I went into todays piece with this idea - to pick notes at the top of the right hand, hold them and chord underneath with the rest of the right hand and the left hand.
The focus was on the choice of chords (harmony) and choosing them. I used a technique that is a fun mind game for me. The underlying chords are chosen by their relationship to the chosen note (melody in this case). I look at the melody note and think of all the chords this note is a part of. For instance the note C is a chord tone of the following chords: F Major, Db Major 7, D minor 7, F minor, Ab major, A minor, Eb 6.
Today I didn't even care what the melody was or where it went. By itself it might not sound like much. But constantly changing the harmony underneath gave the whole piece a motion and the randomness of the harmony made it seam like a pretty complicated invention. So this is the basis for creating more interesting improvisations. For composing and arranging you can imagine how this opens up the possibilities. With this single technique you could completely reharmonize a song - over and over again countless times.
The focus was on the choice of chords (harmony) and choosing them. I used a technique that is a fun mind game for me. The underlying chords are chosen by their relationship to the chosen note (melody in this case). I look at the melody note and think of all the chords this note is a part of. For instance the note C is a chord tone of the following chords: F Major, Db Major 7, D minor 7, F minor, Ab major, A minor, Eb 6.
Today I didn't even care what the melody was or where it went. By itself it might not sound like much. But constantly changing the harmony underneath gave the whole piece a motion and the randomness of the harmony made it seam like a pretty complicated invention. So this is the basis for creating more interesting improvisations. For composing and arranging you can imagine how this opens up the possibilities. With this single technique you could completely reharmonize a song - over and over again countless times.