Improvisation

In this fun video jazz singer, sax/flutist and percussionist Stan Strickland and Jeannie perform a spontaneous improvised song, demonstrating listening skills, rhythm, time, and allowing yourself to be silly! The more that you feel free having fun in front of an audience, the more accessible improvisation becomes!

The song begins with Stan playing a pattern on kalimba (thumb piano) while Jeannie keeps time on a shaker, in 13/8 time. The way we count this unusual time signature is 123, 123, 123, 1234: so, three groups of three counts and one group of four counts. Then, getting a bit sillier, we shift to 4/4 time with a quick straight 16ths rhythmic subdivision.

We hope this will inspire you to have fun with improvsation, and be bold as you try on new skills!

This short improvisation over classic pop changes, in the key of Bb, began when jeannie was improvising at the piano. The exercise takes you through two to three registers, depending on how you want to sing it. The range is big, the way Jeannie sang it is going between chest into mix and into head tones.

You can also practice harmonizing with this exercise, or add your own spin to it especially if the range feels too big. The chords in this 2-feel groove are:

||: EbMaj 7 | Dm Gm | Cm F | Bb Bb7 :|| tag: Eb, Bb/D, Cm, Bb

Jeannie sings If I Were a Boy by Beyoncé a capella in 6-parts, to demonstrate belting, whisper singing, harmony, beat boxing and vocal grooves.

If you're interested in creating a multi-picture video, here's how this video was created: Jeannie recorded the audio and video simultaneously live, into Logic for audio through her mic, and Quicktime for video using her computer's camera.. Then she edited it all together together in Final Cut Pro X by lining up the video and audio tracks. The first effort was using the a capella app for iPhone, but that has little editing functionality, and the quality was limited to earbuds, so that effort was scrapped. This version took quite awhile to produce, but hopefully the result is worth it!