Improvisation is an important and interesting part of both social and creative life of a person. It can be present in a variety of activities. Its distinctive features, methods and techniques depend on the specific direction of creativity or personality traits.
Improvisation is an unexpected, unforeseen, momentary act within the framework of any human activity. This can be a creation, such as inspired painting, or the ability to deliver a talk from the stage without prior preparation.
Types of improvisation
Improvisation exists in many forms and manifestations, the following are considered to be the main ones:
- Musical improvisation. It is characterized by the ability to create a melody out of nothing. Genre and instrument can be anything.
- Dance. Can be in any style, this includes contact improvisation.
- Literary improvisation (impromptu) is the ability to present invented plots in the form of ballads, poems or stories.
- Theatrical improvisation implies the stage skill of the actor to maintain the flow of the performance, regardless of the given scenario, as the situation requires.
These types of improvisation are considered the main and most capacious ones; they have additional themes and trends that affect almost all aspects of a person's life.
Improvisation on stage
A classic example of improvisation on the stage is the situation when an actor, having forgotten the text of his own role or faced with unforeseen circumstances, is forced to continue the performance on his own.
Sometimes the actors' deviations from the role in the play and small improvisations on their part are even welcomed. The roots of theatrical improvisation go back to antiquity, when only a general vector of development was set for the course of the performance, and the details could vary depending on the decision of some "higher powers"; when faced with such, the actors had to work entirely in improvisation.
Dance improvisation
Dance styles such as hip-hop and contact improvisation are all about improvisation. Moreover, in the second case, contact choreography is based on the interaction of partners, and they can look for inspiration in each other's movements, which ultimately allows true harmony to manifest itself.
Improvisation in music
Improvisational musical talent - the ability to sit down at a familiar instrument and give out an unpredictable, but completely complete and independent melody. This is an instant composition of a piece without preparation, with the simultaneous performance of the invented.
Musical improvisation techniques
Having the ear and the skill of playing any musical instrument, you can try yourself in the field of the composer-improviser. With the study of different techniques, experience and understanding of basic concepts will come, and then positive dynamics.
As methods of improvisation for piano, there are:
- Base. Here, as many melodies as possible are learned to form an impression of the process. They understand all modes and keys, after which they master the simplest three-sounding chords.
- A certain key is chosen and the musician uses it as an accompaniment, playing with one hand and improvising with the other. The result is a melody. It makes sense to change the tonality in the process of playing - this allows you to get comfortable with the instrument and increases the technicality of the composition.
- Play within one chord. The essence is almost the same as in the previous method, the selected chord becomes the leading for the melody, it can be changed depending on the measure.
It is important to understand that with any method of improvisation, the fundamental element of a musician's skill is practice and the ability to handle music, to use it competently at your own discretion.
Improvisation in communication
Improvisation in communication is the most common and understandable option for most. It can also be called everyday or verbal improvisation. This means the ability to speak freely on any topic without pauses, hesitations and internal tension, without using parasitic words.
There are a lot of people who want to learn this method. The basis of any training for practicing the skill of verbal improvisation is based on simple techniques: you should clearly be aware of the topic raised and squeeze out of it in communication or speech as much as possible by referring to suitable associations, lyrical digressions, or questions that are permissible to ask the interlocutor.
Despite the variety, the methods for developing the skill of improvisation are similar: you need a good imagination or the desire to develop it, the ability to navigate within the framework of a given topic and a desire to devote oneself to practice.
Verbal improvisation techniques
- Associations. The essence of the technique is based on a close association directly related to the topic of the conversation or speech. For example, in a report you need to improvise on the topic of music. Think, with what you associate the word music, perhaps you know an interesting story from the field of any genre? Looking through the information in the mind to build a thought, you can easily find there entertaining facts that are closely related to the main topic of the speech.
- Helpful questions. Often, during a speech, you can observe a situation when the speaker suddenly stops talking in confusion, all the prepared phrases disappear from the head. It is good if you have the text of the report with you and it is permissible to view it, but this is not always the case. Therefore, you should know in advance how you can improvise and be able to get out of the “blank slate” situation in your head. Proven questions can come to the rescue here. In this case, rhetorical questions recommend themselves especially positively. You should include communication with the audience and conduct some kind of interactive, this will allow the speaker to come to his senses and catch the meaning of what is happening. To do this, prepare in advance a chain of questions that are easy to remember. They can help shift attention and even relax the audience. Much depends on how you voice the question.
- Attention to the last word. Sometimes associations don't pop up in my head like questions. In this case, you can get out due to the careful and unobtrusive use of the last word you said in the report.
Humor is very important in improvisation. Relaxing storytelling and posing the question with a smile will allow you to make the transition from the state of "I forgot everything" to the stage "I am a genius!" Use jokes, tales and short stories in the background to the questions and boldly communicate with people. In any case, the skill of improvisation is being honed, and with experience, an understanding will come of how and when it is best to use this or that technique.
