How to Practice Improvisation

A common question amongst members of the Chick Corea Academy is, How do you practice improvisation . Heres what Chick had to say about it: My suggestion is using a principle that Ive described in some detail in previous workshops called gradients. You do it step by step. Think of a newborn baby. Theyre not walking yet but they want to walk. Around a year old, maybe a little older they start to get up on their feet, you know How do they learn to walk Well, its a gradient. You know, parents go, Wow, he walked Then he took a step and fell down, but he got up and he walked again. Its a good example of a gradient. You can see the purpose that a tot has, at that point, to want to walk. He doesn t care how many times he falls down. He keeps getting up and keeps doing it and keeps succeeding little by little until hes running a marathon a couple years later. Its exactly the same principle of how you practice improvisation. Wherever you are in terms