Creative Constraints in Improvisation

Found this today on a blog I follow which is written by someone I knew in University.
I am looking forward to trying this one out in class.

Improv Game of the Day: Economical Beauty

BY JEFFREY AGRELL ⋅ NOVEMBER 27, 2012 ⋅ POST A COMMENT

FILED UNDER  CLASSICAL IMPROVISATION, IMPROV GAME

1-4 players. Your challenge is to create the most beautiful melody possible – using only three pitches of your choice.

Pitches may be repeated at will or played in any register.

With two players, players should decide if pitches chosen may overlap or are exclusive.

An example of exclusive pitch choice using the C scale only might be:

Player 1: CEA

Player 2: DFG

With three players, there will necessarily be some overlap. Example:

Player 1: CGA

Player 2: DEF

Player 3: CEB

With four players, there will be even more overlap. Example:

Player 1: CDF

Player 2: DGB

Player 3: CAB

Player 4: EFA

Players may choose in each case to either relate to each other (listen, imitate, interact) or play independently.

Hint: Vary timbre, articulation, dynamics, note length; don’t forget to add silences.

As with almost every game, percussion may be added by an extra player or two.

Variation 1: Use four pitches.

Variation 2: Choose pitches from the full chromatic scale. Try both overlap and nonoverlap versions. Perform an experiment: is it easier to create a beautiful piece using overlapping or nonoverlapping pitch choices?

Strings and Communication

I love this image of the tin can "telephone".
I have been using strings to communicate since 1965, when I started playing cello. 

The vibrating string itself is a metaphor in my life.    The string is resonant and connects people whether it carries words or music.  The connections make a web; the string metaphor becomes stronger as it knits together diverse people who may only be connected by that vibration.

Blogs are "digital strings"  and they may resonate in an even wider and intangible way, but they can be powerful.  

The blog link below is written by a musician/professor who had a stroke a couple years ago. 

http://musicandstroke.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/the-trenches/ 

I discovered this blog because I was in Youth Orchestra with his wife.  She and I got re-aquainted on Facebook and met up at a conference last year.  The strings pull from the deepest parts of our lives.