Extended improvisation presents itself as a unique set of possibilities and challenges for the modern contemporary jazz pianist. Its fundamentals are grounded in form, pacing and interaction with other players, which differs from the focus on functional harmony and the cyclical structures found in short-form improvisation. It demands a sensitivity to narrative development, a heightened listening ability and an acute awareness of space and texture. At the beginning of the semester, my approach was mostly grounded in harmony-driven thinking – I would always seem to try to prioritise melody and chord progression instead of thinking of structure and shape. Given the endless range of possibilities when sitting at a piano, I would easily slip into overplaying, where harmonic and rhythmic density would take hold of the music, where other elements should be respected. Where there is a place for those kinds of ideas, relying on it limited my ability to maintain interest and coherence across extended forms, consequently trapping me in loops that were difficult to break free from.
Throughout the semester, a series of weekly sessions explored ranges of concepts designed to expand my improvisational language and support my development as an improvisor. Key topics I found post applicable and was guided to explore further included understanding of space and restraint, identifying horizontal and vertical approaches to melody and harmony, interaction as a conversational exchange and modal improvisation. Engaging with these particular ideas requires a reassessment of my existing habits as pianist, pushing me away from saturation and pre-determined ideas/structures.
This reflection will critically examine my learning process over the last few months, drawing from techniques discussed and information found in our weekly recourses. Through practical experimentation, I will consider my areas of growth, analysing how the techniques I have explored influenced my decision-making and my methods of practice. Ultimately, this reflection will demonstrate how engaging with extended improvisation has reshaped my approach to playing piano, and how responsiveness and intentional organisation of structures and frameworks can lead to a more mature musical identity.
Finding Spaces and Organising Sound
Space in music holds equal importance to its sonic content. A skill that many musicians neglect in practice is the purposeful intention behind leaving time between my own or others’ phrases. For an idea to hold importance, its use must feel somewhat intentional in its space. Space allows for this to happen – the void helps to annunciate the beginning of a new idea, or the end of an old one. When you can’t distinguish when an idea starts or stops, the music can become laboured – it becomes harder to keep the quality of expression the same. It also makes it more challenging to develop specific elements of your playing or interact with another player’s input. In the same breath, space within frequencies and dynamics also must be discussed. Various instruments have their own timbre and range, so it’s crucial that when playing with other people, I take this into account. For example, for monophonic instruments, as a piano player in many instances, I should try to play in a way that fits on top of or underneath the general range of the melodies they are playing. In a similar manner, but differing slightly, for polyphonic instruments, instead of just focusing on balancing with the melody/motifs, I need to give attention to creating a balanced texture, as more frequencies will be covered. Given these points of interest, I decided to set up a few rehearsals in an attempt to develop this further.
As previously mentioned, I struggled with restraining myself from feeling the need to always play. To practice for this, I took moments in practice rooms and at home developing ideas, whilst making sure that I left a lot of space between my lines or chords, taking time to think about how I wanted to express the movement of the improvisation.
Following this and other similar experiments, I felt confident in my development, but also eager to try and implement what I have learnt with another player. I decided to meet with a drummer to try and feel out what it’s like with someone else involved. Given that the drums often don’t involve many instances of tonality, I felt like it was a safe place to experiment. However, after the practice, I felt like it was in fact too safe, I wanted to have a go at practising this an instrument that has tonality. This is because I would be much more restricted by the amount of potential coverage, making finding my space more of a challenge, as I would have to find my own register to play in. Below is a short improvisation with a guitarist demonstrating my restraint.
After broadening my experience by communicating ideas on my own and between different musicians, I felt more concise in my decision making and comfortable in going about trying fit into the body of the music. Through these practices I also feel have a better chance of introducing great ideas, creating an impact or a moment of poignance without compensating with lots of muddled information.
Horizontal and Vertical Thinking in Improvisation
Fluency in both horizontal and vertical thinking can result in a well-balanced, full-bodied musical sound. Whereas I feel I had a decent general understanding of both concepts, after a few sessions, I began to see cracks in my form, so I decided to pick my playing apart to see what I could improve on. The ‘standard’ method pianists often choose when improvising often falls under a horizontal-based approach – the left hand plays chord changes whilst the right follows them with line-based improvisation. I had become increasingly aware of my tendency to go towards this format in class. I would subconsciously distance myself from chordal sounds and prioritised melodic continuity and linear development, meaning there would often be an absence of explicit harmonic definition. Before analysing my playing, I initially felt like I was developing a consistent sound that fitted with the aims of the module, however I was wrong.
Here is a video where I felt I clearly contributed to a lack of structural clarity. In an ensemble setting, harmonic information can play a critical role in shaping a collective decision. The lack of openness led to a sense of uncertainty – without any reference points, moments were produced that drifted without clear markers of transition or arrival. Through reflection, I began to recognise that a selective use of vertical harmony serves as a vital component in creating music that develops and keeps the music engaging. I started to employ sustained harmonic fields and emphasis on certain registers of the piano. This also allowed for more interesting rhythms to be explored within the harmony without focusing on a particular ‘tune’. This conscious shift in my playing enhanced the narrative within the music and the articulation of all elements. Following this, I began to bring melodies back into my playing where it worked occasionally. Below is a short, improvised piece I recorded with a drummer that demonstrates my understanding and combination of the things I have developed after working on this subject matter.
Interaction as Conversation
The concept of interaction as conversation became a central focus in understanding improvisation as a collective process. In earlier contexts, my attention was often directed inward, giving more importance to the development of my own material. Whilst I was of course aware of the ensemble-nature of the sessions, but in my mind interaction was frequently a secondary aspect to my individual expression. In reflection I knew that this had to change. Conversational playing brings listening, response and shared ideas to the foreground, and highlights itself as an essential component of the expression over extended periods.
Early group improvisations revealed how often and easily conversations can break down, particularly when multiple players attempt to lead at the same time. As a pianist, my vast array of choices often carried a sense of authority, which at times resulted an overpowering sound or a premature directional change. Through guided exercises that focused on call and response, imitation and contrast, I became more aware of how the concepts that I have been learning about and developing could be used effectively during a conversational passage.
Working on my awareness definitely altered my priorities when going into improvising. It kept me from wanting to introduce new material constantly, and guided me to reinforce or transform ideas that show up in the performance. This often included mirroring rhythmic or harmonic ideas, or allowing space for another to respond. Furthermore, because this was a sensitive practice, it helped build trust among players, improving the overall flow and intuition. Below is an example of a conversation I had in practice.
Modal improvisation
Modal playing emerged as a point of familiarity for me, as I had a good general understanding of various modes and their purposes prior to this module. However, this reality shifted as through exploration and discussion with other musicians. Modes offer a framework to develop fresh melodic and harmonic colours. Unlike functional harmony that implies your trajectory and potential resolutions, modal fields provide a stable tonal centre whilst allowing a great deal of freedom in choice in where to go, without there ever feeling like it needs to arrive. The combination of my knowledge and the lack of the need to match chords in the extended form made for a pretty liberating experience. However, it also revealed the need for a more intentional approach to the shape of an idea.
Through my exploration I found that I didn’t often go towards building harmony from the notes of the mode – I discovered that this made for some pretty great sounds. In addition, I found that certain pairs of modes worked well interchanging with each other in sequence. This allowed for the endless nature of using modes to have contour. Below is a video of me exploring modal enclosures by bookending the ideas with other different modes to punctuate the structure.
Feeling brave, I then wanted to try interacting sequences between two modes that weren’t as related with another player. Below is a video of me trying this out with a soprano sax.
After a large variety of various explorations of different techniques, ideas and concepts when improvising, I feel much more complete as a player, and more confident in making decisions and bringing something to the table that perhaps before I wouldn’t have thought of. In the future, I want to explore more experimental elements and extended techniques specific to piano to broaden my sound.
