Steven Macks
Published: August 23, 2005
Throughout the history of music, the art of making up good music on the spot has been a skill not many musicians can claim to have. The jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, guitarist Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead are just some of the artists that can claim this skill called improvisation.
Though these players learned their skills mostly by ear, Roger Villiens, trumpeter and music educator, says he can teach the art of improvisation in music to people who are not naturally gifted. Villiens will teach a new class on improvisation in music, on the Pensacola campus, as a continuing education class this fall. The class will be held Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m.
Villiens has a master’s degree in music jazz studies and a bachelor’s in music education.
He said that the class will include some music theory, but about 70 to 80 percent will be actual playing.
“I will use a cross-section of musical styles based on the students’ needs and wishes,” he said.
Villiens hopes to take musicians that already know how to read music and teach them the ideas behind the art of improvisation. If the student doesn’t already know how to read music, he or she will not be able to fully benefit from his method of teaching. He will include the element of playing by ear and show students how to do so.
The class may raise the concern of whether improvisation can be taught or not.
Don Snowden, head of the Music and Theatre Department, says, “Yes (improvisation can be taught), but you have to know the musical language, scales, chords, licks, keys, etc.”
He added that through learning what notes work with certain chords, musicians can better understand how to improvise.
Villiens agreed with Snowden that the musical language is like any written or oral language; syntax, tools, and theories are needed to contribute to the full expression of the player. Villiens also said that after a musician learns the language, improvisation is an intuitive process that can be directed.
Musicians can learn improvisation by ear and many of the greats have; yet it is a long process, somewhat like an apprenticeship, Villiens said. Musicians play with other musicians and learn how to improvise because they hear what notes and chords work together.
A UWF student and improvisational guitarist, David Johnson, said he plays by ear and has memorized some chords, but if he knew all the scales and their relationship with certain chords, he would be better at improvisation.
Will Fink, a previous PJC student and Jazz Ensemble member, agreed that knowing the relationship of chords and scales helps with improvisational skills. He said that when he improvises, he must first learn the chords from the song and go from there. He said that he is able to do that because he knows the theory behind jazz; otherwise it would not sound right.
All instruments will be accepted for the class from percussion to strings and there is no restriction to how many of each instrument is present, Villiens said.
“I could have 10 trumpet players show up and it will work,” he said.