When Michael Pollock asked me to tackle the subject of common mistakes to avoid in musical improv, hundreds popped up, so I waited four months or so. Once I’d paid off my Christmas mistakes and had gotten used to the world’s cutest puppy, I finally had some time to just sit with the laptop. So I posted a bunch of high school pictures on Facebook. After that, I dawdled, did some shows and ate a pizza. Finally, I got off my ass and focused on good sir Michael’s request and came up with this:
Around the city of Los Angeles, there
Continue reading Five Conceptual Mistakes
Many long-form musicals suffer from a common illness – they get off to a great start, and then lose their way. The audience may still be entertained if the actors maintain wit and good cheer throughout, but no spectator will have that reaction we yearn for – the delighted, giddy sense of having seen a MIRACLE. It’s a tall order, I know. Poor me, I always feel regretful about a performance that doesn’t really “win the game.” Winning means creating a musical that holds together like the real thing, top to bottom. The most expert improvisation of solos, duets, trios
Continue reading Defeating a Big Bad Problem with Improvised Musicals
Whether it’s an improvised song, a show comprised of songs (a revue) or a long-form musical – make it a priority to learn how much is enough, because too much can be deathly. As my composition and arranging teacher, Dick Grove, once said of songwriting, “The longer your song, the greater will be its tendency to suck.” The same is true of any form of entertainment – to report that a movie was “long” is almost as bad as saying that it was just horrible.
Well, there we were in the Mediterranean Sea – the Impromptones on Crystal Cruises. Our act
Continue reading An Impromptones Horror Story at Sea
