Interviews - Dr Jon Aveyard

I've had so much wonderful input towards the book from friends that I've worked with on different projects over the years.

All interviewees were given the same questions but this (unsurprisingly) generated very different results. Here is a great example from my good friend and ex-colleague Jon Aveyard.

Q1. What makes a great improviser? 

A great improviser can surprise the listener whilst still producing music that makes sense in context. 

Q2. How did you learn to improvise? 

Having spent a childhood playing music only using notation, I came to improvisation when as an adult I began playing found sound objects, percussion and live electroacoustics. The skills and confidence I acquired with these sound sources could then be applied to the other instruments I had been using. Although I have definitely benefitted from things I have read and been told by experienced improvisers, I consider the great majority of my improvisation ability to have been acquired through the act of improvisation itself alongside a variety of people in a variety of genres and with a variety of different prompts. 

Q3. What advice would you have for those new to improvising or trying to improve their existing practice? 

Find other people with whom you can improvise, preferably including at least one experienced person capable of offering guidance. Learn how to elicit the sounds you want from your instruments – mindless scribbling or clueless meandering within a scale aren’t the basis for an improvisation practice. Always be listening - the worst thing you can do is be improvising without any consideration for what the other musicians are doing. Know when to play and when to remain silent, ready for the right moment to join in - your playing should always be to the betterment of the music. 

Q4. When you are improvising, how do you know what to play? 

Much of what I play is spontaneous and intuitive but there remains a focused alertness, a continually checking of myself, questioning whether I should stop playing, whether I need to change direction or stick with the material I am adding, whether someone else’s contribution needs to be supported or challenged. 

Q5. Have you ever struggled with confidence when improvising and if so, how have you worked through that? 

I have sometimes felt nervous when improvising with new groups of people, particularly where they are all accustomed to playing in genres with which I am less familiar. I find that I have to reassure myself that I am entitled to bring my own improvisation practice to the group and, as long as this is done respectfully of everyone else’s expectations, then we can find meeting points in the music. 

Q6. What do you get from improvising in a group that you don’t get when making music alone? 

When improvising solo, each moment is experienced in relationship to the music that has been played up to that point and to the expectations of any audience present. Ensemble playing adds many layers in that each musician is also in continual dialogue with the other individuals, operating at whatever level they can manage, using propositions and acceptance, support and playful obstructions. There is additional skill required in engaging in these relationships with other musicians and yet there is also a sharing of the burden of responsibility for developing the piece of music and a joy to be found in the sometimes surprising contributions of the other musicians.