by Les Wise, of "BeBop Bible"

Let us define that thing is not musical improvisation. There is a God-given ability to invent melodies from scratch. There comes a ray of light, becoming monstrous solo. There is a divine gift that only a few of us because we are special. What then is the improvisation?. It is spontaneous reorganization. Think for a moment what those two words mean. To put it another way is the "reorganization of something that already exists." It is learned the same way that language, because improvisation is a language. We all have the ability to learn, just a matter of do it in the right direction.

Let's examine what the language. When we speak, not instantly invent words coming out of our mouths. Already existed. In the same way when we only use patterns and ideas that already existed in the language of music.

It is said that a college student knows 15,000 words. But two people can express ideas, thoughts and opinions other than using the same words.

How can we understand this?. Simply ordering the words in different ways. If everyone drove the same basic vocabulary, is how we order the words which gives us a personal style.

When we talk, we do intuitive and seems to be an automatic process. But thinking how to develop your vocabulary, let's see who really is not. The process of learning to improvise is similar. We will highlight some similarities.

Until we come to school speak by imitation. Our parents say a word or phrase and simply repeat. Similarly, before becoming a teacher or have some musical knowledge, imitate sounds they hear, singing or with our instrument.

In first grade we learn a word, not only as to pronounce it, but also individual letters that represent that word. Learn to spell and write. To complicate things a little, learn its meaning and how to apply it in a sentence. In our classes we started to learn chords, scales and arpeggios, which notes are, as they sound and how to use.

In the secondary, new knowledge is added to enhance our language. We can recall the parsing, which was not fun. Lines and hooks pointing in all directions, above and below the words. We felt completely confused: "So this is the way it represents the intuitive language that communicate with humans?, How something as complicated and elaborate can be part of what we talk every day?". But as we learn the formula, it becomes more clear, and we are constantly adding word by word. From a we incorporate. Some from mathematics, history, science or English. Our vocabulary is growing without much effort.

Now imagine the terror that we would if the first day of class the teacher shows a huge book and says: "Here are 15,000 words you need to know before completing the secondary." Surely we would leave cracking. But luckily it does not, and we learn a little every day. Our communication is growing naturally and intuitively.

When you gradually learn this when we learned we can not remember any specific word, for example take the word "aluminum." When will we learn?, "In third grade, fifth?. Chances are that we do not agree. As we acquire new words in our vocabularies are subtle, intuitively and automatically.

Imagine a form of communication is not so automatic. Suppose we go to Russia and we learned by heart five words that we have to meet to communicate. Do not you think that what we talk about will be locked and mechanical?. It is impossible to be something expressive, intuitive or automatic.

Those five words are to be worn, abused and misused in less than a minute, not to mention the effort that will cost us combine coherently. Now, if we knew 15,000 words in Russian, we just relax and talk. We could improvise what we say.

We build our instruments musical vocabulary in the same way. Slowly and gradually we incorporate new "licks." Some read them, others copied from discs or from our friends. We use what already exists, copy and imitate. You can say, "How am I going to be original and have my own way if I imitate others?" The answer would be: "Do you reject the first words that their parents taught them because they wanted to invent their own language?". Of course not. We do not question the name of things. Our different personalities express themselves the way that we ordered. In music we play something that seems completely new and unique, but it is actually a combination of things we already knew. Can be four consecutive notes we learned three years ago as part of a sentence that derive from a disk. We played this idea and we believe it is something new, but in reality is a reorganization of what already exists.

Here's another way we can expand our vocabulary. We are sitting with a group of friends when someone uses a word that draws our attention. We do not know its meaning, but the context in which we can intuit is used. The next day we are talking and "zap", we leave that word. Once you handle the language and musical improvisation, we feel the same. We're jamming, not knowing what we're going to play and the ideas start flowing. Suddenly we are playing a phrase that we heard last week the pianist. You have to have a good technical management in order to play this idea has been in our subconscious, or we can combine part of this sentence with another that he heard playing the saxophone. The ideas already existed, but the way in which rearrange express our style and personality, as we speak.

Musical improvisation is a language like Spanish, English, French or German. You have to learn it. Eventually it will feel natural, improvised, but must be learned in the same way apparently complicated in that we learn to talk. One word at a time (his pronunciation, meaning, application). In the same way we grew our musical vocabulary by learning words, ideas and techniques, repeating them until they become a habit and we can touch them unconsciously, with or without our instruments.

Repeat. Where do we draw the ideas?, Discs, from friends, from the records of friends, transcriptions of other instruments, one sentence at a time. Then another and another and another. That is the process that we can learn and expand the language of improvisation.

(Excerpted from the magazine "The music stand," wrote the column that the teacher Daniel Pellegrini.)

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