Improvised Music - a Personal Point of View…

« Improvising is to play inside the energy of sound, fully conscious of the present moment. It is juggling with an infinity of musical materials, of which we extend the sound palette at each new improvisation. It is a permanent exploration, a perpetual laboratory.

The music creates itself progressively, as we play, independently of our will. Each player nourishes the playing of the others. There is a permanent interaction of multiple energies in motion.

Improvising is to get freed from the memories, the musical conditioning, and the known patterns, to possibly make room for something new that perhaps has never been played that way and will never be replayed in the same manner.

Every moment of improvised music is unique, sometimes magical…

It is important not to judge if it sounds good or bad, because while we play, we don’t always know if it is a good idea. Most of the time, it is only later, when a recording is available, that we can have a more objective judgment on what happened. This approach requires a lot of autonomy, tolerance and an open mind.

Improvising requires to let go and to be all ears to what is being played. It is a rational and an intuitive process, where the balance between the two creates unity.

Creativity occurs in the constraint. Improvising does not mean playing anything. It is an instant composition : choosing a musical idea, hearing how the form, the structure and the musical logic can be developed.

I also think that the genuine creativity is playing with the heart. Of course, the musical material is important, it is our tool. We carry with us a luggage of rythmic, harmonic and melodic experiences, as well as techniques that all together create our own sound and colour. But beyond all this musical intelligence, the intelligence coming from the heart is the most important. »