The Piano Improvisation Handbook

by Carl Humphries

Overview

(Book). The Piano Improvisation Handbook offers a comprehensive overview of the practical skills and theoretical issues involved in mastering all forms of piano improvisation, including classical, jazz, rock and blues. Whereas most books offer little more than models for imitation and exercises for practicing, this one adopts an approach specifically designed to encourage and enable independent creative exploration. The book contains a series of graded tutorial sections with musical examples on CD, as well as an appendix listing useful scales, chords, voicings, and progressions across all keys, a bibliography, and a discography. In addition to sections outlining how melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, and form work in improvised piano music, giving distinctive emphasis to the interconnectedness of classical and jazz improvisation, there are sections devoted to explaining how ideas can be developed into continuous music and to exploring the process of finding a personal style.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780879309770
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/01/2010
Pages:	488
Product dimensions:	9.80(w) x 11.00(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Carl Humphries (Bielsko-Biala, Poland) is the author of the best-selling Piano Handbook. He studied piano and composition in London, Berlin, and Turin, and pursued theoretical studies at the University of Cambridge. He works as a pianist, teacher, and composer, specializing in the relationship between theory and performance.