On Aug 26, 2009, at 6:17 AM, Christopher Witmer wrote: > s improvisational ability something that you either have or you > don't? Or is it something that can be learned? Are there any tips > concerning how my daughter could most effectively approach this?
I'm assuming the skills we're talking about involve ornamenting or creating an accompaniment, rather than inventing music out of whole cloth. A lot of this amounts to connecting dots -- recognizing harmonic and melodic patterns and adding a few notes to get from one point to another. Eventually the short bridge patterns can turn into longer improvisations, of course. What it takes to develop the skill depends on what the student already knows. Does she recognize ornamentation when she sees it? Or are all notes created equal for her? Here are some things she can do: 1. Compare different ornamented versions of a melodies (e.g. Elslein, Innsbruck, Lord Willoughby, Ruggero, Light My Fire) 2. Learn or listen to different versions of variations on ground basses: the Bergamasca is a a good place to start because it's so harmonically simple, and there are lots of them out there, so a student can learn a hundred ways of getting from I to IV to V to 1, but there are enough passamezzos and Greensleeves to a Ground and similar things to keep someone busy for a long time. 3. One of the more valuable exercises, though more difficult, is to take an ornamented ornamented or florid line and simplify it to a basic melody. 4. Learn to read figures and play continuo. Looking at editorial realizations of continuo parts can give ideas, both good and (very often) bad, about connecting dots. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
