Musical improvisation

Improvisation is very important in jazz; musicians learn progressions using scale and chord tones (Pictured is Johnny Hodges)

Musical improvisation is when musicians play a tune which does not exist yet. They play what comes to their mind. In the case of groups of musicians, they may have agreed on a few basic rules beforehand. Generally, improvisation requires a few skills:

• The person improvising must be able to play the instrument fairly well.
• The person must know some basic rules or parameters on the kind of music played
• The person must be creative

Musical composition is different: With composition, people first write down and arrange the music, before playing it, with improvisation they play right away.