How to Develop Improvisation Skills?

[tangomonkey]

To lead well you have to be very familiar with the music. You may not have to memorize it, but you have to know the music (in general) well enough to be able to accurately predict (more or less) what's coming next.

Memorizing the songs is one way (but not necessarily the only way) to be able to do that.

Yes, that sounds right. I dance better to pieces I know well. So: learn more of the repertoire.

...I think, hearing, discerning, analyzing, and interpreting on the fly is too much at the beginning. So if you already know the piece very closely, it may be easier to concentrate on the execution of moves.

I find that the better I know a piece the less I have to concentrate on the execution of moves. I just respond. I can't honestly say that happens all that often, but there have been glimmers of hope lately.

In addition to learning the music, I find that tapping to music helps to practice the rhythmic aspects of it (by using pauses & quick beats when the music calls for it), and trying different rhythmic variations to the same song.

Good advice. Thanks!

Whenever you feel inspired by music--any music--dance to it!..."Limit" yourself to AT steps. Let yourself move however you feel like moving. Close your eyes...Listen to the music, and think about what different parts sound like. Do they sound smooth, or sharp, or happy, or sad, or relaxed, or with lots of tension? What movements would you put to that? It's kind of like playing charades.

Good advice also. I do this sometimes and it has been fun - despite looks of incredulity from the kids , and the dog (no cat). Sometimes I put my tango playlist on shuffle, close my eyes and do my best to visualize myself and a partner dancing. Really hard to do, but it sure helps.



Ampster: Nice blog entry - as usual!. Those times I have been able to let go (not yet for an entire dance, but portions) were very enjoyable. Not sure the part about muscle memory is for me just yet - at least not until I replace mine with better "memories".


Here's alink to a blog post I just found about improvising tango (I can include links now. Nice be "legitimate"):
http://tangosalonadelaide.blogspot.com/2009/01/improvisation-it-doesnt-just-happen.html

Comments?

 

[tangomonkey]

The things I use to help me improvise are as follows:

1 Try to bring as many contrasts into your walk as you can, depending on your own feel of the music.

2 Think of the emotion the music is evoking in you and try to dance that emotion.

3 Learn to do every step on both sides and learn to reverse every step you do.

All good but having a hard time with 2. I think I know what you're getting at but please elaborate a bit about what you mean by "dance that emotion"

 

[ant]

All good but having a hard time with 2. I think I know what you're getting at but please elaborate a bit about what you mean by "dance that emotion"

Maybe the music will make you sad or happy or love or whatever. Try and express that feeling in your dance.

At some improvistional lessons I have attended, you get a slip of paper with a word on it sometimes an emotion, sometimes describing an action (like slow or active etc) and you try and dance in the way that word suggests to you.

 

[ant]

I think another way to help improvisation is to listen to your partner. Be alive to what they want to express in the music and then use what you feel to affect the way you then lead.

 

[ant]

An exercise that helps improvisation is to not use a step that you would normally use for one or more tracks. So you for instance you cannot do a side step or you cannot lead a forward ocho say.

 

[tangomonkey]

Ant: thanks for the helpful suggestions.

Maybe the music will make you sad or happy or love or whatever. Try and express that feeling in your dance.

At some improvistional lessons I have attended, you get a slip of paper with a word on it sometimes an emotion, sometimes describing an action (like slow or active etc) and you try and dance in the way that word suggests to you.

I get dancing an action (slow, active) but can't think of what I would do if told to dance "sad" or "happy" . What would you do to express "sad", or "melancholic" (since an awful lot of tango music has that feeling)? Thanks Ant.

 

[Joy In Motion]

All good but having a hard time with 2. I think I know what you're getting at but please elaborate a bit about what you mean by "dance that emotion"

I think a lot of dancers get stuck on this. It's easy to say that if the music is about love then you need to express or feel love, etc. But this is so generic that it loses all its meaning and usually becomes a form a play-acting that doesn't help a dancer to feel any more tied to the music with their movement. Because can anyone think of a movement or a body isolation that connotes something as general as love or happiness? There may be an overall quality of movement (sharp vs. soft, heavy vs. light), but this doesn't usually help with improvisation...

I have been reflecting on this quite a bit lately, and I think I am growing to understand it more and more. Try listening to a song and paying attention to specific features: an instrument for example, or a few "special affects" (sudden flourishes in the music, direction changes, etc.). Then reflect on how these musical features make you feel. Not in a general sense of happy, sad, or romantic, but in a very specific and physical sense. Does it make you feel tension or release in your muscles? Does it make you feel like stretching out long like a cat or tip-toeing around like a cat burglar (at that particular moment, not for the duration of the song)? Does it make you want to lift your shoulders or tap your foot or something else? These physical reactions are not what we typically think of as emotional, but they are absolutely emotional and they are the kinds of emotion-associated movements that make up a large part (if not most) of musicality.

I've been brainstorming this very idea for some of my writing, so this might be a good place to workshop it and see if it rings true to people. I know I've only offered a very general overview, but it's a good place to start I suppose. Any thoughts?

 

[ant]

I get dancing an action (slow, active) but can't think of what I would do if told to dance "sad" or "happy" . What would you do to express "sad", or "melancholic" (since an awful lot of tango music has that feeling)?

When I feel a piece of music is sad, I would go one of two ways either I will try and feel the sadness in my body or imagine a scene in a film to consider the atmospherics that causes that feeling of sadness. Then I would allow the whatever I felt to take over.

I assume some of the charatcheristics of the dance when I feel sad may include, dancing more slowly, I would be dancing in a definite straight line (no Vals swirls for instance), my footfall would be heavy and deliberate, I would not have any contra body movement, I would try to convey as little energy as possible in the stepsand to my partner and put a more protective feel within the embrace.

I think sadness is an extreme emotion in dance terms, so I would trying to use that to introduce contrast. Hence I would not expect to dance the whole track in that way and I would be looking for a change within the music that would allow me to change the whole mood I was trying to convey when being sad and trying to find an emphesis that would allow me to introduce the greatest contrast when my feeling within the track changes.

I suppose at the end of the day it is another tool for using the music and thinking in terms other than steps or sequences or relying on muscle memory only whilst dancing a track.

 

[newbie]

Start learning and memorizing music pieces by heart. This will help.

Technically, this goes against improvisation. Improvisation would be dancing on an unknown tango with an unknown partner. Memorizing the songs is somehow like preparing a choreography.

Find a milonga/practica where there is enough space to actually step but crowded enough to prevent you from being able to move in any direction at any moment. Preferably a place where people move in a non-predictable way. In such a place, at one given moment you will have only one option (moving to your left, for instance) and you will have to take your next step to your left, whatever your present position is. And if you ponder for too long about what the hell you may find to move to your left then it will be too late, some couple will be there and the only available direction will be, for instance, forward.

 

[Dave Bailey]

Just wondering what people do (or did) to develop their improvisation skills...

It's a good question, I think.

Listening to familiar music won't help (although that's one way to develop musicality).

So I'd suggest the opposite; listening to, and dancing to, completely unfamiliar music, ideally totally unpredictable, off-the-wall stuff (and for some reason, the word "Piazzolla" springs to mind here )

If you can adapt your movements quickly to meet changing music, then you should be developing your improvisational skills.

 

[ant]

Technically, this goes against improvisation. Improvisation would be dancing on an unknown tango with an unknown partner. Memorizing the songs is somehow like preparing a choreography.

I think both knowing the music and not knowing the music can help with improvisation.

For instance when you know a particular tracks you can use that knowledge to be improvisational or use steps familiar to that track. Conversely not knowing the music may lead you to rely on familiar moves and patterns or it can force you to expand your creative thinking.
The knowing or the not knowing do not neccessarily have a predetermined result.

Originally posted by Dave Bailey Listening to familiar music won't help (although that's one way to develop musicality).

If you are not familiar with the music how do know to bring in various improvistional characterisics. Also it does help with your own improvistion when you get other peoples takes on the way they would allow the music to influence the way they would dance to that track.

 

[Peaches]

I have been reflecting on this quite a bit lately, and I think I am growing to understand it more and more. Try listening to a song and paying attention to specific features: an instrument for example, or a few "special affects" (sudden flourishes in the music, direction changes, etc.). Then reflect on how these musical features make you feel. Not in a general sense of happy, sad, or romantic, but in a very specific and physical sense. Does it make you feel tension or release in your muscles? Does it make you feel like stretching out long like a cat or tip-toeing around like a cat burglar (at that particular moment, not for the duration of the song)? Does it make you want to lift your shoulders or tap your foot or something else? These physical reactions are not what we typically think of as emotional, but they are absolutely emotional and they are the kinds of emotion-associated movements that make up a large part (if not most) of musicality.

Ding ding ding! Thank you for expressing this so well.

An exercise from a workshop class I took once: Start walking around a room. Just walk. Normally. Don't think of anything. Now, think of something particular--you're late to class, or you just won the lottery, you just found out a long-term friend has passed away, you've had five cups of coffe, you got no sleep, you're angry, you're confident, you're happy. For each of those scenarios, think of how you would walk, and carry yourself, and move if they were reall. Would you slouch and move slowly if you just won the lottery? Probably not. How you are feeling, or what emotion you're holding in your mind will affect how you move. Think of each scenario...and then walk like it was real. Feel the change in your body.

You don't have to understand the lyrics to be able to feel from the music. (I've said it before...AT music is all just Argentine country music anyhow. Dog died, girl left, truck broke. LOL.) But listen to how the music sounds, let your mind wanter, and think of how you feel when you listen to it. Is it playful? Is it contemplative? These are emotions you can translate to your movements.

 

[dchester]

Technically, this goes against improvisation. Improvisation would be dancing on an unknown tango with an unknown partner. Memorizing the songs is somehow like preparing a choreography.

I completely disagree, and will also note that this is not true when playing music either. Knowing the music does not equate to choreography. It's just like in playing music and the lead improvises. The lead has to know (more or less) what the accompaniment is going to do so the improvisations will fit.

 

[dchester]

I get dancing an action (slow, active) but can't think of what I would do if told to dance "sad" or "happy" . What would you do to express "sad", or "melancholic" (since an awful lot of tango music has that feeling)? Thanks Ant.

I don't try to analyze it too much. Certain types of music will make me want to move or respond in certain ways. I really don't think about trying to move "sad", or "happy", or whatever. I will say that the sad or melancholic songs make me go more for the connection (mostly slow, small simple, and subtle movements) with the follower, than say an energetic D'Arienzo, which which make me dance with more energy. A lot of the vals make me want to dance with both some energy and a certain feeling of elegance (for lack of a better word). I'll typically do lots of turns to those, if the follower is good.

I find that some followers like how I dance to some songs, but a different group of followers will like how I dance to more lively stuff.

This all is a very personal thing, so you have to do what you feel, and not worry too much about what someone else feels. Generally speaking, if you do something because you feel it (as opposed to just because you can), then it will usually make sense to others as well (like hopefully your follower).

 

[tangomonkey]

ant and Joy: thanks for the explanation.

...reflect on how these musical features make you feel. Not in a general sense of happy, sad, or romantic, but in a very specific and physical sense. Does it make you feel tension or release in your muscles? Does it make you feel like stretching out long like a cat or tip-toeing around like a cat burglar (at that particular moment, not for the duration of the song)? Does it make you want to lift your shoulders or tap your foot or something else? These physical reactions are not what we typically think of as emotional, but they are absolutely emotional and they are the kinds of emotion-associated movements that make up a large part (if not most) of musicality.

That's as good - or better - description of "musicality" I've come across. Many thanks!

Technically, this goes against improvisation. Improvisation would be dancing on an unknown tango with an unknown partner. Memorizing the songs is somehow like preparing a choreography.

Don't think I really agree here. Putting on my jazz guitarist hat, I have to know the melody and harmonic structure inside out. Only then can I improvise around them. On the other hand, Bach used to improvise (create) fugues on the fly...

Listening to familiar music won't help (although that's one way to develop musicality). So I'd suggest the opposite; listening to, and dancing to, completely unfamiliar music, ideally totally unpredictable, off-the-wall stuff (and for some reason, the word "Piazzolla" springs to mind here ) If you can adapt your movements quickly to meet changing music, then you should be developing your improvisational skills.

Seems there are diametrically opposed views on everything in this forum. All I can say is that at this point in my development I dance better (ie, react to the music, rather than thinking about how to step) when I know the music. Maybe more of a confidence thing. I get your point though - as a way to develop improv. skills jump into unfamiliar territory. I'll work on it.

Start walking around a room. Just walk. Normally. Don't think of anything. Now, think of something particular--you're late to class, or you just won the lottery, you just found out a long-term friend has passed away, you've had five cups of coffe, you got no sleep, you're angry, you're confident, you're happy. For each of those scenarios, think of how you would walk, and carry yourself, and move if they were reall. Would you slouch and move slowly if you just won the lottery? Probably not. How you are feeling, or what emotion you're holding in your mind will affect how you move. Think of each scenario...and then walk like it was real. Feel the change in your body...listen to how the music sounds, let your mind wanter, and think of how you feel when you listen to it. Is it playful? Is it contemplative? These are emotions you can translate to your movements.

Nice exercise! Sounds challenging and fun - always a good combination for learning.

...This all is a very personal thing, so you have to do what you feel... Generally speaking, if you do something because you feel it (as opposed to just because you can), then it will usually make sense to others as well (like hopefully your follower).

Agreed.