Student’s question:
I’m struggling with how to incorporate a song’s melody in my improvising. If my deepest connection is with a chord progression rather than the melody, won’t all of my improvisations have a tendency to sound the same regardless of the tune? My statements in Autumn Leaves will sound the same as Beautiful Love for example (their progressions begin in a similar way).
I also want to match the mood of the lyrics. Some instrumental versions of Autumn Leaves seem too “cheerful” for the lyrics, so it feels like they’re not really honoring the song. And then finally there’s my own spontaneity as an improviser. Shouldn’t every improvisation sound different?
It’s hard for me to imagine bringing all of this together in every solo, but this is my question. Do you have any advice about this?
How we think about this in IFR:
These are deep and beautiful questions. With your permission, I’ll expand your list of questions to include one more which I think inevitably follows from the first three:
1) How can I make my solo express that I’m playing Autumn Leaves, and not just any generic song with the same chord progression?
2) What about the relationship to the lyrics? Is it permissible for improvisers to create a new work of art out of Autumn Leaves which doesn’t match the mood of the lyrics at all? Can there be high energy, swinging versions of Autumn Leaves? Or is that in bad taste?
3) And what about my own feelings in the moment? Shouldn’t each improvisation over Autumn Leaves be unique? Otherwise, aren’t I just repeating licks and clichés that I’ve already played before?
4) What is my mission in music? What are the guiding values that would allow me to answer all of these questions?
Here’s the honest answer to all of these questions. There is no answer. Anyone who gives you a simple answer doesn’t really understand the questions. But here’s what’s important to understand about these questions:
These are the questions that artists ask themselves constantly.
This is what art is. There are no answers. There is only an infinite exploration of the questions themselves. If you were to ask Chet Baker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane or Bill Evans about what role a song’s melody should play in our improvising, you wouldn’t get anything close to a definitive answer. All you would get is the start of a very long night of philosophical discussion that could go on for hours.
The only tip I can give you about the desires you expressed is to remember that most of our musical wisdom lives in the subconscious mind, and it can’t be easily explained in words and formulas. So even if you never find a formula for incorporating all of these qualities you’re asking about, remember that just becoming a better musician might actually solve all of them. By simply growing in your musical mastery (your facility on your instrument, your command of harmony, etc.) you will have infinitely more creative nuance available to you. And even without thinking about it, your music will naturally contain the spirit of the song you’re playing, because YOU are feeling that song.
This is how it works for every great improviser I know. They don’t use conscious techniques to force a song’s melody into their improvising. They just have so much ability on their instruments that their improvising just naturally reflects a song’s melody, because that’s what they themselves are feeling.
But again, I invite you to reflect on these questions yourself without being in a rush for an answer. They’re very deep questions! They’re the kind of question that help us remember the infinite creative possibilities of music, and our freedom to choose our own contribution. I can’t think of a better thing for an improvising musician to ponder.
