Vocal Circle: Improvisation

CMU205 Musicianship 2A: Vocal Circle: Improvisation

Using improvisation we created a vocal circle with our voices. Creating sound using breath and simply our voices came to be quite effective and sounded interesting. At first we were all quite reluctant to beginning the vocal circle but as time went on we all became much more comfortable with the prospective of doing this and creating such a different piece of music. The outcome proved effective and as a group worked well. Not only were we creating a piece using improvisation and different sounds and notes that we decided on spontaneously, but without realizing a lot of us listened to other voices around us and tried to harmonize. This was mainly done unconsciously as it just tends to happen after listening to other noises around us. Without it being set in stone and "practiced", it started to sound like it could be a practiced piece. 

We also discussed when a piece becomes rehearsed, rather than improvised. Does a piece become rehearsed if you improvise the same piece every night? For example if on the first night of a tour you improvise a piece from scratch and then replicate the same improvised piece for two weeks every night, does it then become rehearsed and practiced rather than improvisation? I believe that a piece can still be classed as improvisation after replicating it.

In class we looked a piece of improvisation scat singing by Ella Fitzgerald. Improvisation was a heavily used technique within Jazz at this time and was used a lot within this style of music. Scat singing brings an element of improvisation to it itself. Jazz is one of the first things that will come to mind when we mention improvisation. It is generally slightly easier to improvise with jazz as there are set tunes and melodies that are associated with jazz.



"Let go of the need to be perfect and be playful instead. Improvisation can be spontaneous, and not competitive. Take yourself lightly, laugh at your awkward places, and release criticisms." (Yurco, 2013)Improvisation skills will definitely come in use when creating my own piece and as I will most probably start by primarily playing about with different melodies and tunes and hopefully play with different chords on the ukulele.

Cherie Yurco, 12 Improvisation tips, 2013, http://makingmusicmag.com/12-improvisation-tips/  
diegodobini2, Ella Fitzgerald : One note Samba (scat singing) 1969, 2012, 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbL9vr4Q2LU