Soundpainting Duets ‘Two-plus players. Players experienced in Soundpainting take turns signing to each other with vatious indpainting gestures, To obtain a copy of the illustrated manual of basic Soundpainting gestures plus a DVD, see wwwsoundpainting.com, Soundpainting: Roll Your Own Two-plus players. Players who are not yet familiar with Walter Thompson's gestural system of Soundpainting may make up their own gestures and sign to each other. Opposites ‘Two players. Player One begins; Player Two plays the opposite of Player One. Examples: High/low, loud|soft, legato/staccato, etc. Instant Chamber Music ‘Twelve-plus players. A leader writes the name of each player on a separate 3X5 card. Cards are dealt face down to create duets, trios, and quartets in random fashion. After all cards are dealt, the leader announces who isin each group. Each group creates a piece without discussion based primarily on one of the following: extended techniques, ostinato, long tones. Or not. Idea: One player in each group must play percussion. Dubbing Two players. Player One stands and moves as if performing a vireuosic/soulful solo for the audience, Player Two—not necessarily on the same instrument—stands slightly to the side, facing Player One. Player Two must invent music that reflects the physical image presented by Player One. Redub ‘Two players. Reverse the roles in Dubbing: Player Two improvises on his instrument while Player One (the actor) must mime what she hears. Sound Effects ‘Three-plus players. Player One makes up a story. A row of instrumentalists adds short bits of stylized music or weird sound effects (extended techniques) that the improvising storyteller must incorporate into his story. (From The Mind's Ear, by Bruce Adolphe, who adapted it from a theatrical improvisation game.)Improvisation Games for Classical Musicians Fun House Mirror Three-plus players. Take an idea and put it through the fun house mirror, ic. distort and exaggerate it. One good way to play this game is in a circle: Player One invents a simple phrase; the next player exaggerates or distorts part of it. Move around the circle Variation: Use a familiar tune as source material. (Source: Joel Saltzman via Charles Young.) Go Wild (a. k. a. Extreme Improv) Tivo to four players. Choose an affect (i.e., physical, emotional, intellectual, or spiritual quality). Be extreme—high/low, slow/fast, softfloud. Nothing halfway! Don’t dip your toe in the water—cannon- ball! Don’t be hungry—be starving! Don’t light a point across, being absolutely clear about your intention. atch—use a flamethrower! Exaggerate to get your ‘S ce: Charles Young.) Nothing Succeeds Like Excess Two to four players. Similar to Go Wild. Players may play anything they like—but nothing may be in the middle ground: dynamics, tempo, range, density, etc. Players should listen closely to the others and choose to do the same or the complete opposite. Construction Cards Two-plus players. Prepare a series of 3X5 note cards with basic directions and arrange them in these piles (categories): ‘What (long cones; pointillism; minimalism; three notes) How (ff. pp, hairpin dynamics, legato, staccato). Key (any major or minor key or atonal). Style (march, lullaby, rock, elegy, love song, scherz0, children’s song, gospel, calypso). Mever (duple, triple, odd meter) Tempo (fast, slow). Variation 1 Deal a card from each pile face up. All players improvise from these six cards Variation 2: Each player receives a different set of six cards. Vignettes: Affect Pieces One to four players. Make a list of four affects. Even better is to get 3X5 cards in four different colors and write an affect on each. Select one affect from each category:—— Emotional (happy, sad, elated, eager, enthusiastic, etc). Mental (stares of mind, e.g., confused, focused, clear, muddled, centered). Physical (movements, eg, leaping, running, skipping, walking, juggling). Spiritual (attitudes, e-g., loving, fearful, optimistic, content). Invent a situation encompassing all four categories. Example. Emotional: sad. Mental: focused. Physical: weary Spiritual: loving, ‘A vignette about a pallbearer at a funeral might use all of these Portray the scene in a musical improvisation. (Source: Charles Young, inspired by “On Affect” by Keith Hill at www-musicalratio.com.) News Story Two-plus players. Players scan the newspaper for an interesting news story, and then capture the mood or message of the article in music. Trading Fours Two players. It is a common procedure in jazz to trade off improv solos every two, four, or eight bars. Trade fours with a partner against an spontaneously invented rhythmic accompaniment. Keep the rhythmic flow going without any gaps or glitches. Variation: Trade twos or eights. (Source: Charles Young.) Blind Improv One player plus a multi-track recorder or computer sequencer program, Record an improvisation on one track, and then—without listening to the first one—recond another track to go with the first. Do a thind track the same way. Listen to the resule! (Source: Charles Young.) Wildeard Three to four players. Player One is the Wildcard. All others create an improvised piece that is synchronized in tempo, style, dynamics, etc. The Wildcard plays unpredictable and wildly contrasting material with spaces between outbursts. 235256 Improvisation Games for Classical Musicians Snowball Fight Fourplus players. Each player writes down several ideas or parameters for improvisation, one idea per sheet of paper. Examples: Loud Like a roller coaster Mysterious Bouncy Use the rhythm of the name of your home town Three notes only Crumple the sheets and throw them at each other for a while. Then each player picks up one or more sheets and uses the instructions to improvise a piece. (Source: Elizabeth Barkley.) Size Matters Four-plus players. The ensemble begins and ends without any planning; rules are made on the way. The only requirement is length: make this a long piece. Options: Seven to eight minutes. Fifteen minutes, Thirty minutes. Forty-five minutes (!). Tell a story! Strive for contrasts! Listen! Imitate! Spend time not playing to vary the texture. Develop motifs! Be dramatic! Consider unity (be the same) and variety (be different). Enjoy the journey, and find a satisfying ending. ing Is Everything, ‘Two-plus players. With one person as timer, play a series of short improvisations for a specified number of seconds (e.g, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty-five, ete.) Each improvisation may have a pre-planned title (e.g, Adjective/Noun) or be completely unplanned (figure out the rules as you go). Every piece, however short, should have a beginning, middle, and end. Immortal Improv Sonata No. 47 Four players, any instruments. Choose a leader by rock, paper, scissors. Sit in string quartet formation. All hold a long tone on a cue from a leader, then crescendo. The leader cues next section. Starting with the leader, play the following in order; whoever is soloing cues the movement to the next number. 1. Solo 2. Ostinato 3. Long tones plus silence (50/50) 4. Percussion. : . : : x = . . = = : = = = z : = c occr 32: Miseellaneous Games st at some point incorporate extremes of loudjsoft and density/sparseness. After all have the four, a free improvisation section begins. The leader signals a gradual slowdown of culminating in a long, held note for the ending, y Play the same note as the beginning. Danceline -plus players. One or more players improvise together. The remaining players are assigned to one of ;provisers and must move or dance according to what their assigned partner plays. Silence means es, Dancers should also attempt to emulate any instrumental interaction (e.g., if two snstruments take up the same thythm, the corresponding dancers should take up the same movement). dancer free Number Off Six-plus players. Sit in a circle and number off. When a leader calls out a number (no higher than the nber of players), that person starts playing. The leader adds random numbers ad libewm. The second player's number comes up, she stops playing. The leader may also point and give a signal that ans Finish Your Idea. Variation: The leader may roll dice to determine the number. Silent Partners Two to six players. All players commence improvising at once, but only in the mind: sing the part silently while fingering the instrument. When a leader points at a player, he plays aloud. When the leader drops her hand, the player stops. The leader may use both hands at once. Trigger Four-plus players in even numbers. Players each pick a partner (who is not necessarily sitting next to them). Player Two is assigned a type of playing, such as long tones. Player One improvises freely. Player Two may only play when Player One plays long tones. Variation 1 Assign more than one player to be triggered by Player One. Players Three, Four, or more may play something different (such as an ostinato) when Player One plays (say) long tones, or may also play long tones along with Player Two. Variation 2: Here Player Three is triggered not by Player One, but by Player Two, and may play something different, such as extended techniques Variation 3 Use as many players as desired. Each player may decide independenely which player and activity to select as a trigger and what kind of musical activity she will play when triggered, (Idea from Evan Mazunik.) 257