First, have musical ideas

[emanresu]

Practicing material such as scales is still important in this model: it feeds all aspects of the loop (imagination, note recognition, technique). However, teaching musical imagination is not very common and I'm not even sure how it could be done. Encourage listening to the jazz greats? Encourage singing along with oneself? Not sure. If you agree that promoting musical imagination is important, how would you recommend teaching it?

I can give some example exercises to get better at imagination. But its only technical one.
Let something play a random note. You play an interval on top of it by ear.. on your instrument.
Let something play a certain interval from random location. Like p.5. You play a M.3 so together it would sound maj triad.
Let something play dim triad. You assume that those are 3rd,5th,7th degrees of a simple dom7 chord. You play the 1st degree.

edit: just to add. it's possible to get these to work kinda automatically after long practice. but before that happens, it takes a lot of silent pondering in the mind. thats the imagination right there.



When beginning this thing, it would seem almost impossible task for normal people. So, before even trying to do this, try to find the "missing" note with your voice. It's such a difficult task at first.
But that's the "technical musical imagination" for you. At least it shows what a musical imagination feels like. In very small bites.
Funny thing is - it's not really required to perform a nice solo

[Stropheus]

This thread is fascinating. I imagine this stuff varies from player to player, but for my part I tend to side w Mark. I think it’s just like language. Our vocabulary develops alongside the complexity and depth of what we have to say… hopefully.

Specifically practicing phrasing might work for some, but I’ve always found it starts for me with mimicry. Copy phrasing you like, from other players, from singers… hell, from birdsong if you like… and then use it over and over in your improv until you’ve absorbed it. Then it just becomes a part of your musical imagination. I suppose that’s practicing, just not in the ‘sit and run scales/lines’ sense.

Again, it’s like language. The more you use it, the more you can express, and in turn, expanding your vocabulary influences your capacity for new ideas, giving you more to express. I think that’s why the process of learning and improvement can be never ending, in a good way.