That was the question I asked
myself at the beginning of the semester when I noticed I had a class on Fridays
from 4:00-6:00. My first thought was one of extreme hesitation. Sure, I acted
excited cause I wanted to seem “open and welcome” to something like Improv. But
truthfully I was scared. My experience with Improv was as “traditional” as it
could be. I learned about some blues scales and progressions and then I was
told to follow a chart I didn’t understand.
This approach led a very frightened cellist to disliking the idea of
improvising. Years after my first encounter I still had the same feelings. I
was impressed with anyone who could do it, or was just brave enough to try!
So
after my first week of college I was grateful to have the company of other
familiar cello faces around me. Little did I know they were improv veterans. As
the class of about 35 all shuffled in we looked around a bit confused. Were
these instruments? Bunt pans? Easter Eggs? Big pieces of random metal? And
washboards! I picked up a washboard, as that seemed like a pretty “strait
forward” percussive instrument. Emily Finlan, however, disagreed with my
beginner’s choice. Pulling me back towards the shopping cart of goodies she
fitted me with a vest and handed me a metal spoon. For the next thirty minutes
I played my washboard/vest with more freedom than I had ever applied to my
cello.
Was
this improv? I didn’t feel tense, or
judged for my ridiculous behavior. The only way to describe this version of
what I dreaded was… FUN!
No,
the class was not all banging on washboard and yelling out random noises.
Exercise after exercise, piece after piece I began to realize that improv was
whatever I could become. I know that seems rather… odd. But it’s true.
Tonality, and harmonization all fall out the window when you stop focusing on
the rules and solely focus on what
you can conceive. If that means shouting what sounds like a tribal call, then
that’s what it means. This past semester in Free Improvisation has enabled me
to finally understand what music can
be not what it has been.
As
we approach the concert in a few weeks I am excited about the growth I have
seen: Not just in the music being made but more importantly in the people who
are involved. As the semester has
progressed shy, introverted people (not unlike myself) picked up instruments
they had never dreamed of playing. So maybe, music isn’t what’s on the page but
more what is off the page. This conclusion has totally transformed my
definition of music. Music is PEOPLE! YES, this is all extremely cheesy but it couldn’t
be closer to the truth. Because until we let all of our preconceived ideas of
what we learn in Music Theory go, we are trapped.
I’ve
literally had an argument with my orchestra director only using my cello and he
his violin. In my first months of what I now understand to be FREE Impov I have
laughed, cried, pulled a few muscles and summoned more energy at the end of the
week than I believed possible.
