Keyboard Improv

Mike,

Not bad for three short weeks! Sounds like you have a grasp on the basic I, III, V, chord construction and are able to play with both hands pretty equally. There were instances of dissonance, but then you resolved it back into consonance. And that's what music often does, is create a tension that catches the ear and then lets it relax when things come back into line in harmony. I don't know if there's any substantive criticism I can give really. Just keep practicing and playing around.

Maybe find a melody "riff" you like played alone with the right hand, and then start hunting for the chords that set it off in the bass/left hand. I know you want to use the keyboard to help in writing music for guitar, and this is sort of the same thing, where the right hand represents the lead guitar, and the left hand plays the bass and rhythm guitars. The right hand may be using all the notes in the scale, while the left may be playing chords based on the I,III,V (or many other variations as you progress).

Also, you can try rearranging the I, III, V of the chord (the term is escaping me at the moment), for ex, take the I and move it to the top of the chord so you have III, V, I. If you're in the key of C, the I, III, V chord would be C,E, G, so by changing the "stacking" of it to III, V, I, you'd get E,G,C.

You can try the arpeggio thing with either or both hands, too. Instead of playing the I,III,V all together with both hands at the same time, separate out the chord tones and play them individually, first I, then III, then V. Capice?

Keep it up! I'll look forward to hearing more of your keyboard adventures.

Margaret

Margaret,

Thanks for the extensive feedback! I appreciate it. If you could please clarify some terms for me...what do dissonance & consonance mean? Sorry for being a newbie at this. :oops: I know what you mean by developing a melody...I tried to but I guess I just couldn't keep it going or consistent. I'll have to keep trying!

Thanks for the feedback!

Mike,

Dissonance is essentially dis-harmony. My copy of Webster's includes the following: lack of agreement...a mingling of discordant sounds; a clashing or unresolved musical interval or chord.

Consonance, of course, is the opposite: harmony or agreement among components.

Of course, the interpretation of dissonance vs. consonance is cultural, and can even vary from person to person. But I'm talking about "typical" music of Western cultures.

When I listen to your clip, it doesn't show a timer or I would give you some specific examples within the improv, but maybe your ear already tells you what is dissonance vs. what is consonance.

Try this: On the keyboard, play a chord of C,E,G,B. Make sure it's B natural, not B flat. Hear how the B natural is just a little annoying or grating against the other notes of the chord? Continue holding the C,E,G, down, and "resolve" the B natural to a B flat. Hear how it resolves or relaxes?

Now play that flatted 7th chord again, C,E,G,Bb, and resolve the Bb to the C one step above it. That's not as obvious of a resolution as the first example, but a resolution nonetheless.

Improvising a melody and keeping it going for a long time seems like it would be really hard. But if you land on a phrase or two or three that work well, then you can link them and repeat them, with little alterations to make it sound a little different each time around. I guess what I'm saying is more steering toward composing a song than improvising, actually.

Disclaimer: I'm no expert at music theory, so others may happen along and tell you I don't know what I'm talking about, and they'll be right. :oops:

Margaret

AHHHH! Now I understand. I know most of it was my lack of musical knowledge but part of it was just clumsy fingers! Thanks for the tip! :D

Just to make sure you understand, dissonance is NOT a bad thing to be avoided. It's creates interest as it creates the "need" to be resolved.

Listen for it in music you like. You may be surprised how much there is. Jazz has tons of dissonance as compared to, say, nursery rhyme songs.

Play "Chopsticks". Dissonance for the first eight counts, resolving for the next eight. Or the shrieking chord of the murder scene in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Psycho is a vivid example of repeated dissonance without resolution, and it creates discomfort.

Margaret