On your mark... Get set... Stop?

Photo by Angel Wong

There's one bad habit from working in bands that can derail your singers in an improv show. It's easy to do, and if you're not paying attention, will suck the life out of an improv song before it even gets a chance to get off the ground.

Sneaky test notes

In a band, when you're about to begin song X, you know as a keyboard player you're playing in G, you have that padded piano sound; the guitarist comes in part way with a dreamy chorused rhythm guitar part; the bass player comes in on G later and had better nail that first note. So, after the previous song finishes, the audience have finished going crazy, the singer is introducing the next song... the musicians have little sneaky practice notes. The bass player tests that G; the guitarist has a strum with the nice chorused guitar; the keyboard player checks their piano sound and gets the level right. Just for an instant. Then a count-in, and the song starts.

I don't think this is a habit of all band musicians; certainly bands I've been in, as we've all become more confident and more at home with the material, we did these little sneaky notes less and less.

Start-stop-start

So you're about to start an improv song. Lets say you're on the hook for starting, the MC has finished introducing the game, the players are ready to go. And you tentatively hit a chord to test it out before you get started. Now - the players on stage listened to that, they are already mentally gearing up for music starting with that thing you just played. If you decide "nope, that's not the right instrument/key/tempo/feel", and change it, you're somewhat withdrawing the offer you just made and replacing it with a new one. Jarring.

Or worse - you kick off your song and let it go for a few seconds before deciding it's not what you wanted, so you kill it and start again.

Commit

Now imagine getting set up for that song again. You've picked a patch, you've selected a key, you've thought of a style to use, and you hit that first note/chord confidently. And it's not quite what you thought it was going to be. That's fair enough, these things happen. The difference is - don't stop! Don't say "wait" to yourself; don't mentally adjust for a second go at it. Keep going with your first attempt. By all means, fiddle with it as you go, change the tempo or style if it is what the scene requires. But commit to it and go for it.

What happens when you commit to it? You put an offer out there, the players feel strong guidance coming from you. They're professionals; they'll listen and be changed by what you're doing, they will accept it, and build on it. They'll yes-and the thing you're doing, even if it wasn't quite what you were hoping you would do.

And it will be ok. I promise.

You might even create something fantastic.

Oops

There is an exception to this that happens once every couple of years to me, and I hate it when this little gremlin appears. You get geared up with a key, tempo, style, ... the moment is approaching... and you lead the players with a really strong and confident chord .. But, oops, it's not a piano after all, it's a rap combo patch, and you've just played a jarring tom+cymbal octave with your left hand and a murky chord in a funk bass patch. Oops. In that case - quick recovery back to a piano and off you go. I hate that.

Thunderbirds are Go

Photo by Guin

The talented folks on-stage will often influence your music, but sometimes it's fun to let them totally puppet you around the keyboard.

Now and again, while I'm playing music behind the MC, or perhaps accompanying a scene, one of the players on stage will decide to mime playing that music on an instrument. Of course, they'll take up an instrument as suggested by the music. In a scene set in a jazz club, they'll pull up a chair at their air-piano. If someone's doing beat poetry, they'll start playing a double-bass. Or when you're belting out some heavy metal, they'll start with the air-drums.

The progression of moments in that little relationship is nearly the same every time, and it almost always ends with an audience laugh. Usually the action goes like this:

• I'm playing music
• A player starts to mime playing the music
• Once I notice them, I start to follow what they're doing, using their rhythm, their position on the keyboard/neck/etc
• They realise I'm following them, and keep playing, but get more confident and physicalise with their whole body a bit more
• They realise they are now in control. This is my favourite bit - I love it when they figure out they're driving.
• They'll do a few notably-different actions to see how in control they are
• They start puppeteering me around the keyboard, starting and stopping suddenly, using bizarre rhythms, doing runs up and down the board/neck/etc, playing the instrument with atypical body parts...
• As the song finishes, the person does their big finish
• Sometimes they'll mime clumsily carting the instrument off stage. Shenanigans ensue.

(My spell-checker really wanted to change "puppeteering" to "pestering" above; maybe I should have given it what it wanted.)

Sometimes a few audience members catch on to it, and the realisation spreads through the crowd until everyone's watching. Other times the audience doesn't even notice. I don't mind that - it's fun to have a moment with a player that no one else notices. :)

Foldback

Photo by Platform 3

Most of the time, a performing musician has some kind of foldback or monitor system, so they can hear themselves over the other performers. In a band situation, it's vital to get your own little mix with yourself a little higher than everyone else. What about impro, where you are a solo musician with a bunch of actors/singers?

No foldback?

I suppose a lot depends on where you set up to perform. I am quite frequently facing the stage from across the room, so I get the same mix as the audience does. That works for me on many levels; I can watch the performers, and balance my level against theirs. (Plus the audience doesn't really spend time watching me, which suits me just fine.)

Other times, usually at an unfamiliar venue, I'll end up on stage or just-barely-off-stage, either using my amplifier or plugging in to the house system. When my amp is in place, again I'm getting something like the audience mix. If you're on stage and using the house system though, things get more complicated.

It's tricky to play when you can't quite hear yourself. I think it's a skill that can be practiced; if you ever play air-keyboard or steering-wheel-keyboard while listening to music, you know you can visualise what you're playing. It's sort of the same skill in reverse.

Still, even if you're great at mentally projecting what you're playing without actually hearing it, you can still drop clangers. (It's embarrassing when your left hand is in a different key to your right hand.)

(As an aside - now and again I'll use exactly that technique, playing different keys with different hands. Take a lovely music-box tune; leave your left hand where it is, but transpose your right hand up one semitone. You get this really cool losing-your-mind-psycho feel.)

Foldback?

Recently when working with my friend Ben on guitar, we had a small foldback amplifier. Primarily this was so we could hear each other clearly, and not rely on the front of house for sound reinforcement. As a musician who frequently performs with a group, Ben also is more familiar with working with foldback.

For the typical sound person working the front-of-house desk, improv is very strange indeed. There are no pre-determined cues to fade the music up or down. Sometimes the musician wants to sit well under a scene, and sometimes they want to blow up right over it. Driving that volume is part of the musical performance. I rely on the front-of-house person to adjust my overall level, but generally leave it alone as a show progresses. I'm responsible for setting my relative level during the show.

When I had foldback, I found it very hard to get the levels right for front of house. I could hear myself clearly, and that was nice, but I had no idea if I was audible in the house mix at all. This was brought home later in the show when we realised the guitar level was very low in the front of house mix. It was high enough where we were to hear it, but the audience and performers didn't get much guitar at all. Next time we're going to try it with no foldback. (I am gradually ripping everything comfortable about music and performance away from Ben. Next I'll get him to play the guitar using his knuckles or something.)

The bit where you leave a comment

What do you think? As an improvising musician, can you survive without foldback? Do you always travel with monitors so you aren't in that position? Is it important for you to get a stronger mix of your own stuff over the performers?

Prognosis: Death! Character Themes

Themes for recurring characters can bring a great element in to a long-form show. Here are some we put together for Prognosis: Death!.

In the last instalment about Prognosis: Death!, Impro Mafia's long form improvised show, we talked about how character themes can contribute to the immersion of a story.

Dan from Impro Mafia has been hounding me relentlessly to record a medley of the themes from P:D!. (Well, ok, he's asked me twice. Lay off, man!) I finally got around to it, and just in time, too - the second season of Prognosis: Death! is right around the corner.

Some of these character themes were pretty well-formed during the first season. Others were still on their way, especially where I was still getting to know the characters.

Here's that medley, along with a breakdown of how it maps to each of Prognosis Death's characters.

Listen to Prognosis: Death! Medley or download it from Podbean.com

Listen to P:D! Theme by Tim Wotherspoon or download it

Intro: A piano-only interpretation of Tim Wotherspoon's excellent theme music.

Best Damn Doctor: Dr Burton Mangold (played by David Massingham) is the hospital's uberdoctor. Patients rarely die on his watch. And when they do - the drama!

Mangold's music is an upbeat triumphant march, very heroic. I must admit borrowing a fair bit from Captain Hammer's opening number in Dr Horrible for this.

Meanwhile, At The Nurses' Station: During the show, as one scene finished, the narrator would call the beginning of the next scene, priming it by introducing the characters and the location. The Nurses' Station was a great spot for some of the characters to meet, gossip, and console over impossible relationships, unaware that the latest supernatural threat to St Love is on the rise.

The Leggy Avenger: Nurse Lotte Buble (played by Natalie Bochenski) has been with the hospital for a long time. Things never quite go her way, but she soldiers on. Buble has a variety of unusual skills (one of which comes from the audience at the start of the show), including a doorframe repair person and a masked superhero.

Buble's theme is mostly upbeat, bittersweet, and resilient.

Love Theme: Dr Mangold and Nurse Buble's simmering tension often seems hopeless, as they set their feelings aside to deal with the latest crisis to hit the residents of St Love. This theme, or variations on it, often appeared when Mangold and Buble had the stage to themselves.

Faith and Donations: Reverend Thistlewaite (played by Wade Robinson) was the name of a variety of members of the cloth that appeared in different episodes, all with different countries of origin but somehow always named Thistlewaite. Jeremy Thistlewaite. Jeremy Von Thistewaite. Jeremy McThistlewaite. These Thistlewaites seemed to die. A lot.

Three Seconds Behind: Dr Ludwig LeStrange (played by Dan Beeston) is the hospital's mortician. He doesn't have very much to do, thanks to Dr Mangold and the low mortality rate at the hospital. Dr LeStrange is introverted and outwardly calm, but hides all manner of emotion and tension. He has awkwardly formed hand gestures; due to a bizarre time travel accident, his fingers are three seconds behind the rest of him.

His theme music is sad and discordant. This is the theme music I figured out first. Sadly, I recently discovered that Dr LeStrange's theme works very well as backing to Britney Spears' Hit Me Baby One More Time. Sigh.

Hunting for Doilys: Dr Harold Dean (played by Luke Allan) is the hospital adminstrator, and Dr Mangold's arch enemy. Dean schemes to scrimp and save every penny to generate more profit for the hospital. Healthy people aren't profitable, so Mangold's prowess in the operating theatre runs counter to Dean's agenda. Dean is always looking for a way to take Mangold down.

Dean's music is a nice counterpoint to Mangold's, similar in tempo and feel, but with a descending minor chord structure vs Mangold's ascending major chord structure.

Will Have Ten Cats: Dr Melody Carmichael, Intern (played by Amy Currie) is the youngest staff member at the hospital. She is good-hearted, somewhat naive, and tries to do the right thing. (Well, until the first season finale where, possessed by Satan, she orchestrates the death or downfall of nearly every other character. St Love is a complex place.) Scratch the surface and her ambition to be a great doctor shines through.

Melody's music is positive, a little oblivious, and happy.

Finale: The finale music, again based on Tim's theme, has a chord progression with a ring of finality and triumph. I avoided the temptation to use it early, and saved it for the very end of the last show of the first season.

Sadly some of the cast didn't have recurring theme music.

Michael Griffin swung in to support roles for whatever story was on, playing every part imaginable - a giant vampire kitten, a dying psychic child, a mafia enforcer, up to Rick Cocksteady (the one doctor better than Mangold).

The director and narrator Greg Rowbotham got on stage for the last show to play the angel Gabriel, sneakily encouraging a fallen Mangold to get back to the hospital and make things right again.

Mike has challenged me to come up with theme music for Thistlewaite, and for each of the villians that make an appearance this season. I accept your challenge, Mr Griffin.

I'm pleased that the show is returning for a second season at the Brisbane Arts Theatre. For Prognosis: Death! Relapse I'm sharing music duties with Nathan Howard, a fellow improvising musician here in Brisbane. I hope this show is as much fun for him as it is for me!

The Inconspicuous Instrumentalist

Photo by Lorika13

You're a performer, and you're in a show. So it's natural to crave attention and draw focus to yourself and what you're doing. Right? Maybe not. Hmm.

When I was at high school, I was actively involved with the school newspaper. (I know, I know. Geeky.) My job was called something like "compositor", dealing with the typing and graphics and layout. We went out of our way to make it look and feel like a real newspaper. You wouldn't find layout problems or spelling mistakes in there. Well, mostly. When you're reading something like a newspaper, if you don't spot a mistake, you don't even notice that another human being was involved in making it for you. It's not until you see a misspelled word, a layout snafu, or something else incongruent that you realise that a (fallable) human put it together.

I took it as a massive compliment when no one noticed my work.

In many ways, I find my approach to improv music to be similar. I'm generally pretty happy when I can contribute to a scene, provide support for the players and guidance for the audience, but remain unnoticed. That means the music fit, like it was meant to be there. I've written before about doing whatever the music or the scene wanted; I suppose that's another way of saying the same thing - play to fit.

I find this mentality runs through most of the choices I make when it comes to improv music. For example, I'll use sound effects sparingly or not at all, and I generally don't punctuate dialog-heavy scenes with trills or musical expletives. I try to avoid doing something that shouts "hey, look at me!" musically, pulling focus from the characters and the story.

Do I always try to stay unnoticed? Not really - there are times when the music provides offers to the players, pulls them in different directions, is supposed to stick out a bit and make itself known. Sometimes musical punctuation to a physical scene can be wonderful. And of course there are musical games where the music drives the players.

I also have no problem with the "hey, look at me!" stuff when supporting the MC in between scenes in a short-form show. In that context I'm more ok with throwing in a musical gag or standout moment. The MCs I work with are great listeners themselves; they respond and work that stuff in to the show. (As long as I don't have to talk in the show. Noooo talkie. I wish I could be the Paul Shaffer to the MC's David Letterman and do the witty banter thing, but that's not me.)

Being inconspicuous doesn't mean you have to play quietly. A few nights ago, I was privileged to perform with Impro Mafia in a wonderful one-off long form improv murder mystery called Agatha Holmes. Right at the dénouement, in one of the most dramatic scenes full of accusations and revelations, I vaguely recall absolutely hammering the piano like a maniac, arms flailing about, with mad "nefarious villian ties damsel to the traintracks" music. It was brash and dramatic, and it pushed the scene further. It fit.

Review: Musical Direction for Improv and Sketch Comedy

Musical Direction for Improv and Sketch Comedy is the first book dedicated to teaching the art of music for improv. Does it belong in your bookshelf?

The book

"Composing" and performing music for improv is a niche within a niche, and there are precious few sources of information to guide the new musical improviser. Musical Direction for Improv and Sketch Comedy by Michael Pollock fills that gap; it is a unique and useful resource.

The book starts out with some coaching for brand new improvising musicians, leading with a material on what this improv stuff is all about, along with a very practical runsheet on how a typical show is structured, from call time to heading home. It's perfect for the "Hey, musician friend-o-mine, we need some help with this show. Do you know what improv is? No? Here - read this." situation.

Michael has great material on how to improvise segues and how to underscore scenes, taking the reader through exercises to help them become more comfortable making this stuff up. One of the longer chapters in the book provides excellent guidance on accompaning an improvised song - easily one of the most difficult parts of this craft to learn.

The book takes you through more than 40 improvised games (musical and non-musical), giving the newer improviser some guidance on the sorts of games you'll find in a short-form show. Growing up as a Theatresports musician, I knew many of these games by different names (eg "Musical Mirror" instead of "Soundtrack"), and there were plenty of games I hadn't met before.

As well as material on musical performance and composition, Michael includes lots of material about the logistics of being an improv musician, from the sorts of gigs you might do (and the money you might earn) down to the equipment you might want to have ready to go for performances. I particularly appreciated the last chapter on the sorts of professional best practices one should have as a performer, never mind as an improv musician.

Aside from improv, Michael has wide and varied experience with musical composition and performance, and it shows. There is a chapter devoted to the kind of improv-sketch-comedy hybrid Second City perform, including concepts that are relevant to any dramatic accompanist.

It is evident from Michael's writing that he loves what he does. He's experienced enough to know his stuff, but is totally open to learning and being changed. There's a particularly interesting chapter where Michael discusses how witnessing a performance by Fred Kaz gave him a massive "Ah hah!" moment that taught him some important lessons.

The CD

The book would be great on its own, but the package is rounded out by a CD with more than 50 tracks to illustrate the concepts described in the book. Michael has tracks demonstrating a play-on, segues, punctuation within scenes, mood music for various moods, and sample accompaniment for improvised songs of various styles. There are some great tracks where he demonstrates a scene without music, then the same scene with music. Reading the book, you know that he understands improv and music; listening to the CD, you realise he's an extremely talented pianist and has the chops to pull off pretty much anything one might require for an improv gig.

Writing style

Michael addresses the reader like a mentor, giving guidance and encouragement, opening doors and inviting experimentation. Somehow he manages to remain conversational while writing with an economy of language that shows he has explained this stuff many times before. I've been doing this improv thing for a while, and I had a great many "Yeah, that's it!" moments reading this book, where Michael clearly articulated concepts that had previously swirled about unformed in my head.

There is a sort of Earth Shattering Secret in the book, but not the one you might expect. The secret is that - you can do this. You can break this odd job down in to manageable parts, learn the skills you need, and do it.

Michael Pollock

Michael Pollock has an impossibly great pedigree as a musical improviser. He has performed in Hollywood as a freelance musician for over 30 years, and his television credits include The Drew Carey Show and The Tonight Show. He is currently the Musical Director for The Second City Training Center Los Angeles, and performs improv regularly including Opening Night! The Musical.

Aside from his improv work, Michael is a featured solo pianist on Main St USA at Disneyland, and you can buy a CD of his work as "Ragtime Michael".

On a personal note, Michael has been particularly supportive of Musical Hotspot, providing encouragement and ideas, along with support at his site musicalimprov.com. It's always a pleasure to get an email or a comment from him about an article, and I hope you'll be seeing more from him on this site soon.

The verdict

I've met many improv musicians in the last year working on this blog, and reading their emails, the phrase "Michael Pollock's book" comes up all the time. Those musicians wisely went out and bought this book. And so should you.

Buy it. Now.

Michael Pollock's Musical Direction for Improv Comedy is required reading for any new musical improviser, and there's plenty in it for experienced improvisers as well. You can find it at Amazon, along with his entire catalog of books.