Cata­lyst is an online, music impro­vi­sa­tion lear­ning expe­rience. Along with three ins­truc­tio­nal videos, this guide will out­line some of the key com­po­nents of musi­cal impro­vi­sa­tion. This video series draws from the Crea­tive Abi­li­ty  Deve­lop­ment method and music peda­go­gy crea­ted by Alice Kanack.

Along with three inter­ac­tive videos, this accom­pa­nying video guide can be used by indi­vi­duals or small groups of a wide age range and musi­cal ability.

These ins­truc­tio­nal videos are desi­gned to work in conjunc­tion with an educator/workshop faci­li­ta­tor as a sup­por­ting acti­vi­ty, or stand alone for indi­vi­dual use.

What is Crea­tive Abi­li­ty Development ?

Crea­tive Abi­li­ty Deve­lop­ment (CAD) is a method crea­ted by Alice Kanack where stu­dents use musi­cal impro­vi­sa­tion as a mean to deve­lop the crea­tive side of the brain. The main goal of CAD is to teach unique self expres­sion or musi­ca­li­ty.  When stu­dents engage in impro­vi­sa­tion, there are three rules or inten­tions we abide by :

1. There Is No Such Thing As A Mistake

”Crea­ti­vi­ty Is About Making Choices”

Our first, and per­haps our most impor­tant rule, helps stu­dents to free them­selves into embra­cing their own crea­ti­vi­ty in choo­sing sounds. Com­po­sing is making deci­sions with sound ; impro­vi­sa­tion is making those deci­sions in real time and exe­cu­ting them in the moment. Allo­wing our­selves to free­ly make musi­cal deci­sions without wor­rying if they are right or wrong leads us on a jour­ney to craf­ting a musi­cal lan­guage that reso­nates with who we are.

2. Silence and Applause

Prac­ti­cing Res­pect and Communication

Silence : Someone once told me that gro­wing in our craft as musi­cians is cen­tred around the art of lis­te­ning.  By acti­ve­ly lis­te­ning to the music being crea­ted around us we are gro­wing in our musi­cal unders­tan­ding and aptitude.

Applause :  When we hear someone call out “Bra­vo ! or Bra­va!” after a magni­ficent per­for­mance, it was not ori­gi­nal­ly used to just cele­brate vir­tuo­si­ty. When the word was first used in ancient Greece, it was used to reco­gnize the bra­ve­ry of a per­for­mer.  When we applause, it may not always take place in the lite­ral sense, but through our expres­sions, minds and our hearts we honour the musi­cal expe­rience we are hearing.

3. Never Cri­ti­cize A Friend

”Because there is no such thing as a mistake”

Jud­ging a mas­ter­piece before it is com­ple­ted is a silly idea–improvisation is a life-long jour­ney ! ​When we engage in impro­vi­sa­tion we are taking part in a revol­ving feed­back loop:We make a deci­sion and create a sound.  We hear the sound, make ano­ther deci­sion, and the pro­cess conti­nues… To show res­pect for each other’s crea­tive jour­ney and pro­cess, we refrain from jud­ging someone else’s musi­cal choices. This keeps the feed­back loop clear, and fos­ters an encou­ra­ging sup­por­tive com­mu­ni­ty for eve­ryone to explore their crea­tive voices.

Impro­vi­sing and crea­ting sound­scapes with a loop pedal

Loop Pedal Devices & Apps :

Boss Loop Sta­tion RC-20

Boss Loop Sta­tion RC-30

Boss Loop Sta­tion RC-300

Vox VDL‑1 dyna­mic looper

Super-Loo­per App

Loo­py App

Crea­ting sound­scapes : A Fra­me­work For Crea­ting A Sound­scape With A Loo­ping Device

Start With The Root : Set the tem­po, cha­rac­ter and feel of your sound­scape and show­case the key (this can be done by using arpeg­gios and other scale notes)

Build It Out : Hol­ding long tones can help create a wash of sound and help par­ti­ci­pants to get com­for­table by blen­ding their sound into the texture.

Add Some Tex­ture : Create a har­mo­ny or coun­ter melo­dy, Change the type of bow stroke you are using (for example : piz­zi­ca­to, trem­mel­lo etc.)

Leave Room For ‘Play’ : Res­ts are part of the music, Feel free to leave some open space within the sound­scape and let your melo­dies, breath.

About Kathryn Patri­cia Cobbler :

Loop pedal vio­list, com­po­ser, and arran­ger Kathryn Patri­cia Cob­bler has craf­ted a sin­gu­lar niche in impro­vi­sa­tion, and clas­si­cal per­for­mance. She obsesses over crea­ting uni­que­ly arres­ting sound­scapes, whe­ther in solo reci­tals, com­po­sing for theatre, per­for­ming in site spe­ci­fic art ins­tal­la­tions, and more.

As an edu­ca­tor, Ms. Cob­bler is a Crea­tive Abi­li­ty and Deve­lop­ment method tea­cher and tea­cher-trai­ner.  She conti­nual­ly seeks to expand reper­toire for solo vio­la and loop pedal, and has enga­ged with the 9th Hour Theatre as a com­po­ser and per­for­mer for their pro­duc­tion of Halo. She has also been known to col­la­bo­rate with other com­po­sers, inclu­ding a pre­miere of a piece by the Cana­dian cel­list and com­po­ser Raphael Weinroth-Browne.

Kathryn Patri­cia holds degrees in vio­la per­for­mance from Wes­tern Uni­ver­si­ty (B.M.) and the Uni­ver­si­ty of Otta­wa (M.M.).  She per­forms on a vio­la by luthier, Sibylle Rup­pert and a Boss RC-30 loop pedal.

https://www.kathrynpatricia.com/