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Shoshannah - News & Reviews

Creative ImproviZation Principles by Shoshannah

B"H
CREATIVE IMPROVIZATION
SHOSHANNAH SARAH
PRINCIPLE #1

Prerequisite of Knowledge: Nothing
Who can participate: A complete novice to a successful professional, which also contributes to World Unity. Tools: A musical instrument, even table drumming, or your own voice. It is possible to translate this principle into another art form and do it that way.

1. Be in the Spontaneous Moment!

~Allow for unpredictability to take place each moment you are playing your instrument.

~Allow for notes that "don't sound correct" to exist within the space.

~Allow yourself to play what you didn't plan or intend to play.

~Allow the music to sound just how it is going to sound.

~Be with the sound whatever it is.

~If voices of judgment enter, throw them out the window immediately.

~Let go of trying to "control" your creative process.

~FLOW with the changes and work with what's there no matter what it is.

~Let go of your concern for the music to sound a particular way or like someone you know.

~Don't give up just because you played a note you can't accept.

~Let go of all pre-conceived notions.

~Even your pre-conceived notions about yourself.

~Be in the moment, accept the moment, right here, right now.

~Allow the improvization be a conversation with yourself.

Questions: What was your experience simply "reading" the first principle of creative improvization?

If you tried this principle out by improvizing:

A. What challenges came up when you did this?

B. What was positive about your experience? Anything in particular?

C. Do you have any suggestions as to what to include to make this principle better for you? Constructive advice and appreciative comments are all welcome at this forum. No Cursing.

Bracha Blessings of spontaneity, Shoshannah

______________________________________

B"H

CREATIVE IMPROVIZATION
SHOSHANNAH SARAH
PRINCIPLE #2

2. CHASE AWAY THE VOICES OF JUDGMENT AND SELF-CRITICISM
The inner voices of the "Yatzer Hara"

Getting in touch with pure creative process brings in spiritual light that is within us and all around, compliments of the Creator.

We were all given two inclinations, the Yatzer Tov - the positive good and pure inclination, and the Yatzer Hara - the negative impure and destructive inclination.

Whenever we attempt to bring in the holy pure light, the Yatzer Tov, we also attract the opposite forces from within us and all around, the Yatzer Hara.

The internal negative messages caused by the Yatzer Hara within us and all around, often comes about as we spontaneously create music. This attempt by our Yatzer Hara seeks to disengage us from our creative process.

Engaging in the creative process naturally brings in the light. The opposite forces of light seeks to destroy the light and bring in the darkness. This darkness is JUDGMENT.

Pure Creative process manifests energetic flow, and light connection to Creator. It is a profound healing force if used properly with pure intention.

Judgment and self-criticism manifests energetic blockage, and absense of light connection to Creator. When one is in the midst of judging, the creative improvizational process gets stuck.
Creativity is about energetic flow and the release of light. Judgment is about stuckness, blockage,negative energy,and limitation.

Judgment is often caused by trauma whether small or large, long ago or recent. From trauma comes negative limiting beliefs that often prevent us from feeling good about ourselves and succeeding in life.

Improvising music from a place of judgment (ego), imposes limits and barriers to the unlimited creative process.

The inner voices of judgment need to be recognized and thrown immediately out the window. There are many ways to accomplish this feat: spiritually,energetically,cognitive-behaviorally, primally,educationally,through pure will,etc.

Examples of self-judgment that frequently come up during creative process:

The music sounds boring
Oy! I made a mistake. That was the wrong note!
I don't know how to create
I didn't mean to play that note
I give up... I just can't do it
I have no rhythm
I have no technique so I can't improvise
I don't know enough theory to improvise
I'm not talented enough to do this
It sounds terrible!
I don't sound good like him/her
If I can't sound like him, I can't dare improvise
I don't deserve this
Its not realistic
I have to learn for years before I can do this
I just don't have it in me
My teacher/brother/parents/siblings were right about my lack of talent and ability
I'm just not the improviser or creative type
What do I play now? I ran out of ideas
I can't play that idea again, I already played it
I don't know what I'm playing but it must not sound good!
It all sounds the same
My playing sounds horrible
What are they thinking of me?
They probably don't like it.
I'm probably making a total fool of myself!
I didn't work hard enough to be good enough!
They told me to stop singing/playing when I was a kid and they must be right! I just don't have what it takes.
Its too late for me anyway. I started at too late an age. Only children learn well and quickly.
My hands lost the ability to move fast enough
I'm tone deaf
This is so embarrassing!

Questions for contemplative thought:

Which voices of inner judgment do you relate to? What other negative messages may come up for you personally when you try to improvise? What tools have you used as strategies to negate the self-judgmental voices? Do you remember having created something from a pure non-judgmental place? In what ways was your total experience different? What elements need to be present in order for you to better improvise and flow in your creative process?

________________________________

B"H

CREATIVE IMPROVIZATION
SHOSHANNAH SARAH
PRINCIPLE #3

3. There are no mistakes, no wrong notes...only creative opportunities.

That's right folks, there are no wrong notes in Spontaneous Improvization. We often perceive the notes we play as the wrong ones, sounds that our ears don't accept, notes we didn't intend to play.

Many of us automatically react by quickly lifting our hands away from the keys and stopping the improvization cold in its tracks, as if we did something terribly wrong. This perfectionistic route is one of the quickest routes to defeat, stopping the flow of creative process.

Playing notes and harmonies we didn't intend to play sometimes sound tense, dissonant and wrong. It is important to stay open and accepting of "different" sounds, as they are part of music too.

All of music (and life) is tension-release. We are either moving toward a more resolved consonant sound, or we are moving toward a more unresolved dissonant sound. Even when we are playing music that is completely harmonizing, one sound will be more resolved than the other, creating tension-release.

When Claude Debussy's "Afternoon of a Faun" was first premiered, the whole tone scale was completely new to the ears of the audience. People were accustomed to hearing music in other scales, so the whole tone scale sounded wrong to them. Due to uncomfortable feelings of unfamiliarity, the audience started rioting by throwing tomatoes, breaking glass, and walking out in the midst of the concert. Today, this famous and well-loved Debussy piece is very easy on the ears and pleasurable to hear.

A.INCORPORATE the "mistake" into your improvization.

Think of the unintended tone as a passing note to an intended note.

~ If we play a note that we didn't intend to play, we can decide to incorporate the unintended sound within the music. One idea is when we come upon a note we didn't like the sound of, we can remedy the situation by simply playing or singing the next higher or lower pitch.

This way, we are able to view the unintended mistake as a passing tone that was on the way to a more consonant tone. Since all of music is a journey of tension-release, then the perceived wrong note can be thought of as a "tension tone" that is simply passing to a "resolution tone".

REPEAT THE UNINTENDED TONE

~ Another concept that I find works well,
is to simply "repeat" the alien pitch, rhythm or harmony. This creates an illusion for the "out of place" tones or rhythm to be more acceptable, as if they were purposefully intended to be a part of the music. It also gives us a second chance to accept it, and to do something with it.

B. IGNORE the mistake:

~We may choose to ignore the perceived mistake and simply continue on. This is a wonderful exercise for those of us who are seeming perfectionists.

C. A Mistake is a CREATIVE OPPORTUNITY and life itself:

~A third idea is to completely go in the same musical direction of the "perceived wrong sound". In order to do this, we must be willing to change our previous direction and instead go with the flow on our own unpremeditated soul's journey, wherever it may take us. When we play a sound we don't like , we can perceive it as another part of our exciting creative life journey.

A major aspect of the improvizational process is to allow ourselves to journey into uncharted territory. By doing so, we are free to flow and go wherever the wind may take us. We are on a creative exploration with new undiscovered opportunities that await us. And guess what this sounds like?... Life itself!

D.Improvization is not about editing, planning or composing. It is about being in the creative process EACH PRESENT MOMENT:

~A reaction that we commonly experience is to automatically get busy fixing what we perceive as a wrong note. However, improvization is not the appropriate time for "editing" the music. Editing occurs AFTER the creative process, and not during it.

After our improvization, we can always choose to edit and move into "compositional" mode if that's our direction. In that case, we improvise to "collect" many musical ideas that we can later use for a planned out composition.

Improvization is a complete act in its own right and it does not have to be a preliminary step to composing. However, if one is into composing, then improvization creates an endless flow of new ideas that one can use for a methodically worked out composition.

Right now allow yourself to experience spontaneity each present moment , without concern for the future. You are being, right here, right now.

Sitting in a chair analogy:

The improvizational process is not about moving toward a goal, it is about being in process that may or may not take you there.

In analogy terms, Improvizing is not about walking directly over to the chair on the other side of the room in order to sit in it. It is more about being in each glorious moment as we are walking toward the chair, whether we end up sitting in it or not.

Improvization is not about pre-determined goals. It's about a spontaneous creative process. We are on an unknown journey. We don't know when and where we will arrive, until we actually do.

If we are improvizing for someone else, then the audience hears the improvization at the same exact moment that the performer plays the music. This helps to create a bonding experience of synchronicity and oneness.

Questions for contemplative thought:
It is a ploy of the Yatzer Hara / Negative Inclination for us to judge ourselves by playing the perceived mistake/wrong note and as a result, curtail our creative activity. Can you recall when you had this experience? Can you try out each of the solutions above? Are you able to view the wrong notes and mistakes as creative opportunities? What was your experience? What is a positive solution you came up with that is not mentioned here?

May you be blessed to flow in the light and simcha/joy of your deepest hopes and dreams! Stay tuned for principle #4!
Love, Shoshannah

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