Impro-Basics – A practical theory course introducing harmony-based improvisation and composition
Music is pure emotional communication: we experience joy, sadness, relaxation, and the urge to move, and it’s not uncommon for us to react involuntarily with goosebumps or tears of emotion. Why? How do these same 12 semitones and 24 major and minor chords “do” that?
In this course, participants are introduced to a series of progressive exercises in which the musical building blocks of harmony and scales are explored step by step, and their relationship to one another is examined. It’s about consonance and dissonance, tension and release. It addresses the questions: WHO is my note X in the current harmonic context? Is it the root, the second, the third… how do I get to it, what can I do with it, where is it heading, what mood does it create, and how does it sound when I reach this note diatonically or chromatically?
Through clear, step-by-step guidelines, theoretical knowledge (scales, triads, chord progressions) is deepened and consolidated, and instrumental skills, intonation, timing, and general musical perception are expanded.
Conversely, this naturally has a positive effect on working with sheet music and audio material, as melodic and harmonic relationships are better understood.
Workshop and course participants will receive worksheets designed to build their theoretical background knowledge, along with detailed descriptions of the individual rules of the game—which, by the way, can also be used to work out chord progressions for any jazz, pop, or rock song.
See the calendar for current dates.