I just played the chords, then used that tune to play the right hand with the chords.
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Susan Rogers sounds great! very nice use of F-E-D!
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Well just listened to the workshop session - very interesting! So here is an attempt. I really like Rudelle and Susan鈥檚 recordings. You can certainly create a mood with these three chords!
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Here is a better one. - sorry, getting files confused!