On Improv Jazz Lessons and Music

Last Tuesday, I had my third Improvisational Piano Lesson, which was as fascinating as the first couple of lessons. Entirely new doors are being opened up in the Music Realm.

With classical lessons, the goal is to play exactly what's on the page. Playing forte instead of piano, refusing to play staccato, adding notes, removing notes, changing the rhythm, etc. is unacceptable.

But this time, during my first lesson, Fernando asked me what types of songs I want to play, how I want to play, and how I want to sound. *scratches her head* Basically, everything's open. Craziness. This week he brought me only the melody of a song and we worked on filling in the jazz chords. He showed me a couple of different ways I could play the piece...

Fernando: "Eh, play whatever chord you want... depends on what you like and what you feel like."
Mary: "Wow, ok. I think I like Amaj7 better than A7."
Fernando: "Me too... though there's really no wrong way to play it."

There's no wrong way. And in jazz, you don't even stick exactly with the original melody.

How can something so technical be so beautiful?

Improv reminds me of mathematical formulas, in a way: you have your basic note and chord patterns and scales, and when you follow these certain patterns and progressions, you end up with a lovely piece of music. All you need is to know the code and how/when/where to apply it. It's as if beauty can be broken down into mathematical-esque formulas.