Improv Exchange #2

Welcome to the Improv Exchange, a new regular feature in Dalcroze Connections, the official magazine of the DSA. In this column, you’ll find inspiration to help kick-start your own improvisations at home or in class.

This edition features the work of Aaron Morrison: a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and passionate music enthusiast.

Spring Rain

Aaron Morrison

“Spring Rain” and an Improv Idea

Like the play of light on an early spring morning, “Spring Rain” has a bright but wistful feeling. The harmonic backdrop moves between perfect fourths and major thirds, passages of diatonic harmony in G-flat Major, and relationships of thirds as the sunlight breaks through into the lovely B-flat Major at the end.

For your own improv: start by using the indicated chord tones to create a melody (taking the lead of the actual melody), especially as the harmony planes up and down. Enjoy the release into the G-flat major tonality at bar 13 when it finally lands on the {rn:ii7 – V7} (A-flat mm7 to D-flat Mm7), and indulge yourself in the lovely major third of the final chord before the clouds dim again.

Analysis and improv idea by Michael Joviala

Bonus Content!

In this special online version of Improv Exchange, we are sharing some improv takes on ‘Spring Rain’, as well as the composer’s own chord realization and our interview with him.

Interpretations of ‘Spring Rain’

Some of the DSA’s own Publications Committee has recorded their own improvisation ideas that arose from playing through the lead sheet to ‘Spring Rain;’ here are a few of those recordings, followed by the thoughts that went into them.

Besides my work with the DSA and teaching undergraduate courses at Carnegie Mellon, I spend many of my afternoons playing piano for ballet classes in the CMU School of Drama.

Because (in my not-so-humble opinion) a lot of music composed for ballet leaves much to be desired, I find myself improvising most of what I play. I’m constantly looking for music to inspire me, music to generate new ideas for class. Why not use Aaron’s tune for a rond de jambe combination?

In order to make this tune work in class, I was forced to change the phrase length and add a repeat to make it “square”—that is, a multiple of 16, 32, or 64 beats appropriate for the exercise provided by the teacher. Can you tell where I made the edit? I also added a four-bar introduction.

Here’s what I came up with, recorded during class earlier this year. (In the background, you can hear the teacher calling out some reminders for these beginning students!)

Alex Marthaler

/audio

Reharmonizing this piece using “classical” harmonies took me quite a bit of work. I was oftentimes reminded of the improv classes I took with Laurent Sourisse at l’Institut Jaques-Dalcroze, which consisted heavily of diatonically harmonizing a modulating melody while employing chromaticism. Drawing on those lessons, I aimed here to use a stepwise bass line, which sometimes ascends and other times descends. Alas, I was not able to make any use of chromaticism, but I did use the major VII chord a few times, which is rare (for me). I found it very challenging to modulate from b-flat minor to g minor and perhaps I need to call up Laurent for a solution! After finishing my harmonization, I then read through the composer’s own chord progression and was pleasantly surprised to see a modal harmonization of the melody. My chord progression is below:

Katie Couch

Spring Rain

Reharmonized

Katie Couch