Whistle, bagpipe and improvisaation.
When vocal cords come into close contact with each other under pressure of the flow of air, there will be a sound produced called a whistle. The lips help the sound to create a flute-like timbre and nuance. The register of the whistle and singing are almost the same and the pitch in whistle could be cleaner and in tune with all of its characteristic frequency. From a young age, I could whistle easily and technically, and I thought my master’s degree final concert is a good place to perform that. I combined the whistle with the sound of Bagpipe. Then I started to improvise with a falsetto sound which in falsetto the edge of the vocal fold/chords is involved to produce the tiny sound.
From the teenage time whistling was the joy of my life. I whistled in many different styles. I tried to compose jazz music or Iranian micro-tones through whistling. Sometimes I had practiced a lot that I could not speak after. Then I realized that rest and non-speaking periods are a very important feature to have a healthy singing life. In the case of hoarseness or tiredness of vocal folds, the best cure could be silence time by time. After one week of silence then comes the little exercises till the voice is back. Never pushing the voice and never singing with the force it’s the main reason for the long last singing career.
Improvisation
If someone asks me about the meaning of improvisation I have no answer to him but I can show him what I mean by improvisation. For me singing or composing without intention and plan it's a foundation of improvisation. To be alert and let out the melody, rhythm, or phrase which comes from beyond to existence for me is called improvisation.
I have always been singing and working with melodies. Sometimes there is a rhythm or a small phrase that brings minutes of uncut melodies to my mind. I have no idea about the roots of the song or place within me that produce this crazy outcome but I let myself free to be a vehicle or instrument that produces sound... I call improvisation the communication of the soul to soul, which in this case the artist soul communicates with the audience soul.
I think the musicians of today are too much in the prison of the score. the notes and paper lead him to music. He is driven by score and school law, without letting himself be the instruments or creator, who creates pieces of art... A musician is more like a producer of music without engaging in the process. All the great music comes from the space of the unknown which is within the soul of the artist. Bach, Beethoven or Mozart they were all great improviser on the instrument and they scored the thousands of great materials easily because they needed to express themselves. As an example, Beethoven was a great improviser on the piano, and when there was a harmony or melody that he liked he started to write it down. improvisation was the source of creation.
Derek Bailey a famous guitarist in his great book (the picture in the right) talks about improvisation and says: 'Improvisation enjoys the curious distinction of being both the most widely practiced of all musical activities and the least acknowledged and understood. While it is today present in almost every area of music, there is an almost total absence of information about it. Perhaps this is inevitable, even appropriate. Improvisation is always changing and adjusting, never fixed, too elusive for analysis and precise description' (Bailey, 1992, p i.x).
In saying that improvisation is always changing Bailey focuses on its ability to be unpredictable and fresh. The opening chapters of this book offer a concise analysis of Indian music, Flamenco, Baroque, Organ music, and Rock music. The chapters are enlivened by conversations and interviews with musicians working within these idioms. Jerry Garcia from The Grateful Dead offers his thoughts on group improvisation:
'…the sense of individual control disappears and you are working at another level entirely. Sometimes this feels to me as though you don’t have to think about what’s happening. Things just flow. It’s kind of hard to report on but it’s a real thing. I mean we’ve checked it out with each other and after twenty-five years of exploring some of these outer limits of musical weirdness this is the stuff that we pretty much understand intuitively but we don’t have the language to talk about it' (Bailey, 1992 p. 42).
Some ideas about music education:
I do not think that one can treat music as a dull subject or phenomenon of life that you can put it aside and start examining it like the virus in the lab. music involves many different elements which can have an impact on our life. I am not talking about the sound, physic, wave, instrument, material, harmony, or society. Even technology can change our perception of music.
Without education human can be an animal without purpose, meaning, and motivation to build new technologies, societies, environment, and needs to develop. Education is the key factor to transfer information and achievements from one generation to another. Here is the quote from one of the greatest composers of 20th century Villa Lobos the Brazilian composer; he was the general director of music education in brazil.
Divine protector, who has given to Brazil the gift of music, who has exalted the birds, the rivers, the waterfalls, the winds, and the people of this land into an incomparable symphony whose melodies and harmonies have contributed to the formation of Brazil’s soul! Illumine those who cultivate Brazilian music! Encourage the musicians disappointed in their musical life! Enlighten public opinion to make the appreciation of Brazilian art possible, gratify the wish of those who believe music to be of national importance, education the soul as gymnastics strengthen and develop the body, lend faiths to those who trust that the day will come when music becomes the Sonorous Flag of Universal Peace. (Michael L. Mark, 2002, p. 2)
This is a second video on improvisation.
In this video i talk about the improvisation and my thought are free at time about the matter. Because the true improvisation it means to be in the moment without preparing for the producing sound. Although we know that our memory have a eminent role in the improvisation ( we can not deny the memory which can trigger the sound in the case of music.Improvisation can bring back something hidden from us into the life.. I mean improvisation has some roots on the past which is happens now and can be a bird which flies to the future.
