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Rests in Piano Improvisation - BTS Butter
Piano Improvisation Lesson, Staccato and Legato
The thing about learning piano is that you are often taught to follow what you see on the score. Should that phrase be legato (smooth and joined together)? Why has that note got a dot under it? Shouldn’t it be staccato (short and sharp)? Well BTS Butter is the perfect song to explore not what notation looks like, but the sound.
The rests and detached staccato notes have enormous impact at the beginning. The smooth legato section that follows really contrasts.
Piano Improvisation and the use of Rests
It’s interesting that sometimes the effect of music is not in the sound itself, but the silence that follows. James D’Angelo in Healing with the Voice talks about the fact that the silence after a note has far more impact that the silence before the note begins. Very often when we improvise, we think about which note to play next, which chord to use, whether to change key, should we use something fast and show-off to bring attention and excitement? We are basically thinking about “filling the void”. Perhaps you could deliberately NOT fill the void.
Expression in Piano Improvisation, connect with the Soul
Next time you improvise, try to create a sound and then, as David Eby (see one of my online interviews) would say “increase resubtivity” and do it again. That is, create something or perform something and emotionally connect with it, channelling your feelings through your music. Stop at the end of a phrase, close your eyes, reflect and enhance the emotion that you feel. Repeat the phrase. Do this a couple of times and nurture your vulnerability, nurture the emotional freedom and focus less on the technique (which is still important by the way) and more on the flow from within.
Other Pop Piano Covers with rests in Piano Improvisation Lessons
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