From Sight to Sound: Improvisational Games for Classical Musicians

"From Sight to Sound" provides practical and creative techniques for classical improvisation for musicians of all levels and instruments, solo or in ensembles. These exercises build aural and communicative skills, instrumental technique, and musical understanding. When students use their instruments to execute and improvise on theoretical concepts, they make vivid connections between abstract ideas and their own playing. This then allows students to unite performance with music theory, ear-training, historical style and context, chamber music skills, and listening skills.

Many of the exercises in this book are designed for players working in pairs or small groups to encourage performers to communicate with one another and build an atmosphere of trust in which creativity and spontaneity may flourish.

CONTENIDO:

Preface
Acknowledgments

1. Improvise? What for?

2. Building listening skills
-Pitch switch
-Intervals
-Pitch chains
-Sing and play
-More sing and play
-Advanced sing and play
-One third plus one third equals one fifth
-Getting to the root of the problem
-Sound effects
-Rhythmic scales

3. Simple melodic improvisations
-Sugar and spice and everything nices (that's what melodies are made of)
-Fast-forward
-He says, she says
-Rhythm in an alternate universe
-Music plus one
-Mosaic
-Keep away
-Fill in the blank
-Non-tonal improvisation
-Strings alone
-Drone
-Shake

4. Melody and harmony: improvisations for ensembles
-Round-round ostinati
-The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
-Means, motive, and opportunity
-Monkey hear, monkey do
-Chorale
-Musical volleyball
-Switch and signal
-Dialogue (melody/countermelody echo)
-Pas de deux
-Pedal to the metal
-Son of sing and play
-Freeze frame
-Dummy up
-Bartók had a little lamb

5. From sight to sound: getting off the page
-Wait your ternary
-Home away from home
-You can't get there from here
-Circular reasoning
-Name that tune
-Being Diana Ross
-Binner at a Chinese restaurant
-It's so nice, you can do it twice
-Swing your partner round and round

Appendix A: Music theory review
Appendix B: Additional harmonic progressions