If you find yourself struggling with an exercise, slow it down, simplify it, or sing it while visualizing yourself playing it.
After familiarizing yourself with the exercises, pick one or two to practice repeatedly until you can play them without any conscious thought.
Tape record yourself improvising over the chord progression.
Listen to the tape and critique your rhythm.
Is your tempo steady or do you rush or drag certai passages?
Is your time as solid in the difficult keys as it is in the easy keys?
If not, devote ourself to resolving any technical issues that maybe hindering your rhythm.
Make sure to pay attention to what the rhythm section is doing.
Don’t get absorbed in thinking about what you are going to play. Need a quiet mind.
The rhythm is more important than notes.
Kenny Werner describes the process:
‘I never try to play anything I’m practicing. I’m only interested in the effect practicing has on my playing.”
Practice as slowly as necessary in order to play the most difficult passages cleanly and in rhythm.
Most players make the mistake of trying to play things too quickly. This reinforces bad technique and poor rhythm.
Start slowly and gradually increase the tempo.
An alternative to this slow, gradual approach is to practice at fast tempos but only a small portion of the exercise, gradually adding more notes until the entire passage is learned.
Extend the range, change the rhythm or create your own variations of each exercise.
Experiment with a variety of rhythmic accents and expressive devices.
Do not try to practice too many concepts simultaneously. It is better to thoroughly master a few patterns that appeal to you, rather than to superficially practice a large amount of material.
Whatever you choose to practice, work on it until you can play it without having to think about it. Only when you have learned something at this deep level will you be able to merge in an unpremeditated manner during an improvisation.
Sing while fingering the instrument without playing.
Also try practising away from the piano while imagining yourself playing.
Each piano student must deal with what works best for them.
I’ve seen some courses working magic for some students yet they do nothing for others.
What makes the difference between one course to another?
It has to do with the individual talents and learning style.
Our learning style changes as we progress. As a beginner, we might prefer a certain regiment learning style. We want to practice the material backward and forward.
But as one grow and develops one’s talent, the learning style also changes.
What I practice today is certainly not what I practiced years ago when I began improvisation.
While books, courses, and teachers are valuable catalysts in developing our musicianship, ultimately each one of has to become attuned to one’s particular needs,and the ability to discern our strengths and weaknesses. We need to be able to diagnose the areas we are weak in and devise strategies to overcome them in a constructive manner.
Ultimately we need to become our own teacher and teach ourselves. As we grow, we gain insights to know how to teach ourselves. In the process, we have understood the path of understanding in such a way that we know how to teach others also because of what we have been able to experience ourselves.
The following are questions asked by beginning students who want to improvise:
How do I get started?
Where do I begin? (Sounds familiar)
What do I practice?
Can improvisation be learned?
Is it spontaneous that there is no skill involved?
How did the pros learn to improvise?
Music is an art form.
I believe that there is a direct parallel between life and art.
The more we understand an art form, the more we understand ourselves. This learning process never stops and it serves as a catalyst to teach us about life.
Piano skills can be continually developed over a lifetime.
All it requires is a sufficient love of the music to provide the drive, perseverance, and self examination necessary to continue to grow as a creative being.
As one matures, the desire for quick achievement and recognition tends to fade as one realizes that the real goal of this study is the joy that comes from the process of learning and growth.
Teaching — a natural outgrowth of one’s own experiences as a msuician.