You do a job of some kind already. You probably like to have tools that make the job easier and more fun. Maybe there is a coworker that contributes in just such a way that makes the project better. If one of those tools stops working or the coworker doesn’t show and the job still needs to get done, what do you do?
Improvise! You use what you have. When it comes to music people seem to forget the word already has a definition and you already know how to do it. You use what you have to do what you need to get done. Music is the same.
If you want to improve the way your improvising sounds, improve your box of tools and confidence in using them.
Like being at a loss for words or not knowing the phrase to describe something in another language; not having a wide enough music vocabulary can cause the same feeling. This is different than having nothing to say. Sometimes sitting out is a good choice. Sometimes being absorbed in the form is where you need to be at that moment. Sometimes to listen is better than to speak.
If you want to improve your improvising, pick the area you want to improve and get busy. It could be phrasing, harmony, rhythm, something else. Are you telling a story or repeating one? Do you like to do one more than the other? Focus on that and you will improve.
Licks, transcriptions, are other people’s conversations. Like a teenager saying the current catch phrase of the day, it might sound cool but it doesn’t quite fit. They can be useful but for self expression focusing on the grammar of harmony and rhythm and how to use it to express yourself is time better spent. If you are a performer, focusing on repeating the conversations of others can be a payday. That’s not my intention here.
At the end of the day, to improvise can be seen as a constraint. A kind of drop your pencils timestamp of; go now, use what you have. It can also be freeing. I think the difference lies in the piece you started with. Is the melody very simple and locked in and when given the chance to go for it and improvise you have so much to turn loose? Or, is it a complicated piece giving you a workout through all 12 keys only to find out that the piece has said more than you currently know. Instead of trying to one up the composer, remember sometimes it’s nice to just show gratitude and appreciation by understating a melodic line.
When you have nothing to prove, it’s no different than a conversation. Maybe one with someone new to a subject that you have great depth in and other times with someone that could teach you a thing or two if you just listen.
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