Know the tune

There are many good books available for the student of improvisation. Most of them neglect what I consider the most important first step: Know the Tune.

Little can be done until the Tune becomes a part of you, not just something you read from the page. As a beginning, write it down. Yes, it is there in the hymnal, but write it out anyway with pencil and staff paper; just the melody, so that you will not be distracted by a printed harmonization. I like to put it at the top of a blank sheet of staff paper to allow space for further notes as my ideas for the improvisation develop.

Then, sing the tune. The best method, I think, is to use tonic solfege. That gets the tune in the head more effectively than just singing it on the text or on a neutral syllable, and prepares for playing it in other keys. Write in the sol-fa syllables as needed.

Now, play the tune. Start with one hand. Then the other. And in the pedals. Maybe start with one phrase in the right hand, the next phrase in the feet, the next in the left hand. Sing along on the sol-fas. Then try it in a different key - go slowly here, especially if transposition is not your strong point; this is where the solfege is a significant aid. Then, another key. And another after that. The ideal is to be able to play the tune in any register, any key. This may take many days, a little bit at a time. There is no hurry; take your time, and stay with just the unison tune until you can comfortably play it at least in several keys.

Experiment with different modes: if the tune is major, what does it sound like in minor? Or one of the church modes? It might be very interesting, or it might not work at all. Play around with the rhythm and meter; if it is in a duple meter, what does it sound like adapted into triple meter? Or the other way around? Maybe ornament the tune a little -- or a lot.

At some point, you will find yourself adding little comments with the other hand or the pedals. Maybe a pedal point, or maybe a little imitative counterpoint, or some descanting above the tune. Or maybe a chord or two (though at this point in learning the tune, I shy away from any full-scale harmonization. Stick with simpler ideas.) This is the next step, so go for it! By this time, your subconscious is generating ideas, and it is time to start bringing them to the surface. “Play” with the tune in this manner to your heart’s content. Out of this will come the material for your improvisation, or a written composition should you choose to take it in that direction.

I have written of this as a first step, and it is. But there is another level of Knowing the Tune which informs the work of even the greatest masters -- people like Paul Manz, or John Ferguson -- or Helmut Walcha, or Maurice Duruflé, or Charles Tournemeire -- or most of all, J. S. Bach. These composers immersed themselves so deeply in the Tunes of their musical and faith traditions that their music continues to communicate the spiritual essence of the chant, or the chorale, or the hymn tune in ways that could never before have been imagined.

(footnote: I wrote this for the local AGO newsletter, and thought it worth posting here as well.)

Another footnote: I describe an example of this work in the January 25 essay.