Hello everyone!! Improvising music can be a daunting task. Having unlimited possibilities of what to play can actually crush your creativity. By setting restraints on yourself, you can increase your creativity by focusing on one aspect of playing. Think of the things that can be done by placing restraints! Dr. Seuss wrote Green Eggs and Ham on a $50 bet with his publisher that he couldn’t write a book with 200 words or less. There was a rumor that Price wrote “When Doves Cry” because of a bet that he couldn’t write a song with no bass line.
My challenge to you is to come up with a restraint and apply it to your practice routine. It doesn’t matter if you you improvise or not. Here are a few example:
If you ARE improvising - Try restraining yourself to only using a certain scale OR limit yourself to a certain interval.
If you are playing PREPARED music - Try limiting yourself to playing only at one dynamic level.
It may feel ridiculous at first, but I can assure you that you will spark a new degree of creativity within yourself.
-D