about the first time I attempted a jazz
solo on the piano I was barely 13 years
old I was in my first jazz piano lesson
and my teacher had just gone over basic
chords and what each one meant we were
looking at a simple progression a 12 bar
blues which essentially only has three
main chords the one or root the four and
the five easy right then my teacher
turned to me and said do you want to
play in the key of F or b-flat
now keep in mind this was my first time
ever reading chords F was an easier and
simpler key for the piano that would
probably give me a good shot at success
so wanting to show off
I picked b-flat my teacher nodded
suddenly she placed a chord chart in
front of me saying now solo over these
changes and before I could take back my
bravado in confidence before I could
even get out a protest she started
counting one two one two three four and
I was forced to play and while I was
struggling she was playing these cool
riffs this walking bass and these chords
low down with me on the piano it sounded
and meanwhile I was struggling because
you see all I’d ever played before was
pre memorized music most of it classical
this is where I was coming from so at
the time soloing felt weird and terribly
out of place it felt like I was sinking
into a pit of humiliation as I struggled
to answer the question what do I play
but what I didn’t realize at the time
was that something very special was
happening I was improvising because when
we improvise
though it may be raw and imperfect I’m
expressing myself in the most true and
pure way possible words truly can’t
describe the thrill of improvising it’s
a flow of my ideas my thoughts and my
emotions I’m constantly composing and
playing and composing and playing
because when I improvise I don’t have to
play what Mozart thought of or what
Beethoven wrote I have the freedom to
express myself today I’d like to shed
some light on improvisation not only in
the context of music but in the broadest
context of all our lives I have a bold
proposition to make we are all
improvisers now when I say this I don’t
mean that we’re improvising at every
moment when when I say that we are all
improvisers I mean that there are times
in our lives where we’re forced to act
on the spot it’s not every time take
this as an example imagine you have an
upcoming surgery on the day of you walk
into the operation room and right before
the anesthesia takes you under you hear
the doctor telling his assistant let’s
just improvise this one and see how it
no when I say we are all improvisers I’m
talking about those times when we have
to act on the spot for students maybe
it’s that unexpected test question for
business people
maybe it’s pitching an idea to an
investor who you just happen to run into
for athletes
maybe it’s finding yourself in a
position where the play has broken down
and you have to step up and do something
or for those of you who have siblings
maybe it’s something as simple as an
impromptu wedding toast
at your brother or sister’s wedding
reception it’s during these times that
our true selves shine through it’s like
we have to start paying attention not
just going through the motions we act
react we live in the moment in the now
this is improvisation improv is a vital
skill for all of us to learn I’m going
to draw from my experience as a musical
improv to explain how we all within our
lives can become better improvisers
there are three keys to improvisation
readiness confidence and direction we’ll
start with readiness readiness is the
preparation that goes on far before I
even step onto the stage before I even
start my solo I have to be ready which
is counterintuitive because it seems
like the complete opposite of
improvisation let me ask a question why
is it that jazz greats such as Herbie
Hancock or Miles Davis can pull off a
killer solo where a random novice
musician like we can’t as backwards as
it seems it’s because they are ready to
improvise being ready is one of the most
when I was younger I was notorious for
not practicing enough from a classical
piano lesson part of the reason was that
I had a whole bag of tricks to get away
with it case in point let’s say I forgot
to practice my Mozart that week right
before I went into my piano teachers
house I pulled my Mozart book out of my
bag hide it somewhere in my car and run
inside I’m sorry I forgot my
I guess we’ll have to do it next week so
when I started to learn jazz I was
psyched because I thought I wouldn’t
have to pretend anymore after all if I’m
making up what I play on the spot then I
don’t have to practice right wrong what
I learned was that improv is hard very
very hard I could barely practice my
classical piece and still make it sound
halfway decent at least to the untrained
ear but I would practice my improv for
hours and hours and even a first grader
could tell how lousy I sounded so as
backwards as it seems when we improvise
we have to prepare even more than we
normally would and the good news is when
we prepare to improvise we’re not only
improving that specific activity but
we’re improving ourselves because we are
the ones creating and what I’ve learned
is that the largest changes in our life
can come from the smallest most
innocuous fleeting opportunities I’ll
use athletes as an example one more time
let’s say one practice you decide to
stay afterwards and work a little bit
extra on your shot come game day maybe
you get the chance to step up with the
ball of the puck the play is broken down
you make a play you shoot you score
maybe you save the game even and who
knows maybe winning that one game could
save your season which could qualify you
for a tournament and you could progress
in that tournament and who knows what
could happen the courses of many lives
could be drastically changed for the
better just because you took a little
bit of extra time to get ready to
practice to prepare and it could make
all the difference so we’re ready for
our solo we step on stage and the next
key is confidence because if we’re not
confident the whole solo breaks down
when I improvise I’m not just playing
notes I’m expressing myself I’m taking
the audience on a journey and if even I
don’t believe in myself how will the
audience connect with what I’m trying to
say through the music I’m going to give
two sample solos for you one will be
without confidence and one will
with confidence see if you can hear the
so the one
[Music]
solo Tim
as you can see confidence is what set
the second solo apart from the first
when I say confidence I don’t mean
thinking you’re better than anyone else
I don’t mean thinking that you will
succeed when realistically you have a
slim chance when I say confidence I mean
two words and two words only buying in
because when I buy in my entire mindset
changes when I’m soloing it changes from
how will I get through the end of this
how will I not play wrong notes too how
can I make my solo brilliant and
powerful there was a time last year when
my jazz teacher was coaching a group of
musicians a bassist a drummer a
saxophonist and I and he had just given
us that same speech about being
passionate about being confident about
buying into your solo and not holding
back and he turned to me and he said
Joshua your turn you tried so I decided
why not I went for it I bought in I
didn’t worry about playing wrong notes
didn’t think about any of that
I just decided to test my limits and how
was my solo well afterwards everyone
came up and congratulated me my teacher
in particular was gushing about all the
advanced things I had put into my solo
Lydian dominance and flat 11s and chord
substitutions and tritones all these
things I had never even heard of at the
time somehow had I found them within me
well how really was my solo
there’s a saying we have there are no
wrong notes in jazz and I think on that
day I made history because I proved that
saying wrong that’s how bad my solo was
but honestly it’s the confidence I had
that really made my solo shine a writer
named Irma Bombeck once said worry is
like a rocking chair
it gives you something to do but you
never get anywhere confidence sweeps
away our worries personally I know the
feeling all too well of playing
half-heartedly of holding something back
of trying to be nervous and play at the
same time and the reason is that it’s
hard to buy in
we’re uncomfortable just going for it
because we don’t know what will happen
and what I’ve learned is that by buying
in and not looking back that is the only
way I can push myself further along the
path to improvement okay so we’re
prepared for our solo we’ve practiced
for hours and hours and we’re confident
we get on the stage and the last piece
is direction direction is deliberate and
defined movement
it’s what give our solos shape it’s what
gives it form I’m going to play two more
sample solos for you this is solo one we
and this is solo 2 as you can see the
second solo had direction
it had shape it had movement the first
solo may have sounded ok but it was
superfluous it did not have shape so how
can we apply this to the greater scope
of improv within our everyday lives
it’s easy to see how Direction applies
to a musical solo well this is what I
have to say one of my favorite quotes is
from Lewis Carroll from Alice in
Wonderland Alice has just fallen down
her rabbit hole and she runs into the
Cheshire Cat and the cat says to her
Alice where are you going and Alice says
well which which way should I go and the
cat says well that depends on where you
are going and Alice says I don’t know
and then the cat says and it doesn’t
matter which way you go the way that we
can apply the key of direction to improv
within our lives is by thinking about
the broader direction we have I’ve
always found it interesting the types of
questions I get asked about the
direction I want to take my life in
pretty much ever since I learned to
speak I’ve been asked what I want to do
when I grow up
I’ve been asked where I see myself in 20
years 10 years 5 years but no less than
5 years because what could we possibly
do in less than 5 years
my point in saying this is that in order
to achieve a long term life direction we
first have to assemble smaller
short-term directions it will look
something like this think reflect for a
second
are the activities you place in your
lives driving you towards this long-term
direction or are they just taking up
space are they just background music
it’s easy to say where we want to be in
a year maybe two years maybe five or ten
if we’re particularly ambitious but what
most people miss is that in order to get
there we first have to assemble these
smaller directions so the next time
you’re giving an impromptu speech the
next time you’re struggling with a
difficult tax question the next time
you’re giving that pitch to an investor
think where are you headed what is the
direction that you are aiming for so
there you have it readiness confidence
and direction three keys to
improvisation and three traits I believe
are underrepresented in our everyday
lives if there’s one thing to take away
from this talk it’s this our life bears
are striking resemblance to a big solo
the moments continually passing by as we
decide what to do we act we create we
think we choose our life solo is always
rolling it’s up to us to decide what we
are going to play now I’m going to play
a little something for you on the piano
give you a taste of some musical improv
this is all the things you are I hope
[Music] [Applause]