The length of the workshop is appr. 1, 5 hours.  The workshop is open to the audience. If you want to take part as an active participant, please email Hanko Music Course´s producer at heidi.kuusava@hankofestival.fi

Severi Pyysalo describes the workshop and improvisation as follows:

”Improvisation means the ability to be in three places at once: you have to know what has already happened, what you’re doing now and simultanously you need to anticipate what MIGHT happen next. Reacting to your surroundings is essential.

This, if you’re playing in a group. The more musicians, the more challening it gets. When improvising alone, the challenge is to come up with something interesting for the whole duration of the performance. But the previously mentioned “trinity” still applies.

Often one hears that improvising means randomly playing any notes in any tempo. You can do that as well, but whether that is interesting is another matter. I think that is like listening to a bar conversation: everybody is talking on top of another with different languages, not really listening to each other.

Good improvisation resembles a good dialogue, at it’s best between several musicians. You can agree with another (e.g. play in the same key), you can disagree (modulate out of the key or accentuate for example) or you can even shout (raise the dynamics). Not all have to constantly follow because then improvisation changes to mimicking which is only boring. There can be many “leaders” in the conversation even if one is the chief. The ball can and should be passed to one another saying: “What do you think of this? Comment, say something different from what I said.”

It is advantageous to master the traditions of this musical conversation. By listening and mimicking one learns, like in other aspects in life. The absolute pitch hearing is not a necessity, but grasping the relationships between chords, melody and harmony is a great advantage.

Skilled improvisation needs practice and the ability to quickly adjust to the new and surprising. But the most important thing is to make the companion sound as good as possible. Come and get acquainted to the wonderful world of improvisation!”