Prompts to guide free improvisation

[Christian Miller]

Stockhausen text peices are fun


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[PMB]

I'll share a story that I appreciate more deeply as I advance as a guitarist.
Guitarist friend of mine was performing at a concert in a school in Boston. It was a small group situation and he was sharing the stage with Hal Crook, trombonist who lived very comfortably in both worlds of free improv and standards.
At one point, Hal meandered into a free improvisational foray of atonal and short phrase rhythmic collage. Mick listened and found a way, knowing the shifting harmonic implications added what was needed to accentuate, complement, nudge and redefine the original statement. Phrase after phrase they created a composition that was free in its language yet very focused in a feeling of direction. There was always a feeling of interplay between Hal and Mick but also something else they were both aware of but stayed unspoken and innocuous.
After about 10 or 12 minutes, Mick became aware that that subtle presence was in fact All The Things You Are, and at that point they both took the head out.
Both Hal and Mick said they didn't know at what point the song form "announced" itself, but both agreed that not knowing that they needed to pay deference to "the tune" allowed them to listen to All The Other Things. When you play like that, you're playing free with the tune as being just another player.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

I like to use free improvisation to train my ear.
There is a certain kind of playing that turns the focus to the "note" and not the "sound". Often when I'm listening to players playing, especially chordal and chord solo, I can hear them thinking... thinking about their fingers, or thinking about the next chord, or thinking about getting to or forming a chord. Sometimes this results in choppy phrasing, notes that aren't held long enough to avoid a break the flow of the line.
Free improvisation is a great way of moving focus back to the sounding hand, dynamics, space, in coordination with the fretting hand to make a beautiful sound. It's remarkable how much a good vocal sound can be lost when we think like a guitarist only.
When I play free, I can discover and reenforce the things my hands to when getting a GOOD SOUND. Classical players, I'll note, pay a lot of attention to this when the cross the line from student to performer. Jazz players not so much. Playing free where you can take control of all elements via the ear is a great exercise.

wait, what? SOUND is the main thing above all else. That’s all I have to say.