Intermediate Piano Improvisation Exercises: How to Start Improvising (for Classical Pianists)

Hannah Hawes

4 days ago

4 min read

Many intermediate or even advanced pianists find it difficult to begin improvising if the majority of their musical experience has been learning music by others or working with styles which focus on replicating written music note-for note.

Fortunately, when you spend a lot of time with your instrument, your mind and fingers internalize many of the patterns, motives, and harmonic movements that you use, even if on a subconscious level. Learning to improvise is simply about learning to intuitively play and create with what you have already been doing.

1. Structure through form

Form is about two things: symmetry and repetition. A simple way to start with form is to develop two parts. In pop music, these are commonly known as "Verse" and "Chorus," and in classical musical as the "A" and "B" sections. Typically, sections have an even number of phrases such as two, four, or eight.

Three common ways to work with two parts are:

1) Simple Binary Form - AB

2) Ternary Form - ABA

3) Strophic Form - ABAB

In forms where the first (A) section repeats, you can either repeat it exactly, or modify it in some way.

If you want to make an improvisation sound more complete, you can add an intro and outro: small sections of one or two phrases meant to introduce or end a song. Or to add more complexity, you can create a third part. This is often called the "bridge" in pop music, or simply the "C" section in classical music. As you add more sections, returning to the first section or repeating earlier ideas will help make the song sound coherent.

2. Motivic development

When people first begin improvising, they often struggle to make what they play sound like a song instead of a long-winded string of ideas. One of the most helpful ways to give improvisations structure is to repeat ideas in the melody: the part that our ears are often drawn to.

Beyond exact repetition, there are many ways to weave the same idea throughout a song. Taking a short idea (a "motif" as it's traditionally known in classical music) and changing one or more parameters – pitch, duration, or rhythmic or melodic intervals – helps us create continuity while keeping the piece moving and developing.

You can think of motives almost as individual 'characters' within the melody. While the characters may behave in different ways and their context may change, they give us something to look for and follow throughout the piece. Short motives (half to a whole measure) are often easiest to work with, as they can always be extended and added on to.

3. Temporary modulation

When first starting to improvise, it can be helpful to limit yourself to one scale or key. However, when we begin to step outside of these predictable limits, things become more interesting. Moving to a different key temporarily, whether for a few chords, a phrase, or a section helps to expand the musical world of the piece.

One common ways step outside of the key is to use "borrowed chords" – chords which belong to a parallel scale or mode (one which has the same tonic). For example, if we are playing in a major key, we can use a series of chords from the corresponding minor: iv, bIII, bVI, bVII, before returning to major.

4. Developing inner-voice melodies

Improvisations begin to sound more complex and intricate as we create more layers. Keyboard beginners commonly think of RH and LH as playing two separate roles: right hand usually carrying the melody, and the left hand accompanying. However, fluency on the keyboard means thinking about the components of a piece less in terms of hands, and more in terms of where they take place on the keyboard.

In more advanced styles of playing, it's common for one of the hands to cover more than one part at a time. For example, the right hand might play both melody and the higher notes of the accompaniment. Or, the left hand might cover both the bassline and a "tenor" voice" towards the middle of the keyboard.

An easy way to begin developing inner voices is to establish patterns in both the right and left hands, and modify one of the patterns to create a melody which stands out at the top or bottom. For example, playing a bassline with the left hand and an ostinato with the right-hand, treating the lowest note of the ostinato as its own melody. The melody doesn't need to be complex; even moving by just a step up or down can make it sound like an independent part.

5. Non-metrical improvisation

Although meter is one of the most common ways to create musical structure, it is not necessary. Using large-scale ebb-and-flow within improvisation can create a sense of expectation and fulfillment while allowing us more freedom. An easy way to begin exploring outside of a time signature is to incorporate a call-and-response structure between the hands: left hand playing octaves or arpeggio sweeps, and right hand responding with improvised melodic phrases.

Assigning one specific texture to each hand (block chord, melody, arpeggio, etc.) can help create a coherent, forward-moving conversation while still leaving room to explore.

If you're interested in developing your improvisational skills, I offer private, one-on-one musical instruction. You can learn more here.