On the 5th of December, me and my group did a performance which was based on improvising. We got to choose how we improvised, what methods to use or modes and what instruments each of us would play. Our group was based of one drummer, one bassist, two guitarists, and a keyboard player which was me.
As a group we decided to do a Riff Based improvisation, using four chords in the major scale which made it easier for everyone to play and remember. We also decided to plan the beginning of our performance, meaning that we planned to have the drums go first and after about 6 bars the guitarists would come in and then the bass and keys. This means that our performance could also be considered an Instruction Piece.
For the rest of the performance we all just played what we wanted and kept eye contact with each other in case any of us wanted to do a solo or stop playing. I mainly played arpeggios (in the major scale) instead of chords like the guitarists, I didn’t plan what I was going to play, I just did what I felt like doing in the moment, I guess it’s what improvising is all about. I also didn’t continuously playing the normal piano sound, throughout the song I used a saxophone sound and also synth but mainly sax and the normal piano.
Even though I have never done improvisational performances before and I am just now learning about it, I think that I did well and also my group did very well too. I think that for next time, I need to work on different modes, theory, other types of improvisation and being more confident playing keys because I could of done more.
Performance video – https://youtu.be/it5KM6JJt_E
Mariana Bagulho 