Summer should be a time for a little relaxing. It's a great time to try some improvising on the piano. Once you learn to improvise it becomes relaxing and rewarding.

At a recent summer piano camp in St. Louis, Missouri, students were introduced to improvisation (see photo below). Beautiful melodies floated through the air as we improvised on two grand pianos. The following are some of the techniques that the students practiced as they began learning to improvise.

IMPROVISE ON THE PENTATONIC SCALE (FIVE BLACK KEYS)

This scale uses the five black keys on the piano. Lovely melodies can be made up playing those five black keys in a variety of ways. In fact, there are one hundred and twenty ways you can mix those notes up, without even repeating a note! Hold down a low E flat and B flat (a fifth) in the bass while the right hand goes all over those black keys!

After you play various combinations of tones, try repeating several tones ascending and descending. Some of your melodies may sound like Chinese music.

The pentatonic scale may also sound like Indian music. Let the left hand play the fifth with a tom tom beat as a drum would sound. The right hand can start out with this pattern of E flat, E flat, Eflat, D flat, E flat. Then try E flat, E flat, E flat, G flat, E flat. Continue making up phrases with different black keys. Have the right hand find notes going up the keyboard like an Indian walking through the forest. Then have the Indian boy or girl walk back home to the tepee on E flat near middle C.

IMPROVISE ON THE BLUES SCALE

Next try playing the blues scale with the right hand. Start off with the easiest blues scale which is: E flat, G flat, A flat, A, B flat, D flat, E flat. Do you see why it's so easy? It is the five black keys and then an added A natural! The left hand can play a low bass note of E flat to start. Then add a fifth above (E flat and B flat). Try forming the blues scale on other notes. The formula is: one & one-half steps, one whole step, one-half, one-half, one & one-half, one whole step. Use the E flat scale as your guide. From E flat to G flat is one & one-half steps; G flat to A flat is one whole step; A flat to A natural is a half step; A natural to B flat is another half step; B flat to D flat is one & one-half step; D flat to E flat is a whole step.

IMPROVISE ON THE WHOLE TONE SCALE

One of my favorite patterns to improvise on is the whole tone scale. This scale is exactly what it sounds like... all whole steps. The easiest way to begin is have the left hand play middle C, D & E one after the other using the fingers 4, 3, 2. The right hand then plays the three black keys G flat, A flat, & B flat with the fingers 2, 3, 4. Go higher and higher on the keyboard and hold the damper pedal down. Keep it down till you stop playing. You may go up and down on just those six tones. Go up and down the piano pretending to swim out to an island. Then pretend to scuba dive underwater. Now come down the piano like waterfalls. There are 720 ways you can mix those six tines up, making lovely patterns just like a kaleidoscope. While improvising, patterns may be woven into a beautiful tapestry of sounds representing colors and sounds.

Many hours can be spent at the keyboard playing tunes on the pentatonic or blues scales. I hope you will have fun trying these techniques out on your piano. The hardest part of anything is to begin ...so please begin and have fun the rest of the summer improvising. For more tips on improvising you may order the Complete Book of Improvisation, Fills and Chord Progressions by Gail Smith.

The music sample for this month is two pages from Celebrate the Piano Book 1, "Swimming to the Shore."

Summer piano camp improvising