Improvisation (free download)

At the beginning of last month, my percussion students at the University of Central Arkansas had access to hundreds of percussion instruments along with dedicated practice spaces. They attended classes together, worked together, played music together, and supported each other every day.

A week later, they were alone in their apartments, or back home with family. Most of them were suddenly without access to timpani, marimbas, drum sets, vibraphones, congas, cymbals, and all the other instruments which they had been creating music with every day.

Just as many recitals, concerts, and festivals were approaching, we were physically scattered, and the performances we were preparing for had to be reimagined, refocused, postponed, or just canceled. It was a sad time for many of us. Things felt uncertain, and at least a little scary. I wanted to reach out to my students in a personal and meaningful way, to let them know I was thinking about them and that I missed them. I wanted to encourage them to be fearlessly creative and to do it in a way that wouldn’t be limited by their access to instruments.

I decided to create a piece of “color music” for each person who had studied with me during the year. I asked each of them to find a personal way into and through their piece. To, in effect, become a co-composer and create a work that was meaningful to them. Most were new to improvising and composing, but I was glad to see them approach the project with excitement and seriousness. We discussed art, synesthesia, and the long association of music with shape and color; the knowledge, skills, systems, and experience needed to improvise and compose successfully. They made video and audio recordings of their interpretations and shared them with each other online.

I don’t know if you can teach creativity, but you can encourage and foster creativity. It is there, but we are often afraid to look for it and terrified to let it out. To be a great artist, a great performer, a great teacher, and to make meaningful connections, you must be creative. You must ask your students to be creative, to find innovative solutions to problems, to create significant results from difficult challenges. You can help them study the creativity of others. You can set an example by being creative yourself. In doing so, you help them discover what they are truly capable of accomplishing.

I wrote this to my students after I sent each of them their color music piece:

When you look at the colors and shapes and textures and patterns of the pieces, you probably won’t see them the same way I do. That’s great! I have ideas about how I would go about interpreting each one of them, but it’s okay if your concept is entirely different from mine. I want you to use them as a guide for your creativity. You will put your own experiences, your abilities, and your emotions into your interpretation. The Improvisations I created can show you form, or melodic contour, or timbre, or…anything else you see. If you think of something amazing, but can’t do it, figure out how to do it. Figuring out how to do it will lead to new abilities and new experiences and give you the tools to do even more amazing, beautiful things.

I know that this is very unfamiliar territory for most of you, but I want to challenge you to find a creative way through the Unfamiliar. It might just be a metaphor for what we are all doing right now. 

Don’t feel like you have to spend a lot of money, or any money. Just do the best work you can. Be thoughtful. Be fearlessly creative. Explore all the ideas you have. Find instruments. Build instruments. Be the instrument.

Don’t know what to do? Think more about it! Look at things. Listen to the world around you. Dig around on the internet. Get ideas from everywhere you can. Chop them up, mix them up, make them your own. Do something amazing! And don’t forget that doing something amazing usually takes a lot of hard work.

A request

If you have downloaded a free PDF of this book, and you can afford it, please donate to a food bank in your town. It will be meaningful. They are lifelines for your local community, and even a small donation can go a long way.

As I write this, we are all still living a life that is strange and unusual compared to just a month ago. I am lucky to be working, teaching, and creating music, but many people are very worried about how they will be able to afford the necessities of life next month, next week, or even tomorrow. If you have come across this collection after 2020, remember that even then, there will always be someone who needs your help.

with friendship,

Blake Tyson

April 9, 2020

If you want to create your own interpretations of this color music, I would love to hear what you come up with, no matter what instrument(s) you play. Or if they inspire you to create a dance, a poem, or a hat, that would be great, too! You can reach me by clicking the mail icon below..