"Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians."
Improvisation with a focus on creating and performing musical numbers on the spot.
Musicianship: A firm grasp of music theory is essential for musical improvisation. Concepts such as melody, harmony, rhythm, and meter are bread and butter for any musical improv artist.
Storytelling: Musicals invite the audience into a world of characters and scenarios that emote and relate to the human experience, and storytelling is an important aspect of this art form. It is essential to be able to establish a narrative and character arcs through song and lyrics.
Improv techniques: Musical improv requires the knowledge and mastery of basic improv techniques like "Yes, And," which entails accommodating any suggestions offered by other improv actors and building on them.
Vocal techniques: Some aspects of singing technique require mastery when performing on stage. Using head and chest voice, breath support, and proper intonation are fundamental aspects to be quickly learned during rehearsal.
Teamwork: The ability to work as a member of a team is vital for musical improvisation. Collaboration with the director, musicians, and actors is essential for the audience to enjoy a unified performance.
Stage Presence: Stage appearance is essential in improving the overall performance. Being confident in your singing and performing goes a long way in delivering a remarkable show.
Characterization: Characterization is actually depicting the emotions and feelings of the character you’re playing. It is the ability to make someone believe entirely in the character via honest emotion and exceptional performance.
Scene Work: Scene work depends on improvising musicians' and actors' ability to create natural and straightforward scenes, believable dialogues and responding to acting conflicts as if it is happening in real-time.
Musical Genre Knowledge: To begin creating music at that moment, improv actors should have a basic knowledge of various music genres and styles.
Repetition: Great improv music collaborations come only for those who develop the habit of repetition. Like other art forms, practicing musical improv with honesty and purpose leads to remarkable performances on stage.
Musical long-form: This type of musical improv is typically performed in the style of a musical theater piece. It might include songs, scenes, and monologues that are all linked together to create a larger story.
Musical short-form: This type of musical improv focuses on spontaneous, shorter musical performances that may be based on audience suggestions or prompts.
Improvised musical comedy: This type of musical improv often involves humorous sketches or parodies, and may include parody songs and musical numbers.
Musical improv jam: A musical improv jam is an open forum for aspiring improvisers to practice their skills, often featuring both short and long-form musical improv performances.
Musical improv dance: This type of musical improv combines traditional improv techniques with dance performance, usually with a live musical accompaniment.
Musical improv rap: Similar to short-form musical improv, this type of improv involves spontaneous rap performances, sometimes performed solo or in a group.
Musical improv game show: A musical improv game show is a type of interactive performance that invites audience participation, often including singing and other musical challenges.
Duet musical improv: This type of improvisation involves two performers collaborating to create a spontaneous musical performance, often featuring improvisational singing and instrumental performance.
"Blues, rock music, jazz, and jazz fusion, in which instrumental performers improvise solos, melody lines, and accompaniment parts."
"Musical ideas in improvisation are spontaneous but may be based on chord changes in classical music and many other kinds of music."
"A performance given extempore without planning or preparation."
"Improvisation is often done within (or based on) a pre-existing harmonic framework or chord progression."
"Throughout the eras of the Western art music tradition, including the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, improvisation was a valued skill."
"J. S. Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, and many other famous composers and musicians were known especially for their improvisational skills."
"Some classical music forms contained sections for improvisation, such as the cadenza in solo concertos, or the preludes to some keyboard suites by Bach and Handel, which consist of elaborations of a progression of chords."
"Improvisation might have played an important role in the monophonic period. The earliest treatises on polyphony indicate that added parts were improvised for centuries before the first notated examples."
"In the Baroque era, performers improvised ornaments and basso continuo keyboard players improvised chord voicings based on figured bass notation."
"Some contemporary composers from the 20th and 21st century have increasingly included improvisation in their creative work."
"In Indian classical music, improvisation is a core component and an essential criterion of performances."
"In Indian, Afghan, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi classical music, raga is the 'tonal framework for composition and improvisation.'"
"Musical improvisation combines performance with communication of emotions."
"Musical improvisation combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians."
"However, it was only in the fifteenth century that theorists began making a hard distinction between improvised and written music."
"In the 20th and early 21st century, as common practice Western art music performance became institutionalized in symphony orchestras, opera houses, and ballets, improvisation has played a smaller role."
"The Encyclopædia Britannica defines a raga as 'a melodic framework for improvisation and composition.'"
"Indian, Afghan, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi classical music."
"The Encyclopædia Britannica defines it as 'the extemporaneous composition or free performance of a musical passage, usually in a manner conforming to certain stylistic norms but unfettered by the prescriptive features of a specific musical text.'"