What’s your identity? It Colors the World. Prompt for the Daily Post

What’s your identity?

Is it who people think you are?  Do you believe them or not?  Why?

Is it who you think you are despite what anyone may think?  Is it a changing, morphing you, and your ideal you is when you break out of the changing and spread your wings like a butterfly?  

All or some of these answers are right.  It depends what you define identity as.  But that defines how you look at others, the world, and your goals.  

“Don’t be afraid to dream.”   “Nothing is too big to be achieved.”  “Aim high.”

“Dreams are just that–dreams.  Not reality.”  “That little voice giving you ideas most adults don’t have.  They abandoned it as kids.”  “Do you expect to be an architect when you nearly always flunked at math?”

Everyone at some time hears stuff like that.

Your identity lives forever in your loved ones’ minds after you pass.  It’s our victories, failures, glitches, what we care about, and how we act which define who every one of us is when someone thinks of our names.  It encompasses what we believe and stand up for.  Are we fighters or lovers?  It’s where we came from and are going to.  

We are all special and none of us are accidents.  We are pieces fitting into life’s puzzle.  If we don’t have any identity, marks would not be made.  These marks are what change the world, change hearts, create heroes, leave legacies, achieve what was thought impossible, and revolutionize culture.

Show your identity.  Color the world.  

Without it, the world is black and white and a giant newspaper. 

What is Improvisation?

Is improvisation an elite musical concept?
The word may sound foreboding, but it’s just creating music while playing.

You’ll hear it at jam sessions and jazz gigs.  It’s in that little guitar riff or drumming solo.

How is improvisation used?

Improvisation is used during arranging, playing, and sight reading music.

Improvising can take a song and play it in a different tempo, time signature, key, or arrange a song, yet still keep the song framework intact.

Can you improvise immediately?

A quick test of your improvising creativity is nearer than you think.

Just turn on the radio and harmonize your singing voice with the singer in the song.  Listen to your favorite song while playing your instrument and try to make an accompaniment to what the band is playing.  If there’s an instrumental part of the song, try to solo over it.

Want fuel for your improvising?

Prior to improvising, music theory knowledge could be beneficial. Just the basics are essential. The quicker you learn them, the richer the experience.  However, the more theory you know, what you can do is almost boundless.

A cool idea to also make a song different, music theory aside,  is if the lyrics are poetic, play the notes designated to the lyrics as if you’d verbally be reciting the poem.  It’s definitely improvisation though.  It would charge your song with emotion and not be dull with just drumming out notes the way they were always played.

So is improvisation necessary to gain musical success?

Improvising doesn’t make a successful musician.  But, you sculpt your musical journey.  You can write songs and have a great band.  Improvisation though can shed a new light on your music.

What is an example​ of music theory helping you improvise?

A kick butt solo line, a new take on a melody, and a jazzy feel to a pop song are all examples.

Certain notes mesh well over a rhythm guitar progression.  A lead guitar solo comes to life.  Music theory can teach you an F-major or C-major scale lick can fit over a IV-V-I chord progression in F-major, but not a F#-major chord progression without a lot of clashing notes.

A new rehash on a melody can happen when you switch, say, an F-major melody with a D-minor melody over the original song framework and change all C notes into C-Sharps.  If you switch a 4/4 time signature into a 2/4 time signature, on the music page all quarter notes will turn into eighth notes.  A new rhythm will be born a long with a melody.

Improvisation will add new dimensions to your music.  It’s never too late to add it into your musical repertoire.  Next time you hear that riff or solo, you can say, “That’s improvisation.  Hard maybe.  But not impossible.”

Popular Instruments Learned…Why?

A trumpet

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Why do these instruments fly off the shelves?  And can a top ten list name them?  

There may be reasons like motor skill development, coordination, and creativity boosting in kids.  Music therapy can heal people with depression, dementia, anxiety, or calm people.  But can we address reasons less obvious?  
Here is a list of instruments popular to play:  

• Saxophone
• piano
• guitar
• flute
• trumpet
• violin
• cello
• drums
• bass guitar
• electric guitar

Can history be a love story and drama?  The ending…History fuels our purchase?

History can be rich with meaning.  It can enrich interest.  They fuel a possible instrument choice.  

Had it not been for the recording industry in America, the electric guitar’s birth may have been stalled.  Guitar makers and players eventually wanted guitars louder than the norm.  People researched amplification.  Jazz, country, and blues pioneered the way with the electric guitar in the 1930s and 1940s.  Jazz fusion combined jazz with rock, r&b, funk, and blues in the 1960s.  The electric guitar was the common thread weaving through that history.  Consequently some multi-genre musicians might likely have one today.

Does convenience and ease play a role?

Yes, especially with a harmonica.  Kids can even play songs quickly (see a quote among other quotes under the harmonica heading on https://www.thetoptens.com/easiest-instruments-play/).  Chords and notes can be played and it’s highly portable.  Some sources would say it’s hard to sound bad on the harmonica – there’s no wrong notes.  See more info on www.normans.co.uk/blog/2017/01/easiest-musical-instruments-learn-2017.  

The ukulele is one of the easiest string instruments to play.  Chords usually require just fretting two strings.  Almost any song could be played as well.  Again, being very portable equals convenience.  

Music and Therapy

Guitar, percussion, and piano head most music therapists’ repertoires.  Music therapy has been proven to heal, calm, and aid in recovery.  Music therapy popularity grows, and this contributes to certain instruments being hot.  

However, though those instruments are used, there are ethnic and traditional instruments also used.  Music therapy helped bring instruments into popularity and boosted other’s more.  

De-stressing Properties

Music is a form of expression.  In expressing ourselves, we could find calm or peace.  Your immune system and blood pressure could be affected positively by listening to or playing music.  For more, see these sites:  https://clarketinwhistle.com/four-reasons-play-instrument-2017/, http://www.effectivemusicteaching.com/articles/directors/18-benefits-of-playing-a-musical-instrument/

Music heals, develops, and inspires.  Whether it’s therapy, the price tag, or ease of playing that motivates a purchase, instruments are always on high demand.  Music is a language most want to know and speak.  

10 Creative Improvisation Techniques

You have everything at your fingertips…but new ideas aren’t coming into your mind.  Here are boosters for improvising.

1.  Fool around with the melody.
2. Improvise while listening to your favorite records.
3. Learn music theory
4. Alter the rhythm
5. Use chord substitution
6. Jam with friends and at jam sessions
7. Play a piece in a different time signature.  For example play a tune in 4/4 time in cut time and a tune in slow 6/8 time in fast 6/8 time ( the counting is a bit different.)
8. Play the song in a different key.  For added difficulty, sight read and play that song in a different key by from what is printed.  You’ll be arranging the music in your mind while the music on the paper is different…all during play.
9. Use the same melody and same chords in the musical framework, but use different harmonic devices. Change a block chord into a broken chord, arpeggio, or either using passing tones to add musical interest.
10. Arrange a piece of music into a different music genre, then play it.  

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The song below is in this composer’s original framework.  If one improvised on or arranged this piece, instead of playing it in A-flat major, one could play it in D-flat major.  One can change common time into split time.  You can substitute chords or add tensions to the chords.  The 10 improvisation techniques listed can help you get started.  These are not the only things you can do.  As you improvise more, the possibilities seem endless.  

Try these websites for other improvisation techniques:

www.jazzadvice.com

http://makingmusicmag.com/12-improvisation-tips/

https://www.learningfiddle.com/session-1/

http://www.asa3.org/ASA/education/teach/music.htm