Why Don't Classical Musicians Improvise?

A video looking into the role improvisation played in the classical period of music.

Recordings and Videos sourced for this video:

Syd Valentine’s Patent Leather Kids – “Rock And Gravel”:

Mozart- Fantasia in D Minor (performed by Stefano Ligoratti):

Bach-Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, Chaconne (performed by Hilary Hahn):

Beethoven - 32 Variations in C Minor (performed by Seymour Lipkin):

Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor (Cadenzas)

Beethoven Cadenza performed by Krystian Zimerman

Fazil Say Cadenza performed by Fazil Say

Scene from "God Rot Tunbridge Wells!":

John Towner Williams - Hello:

[codenamepiano]

I completely agree with you. I feel (being a classical pianist) improvisation is a fundamental skill when composing. I also feel it should be taught in todays schools. Once i get my degree i will personally create a mark my words

[KEYRENITY]

Nahre Sol, Gabriella Montero, and even Keith Jarrett are some examples of great improvisers

[seanmortazyt]

totally agree. i'll take pianists with 10% less playing perfection in exchange for 10% more improvisational abilities.

[ktttttt]

I'm 14 and I have always been really interested in composing and improvisation. My mother loves classical music also, and she, being the wonderful mom she is, gave me the chance to learn with teachers and thus I was always surrounded by musicians who, at the very least, think that improvisation is a good extra knowledge to learn, if not essential. Watching this, I've only just realised what 'the world' really is and I really feel grateful for what I have experienced in 14 short years compared to some people's lifetime.

[antonioluissilvapiano]

In all my performances and recitals I play in improvisation of about 10 to 15 minutes. I always improvised since I played piano for the first time, almost 20 years ago. I think it gives something refreshing to the recital and people always love that.

[EnriqueGiliOrtiz]

I believe a musician who is not able to compose, improvise and play music will always be an incomplete musician. Thank you for sharing your videos! Regards.

[peterteaches]

Great! Please keep it up. I am a classical and jazz improviser and educator and we need lots more of it! Wonderful quality vids.

[dkod]

I've been observing and listening to organ music for over 50 years now and the art of improvisation never died out in that realm. You mention Bach, but many great composers for organ were also great at improvisation. The art of improvisation has thrived in the organ world. Composers like Franck, Vierne and Dupre were well-known improvisors. Vierne actually died at his console as he prepared to do an improvisation on a submitted theme to end what became his final concert. There are some very good improvisors out there today, among them Olivier Latry and Sophie-Veronique Cauchefer-Choplin, to name but two.

[alexanderbayramov]

these animations with chords were extremely beautiful and quite insightful, and thank you for raising that great topic for everyone, we need classical improvisation because it can probably prove that classical doesn't mean 'snobbish' or 'pretentious' (my own opinion tbh)

[MidiLifeCrisis]

Thanks for the great video. After years as a drummer and guitarist, I rediscovered piano but couldn't read music very well. So in my late teens I taught myself to improvise in the styles of the great composers with an emphasis on Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart. The only work I could find was playing dance classes for Martha Graham (who I later wrote music for). Eventually, i found me way to being a full time professional composer (which I still am after nearly 50 years). improvisation has always been in the forefront for me. I often accompany silent films (my record in 8.5 hours non stop for over 3000 people). Again, all improvisational. My usual first morning routine is to improvise a sonata (3 or 4 movements). usually followed by a few hours of repertoire practice and always lots of formal composition under various commissions. So your video speaks to me on a very personal level and I truly appreciate it. It is historically accurate (I did the research as well). I do wish a pianist would accept my challenge at a "duel." None have accepted so far. COWARDS! :)

[andrewwiemken]

I exclusively played difficult classical repertoire for many years, and eventually came to the realization that I basically couldn't play piano. Doing nothing but learning scores and perfecting your technique, touch, and interpretation, though engaging and worthwhile, leaves you more of a technician than a real musician. Focusing heavily on improvisation, theory, and sight reading for a while left me a MUCH better classical pianist, despite putting hard repertoire on the back burner. It built a kind of flexibility and fluency that I never could have developed just learning scores. It's a shame that my case is very common among classical musicians, and it's a shame that improvisation in the classical style is basically dead. Improvising my own variations on the Goldberg and Diabelli themes is infinitely more rewarding than sitting down and repeating a phrase 100 times to hammer down fingering and touch.

[longhaulblue]

Thanks for the lead on the Czerny book. I play jazz but have always wanted to attempt improvising classical music. Much harder to do since there are so few present day examples.

[AlessandroSistiMusic]

It's worth mentioning that in the past ten years or so, there's been lots more interest in doing classical improvisation and integrating it into teaching. Additionally, the tradition never really died out among organists.

Some names of educators in improv! John Mortensen, Ewald Demeyere, Michael Koch (channel "En blanc et noir"), Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra, Nicoleta Paraschivescu, Rudolf Lutz.

[ZapataCarratala]

This video sums up exactly my sentiment towards the lack of improvisation in the classical music practice nowadays. Congratulations on a great job first of all. However, I was surprised not to find any reference to continuo playing and how in baroque times many chordal instruments required very deep engagement of the player just to be able to play its part in any typical chamber piece.

Note, for example, that the harpsichord was used in the orchestra since the 16th century but the first obligato parts only appeared in the 18th century (probably first, but certainly most prominently, in JS Bach's keyboard concertos). Given your emphasis on piano music in your video, I thought it would be appropriate to add to it with this remark as indeed the classical keyboard practice (even more so when including organ, due to the accompanying role) was almost exclusively improvisatory in nature until the 1700s.

I am myself a very passionate defendant of the role of improvisation in classical music and as a learning harpsichordist I try to include a balance of writen and improvised pieces in my recitals. Next week I will play improvised Overture, Fantasia and Fandango alongside pieces by Bach, Corelli and Couperin. I have only been studying music for 5 years, more or less in a self-taught manner, and I feel more confident about the improvised pieces than some of the trickier passages in the Bach or Corelli, simply because from the very beginning of my training I allowed myself to improvise poorly and make mistakes to gradualy improve with time. Now sitting down at the keyboard and producing some simple but in-style and audience-pleasing piece of music is as second nature as doing scales or reading from a score.

[mdub]

awesome vid....i wish the art was still around with classical pianists....i'd so love to hear the battle rapping in the modern day

[estellebonenfan]

Thanks for the clarification and the little history class :)

Actually, I have stopped learning piano sheets for a few years, just to play classical impro and trying to improve how to express completely personnal emotions, how not to be afraid of imperfection etc. Yet I didn't really know what I was doing utill now x)
And yeah, it's not easy at all ! haha
*However, that is, without a doubt, an incredible feeling to sit in front of the piano, not knowing at all what excactly your hands are gonna wishing to play without warning you ! *

[StephiSensei]

Fine arguments. Perhaps, the singular greatest objection I have toward classical training (piano / guitar), is that the encouragement of the student to explore is stifled right from the beginning. "Don't you see? This is not a piece of paper, it's Marble! The NOTES are written in Marble and must never be deviated from, or you are not a "Real" musician!" Ugh! Exploration supported by study on many levels SHOULD be encouraged. My hero of Classical Guitar, Julian Bream, began with Jazz, then Military Band and electric guitar before he discovered "Classical", and his hero was Django Reinhardt! Then came Bach, Scarlatti, Dowland, Sor and everyone else. It only lead him to a greater appreciation of music in general and his chosen instrument, the guitar. Thank you. PS: So very glad to subscribe to your channel. We need the dialogue / debate.

[scottjoyce]

In college I learned about the Cadenza and asked my professor if that meant the pianist was to improvise over a chord. He said yes. I said that sounds like jazz. He said "Hardly". In college they treated improvisation as not important to classical music. I thought that was a shame. Also, I like to improvise over classical chord progressions and ideas. I think it's fun and people seem to enjoy it. Great video. I totally agree.

[JcFiscus]

Wonderful quality to this video, PLEASE make more on the topic of Beethoven and Bach and classical music in general. The world needs more insight into the history of music and how it came to be.

[gerdataro]

so glad you incorporated czerny's text on improvisation. would have liked to see some info about how diminution was an area of study for musicians of many instruments or some sort of connection to how thoroughbass (or figured bass) was used by musicians, organists for example, in an improvisatory manner.