I've graduated from college, and now I'd like to go back to school. Does anyone know of college/university programs that teach musicians specifically about improvisation? I'd like to study it in enough depth to start a career along this line. My problem is that not many music schools offer majors outside the standard performance/composition/theory/education/etc. programs.

I think at the moment Rushad presents the greatest interest to me for improv. It's frequently our limited imagination and technical limitations that prevent their execution. Rushad presents something radically challenging.

You have to get the DVD Chops & Grooves to open our imagination and our techniques.There are videos on Youtube of him alone and working with Darol Anger's Republic of Strings.

But I also have Jeffrey McFarland-Johnson's book Tonic to Chromatic which is totally the opposite to the DVD being extremely theoretical and comprehensive exercises.

I think we need both to get somewhere.

Hi everyone,

Btw, where is everyone?

Anyway, I'd like to know how different cellists taught themselves or other people to improvise?

I saw the little excerpt from the Hank Roberts interview on this site and was wondering how others approach developing techinque without letting the improv suffer...

It'd be really awesome to hear from other cellists; I don't know anyone personally who plays improv cello!

cheers

Sophie

Maybe a tough one: Any good ideas for translating the whole modal chromatic thing so prevalent in hard/post bop styles onto the cello? There's more than a few violinists who do it well (Ponty, Howes, Balakrishnan etc), but when I try to transcribe and play on the cello, I run out of fingers and facility pretty quick. Is it just too hard to listen and hope to imitate the 'treble' instruments? Thoughts and ideas valued greatly.

... contains some discussion of his improv ideas and thinking.

It's worth a look, at: http://classicalimprov.blogspot.com/

I'd love to learn more about improvising. Any ideas on good books?

Thanks!

recently got a Luis and Clark carbon fiber cello. Have just begun to explore the whole world of possiblities opened up for tapping or striking various parts of the instrument- which is even more wide open when you plug it in.... Maybe it is this cello - I don't feel quite so inhibited about beating on it ! However it does offer some interesting sounds .... even things tapped out on different parts of the bridge are very audible through the pick-up

it is making me want to study up a little on African and Middle eastern drumming.

would love to hear any comments anyone else has on the subject of percussive cello.....!

In response to Improv's request for some guides to improvization here is what I can add. Not really a guide though.......

I have always been an ear player. As an adult I started out on the banjo, autoharp and mountain dulcimer and then moved on to the hammered dulcimer. Much later on, I took up the cello after falling in love with the sound. Since the music I was playing at the time (60's and 70's folk and old tymey) was rarely written down, there was nothing to pull me towards reading music so I just started playing along. Very quietly at first. When I took up the cello, I approached it the same way. As an ear player, a lot of what I do probably falls into the improv category.