In this short video, from the 2009 World Science Festival, Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the power and universality of the pentatonic scale. Using his audience as an "instrument", McFerrin dances across a giant, imaginary keyboard...
Read MoreCharles Limb, a surgeon and research scientist at the University of California, San Fransisco, (as well as an accomplished jazz saxophonist) demonstrated in a 2008 study that musical improvisation produces a neural state that is "uncannily similar to REM sleep", a time when the brain is at it's creative peak.
Read MoreImprovisation is at the heart of how we create and how we learn. Recent studies suggest that improvising musicians are more likely than others to use divergent thinking - a reliable measure of creativity - in problem solving situations.
Read MoreMozart, who was renowned for his spontaneity and invention at the keyboard, improvised a thirty minute encore at the premiere of his Prague Symphony in 1787...
Read MoreJohann Sebastian Bach was one of the greatest musical improvisers of all time. Here is Charles Rosen's account of the day Bach improvised a six part fugue for the king of Prussia!
Read MoreCharlie Pennel is a piano teacher in Jamaica Plain, MA. Charlie teaches in his studio and offers in-home piano lessons in JP, Brookline, Cambridge, Boston and nearby communities. Charlie's current project, Improvilirium! The Beginning Pianist's Guide to the Joyful Art of Improvisation is a unique resource for beginning pianists of all ages. Distilling insights and strategies from master improvisers and featuring over 300 original songs, etudes, and exercises. Imrpovilirium! teaches students to trust their ears "think" with their hands. and play from the heart.
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Charlie Pennel 9 Woodman Street No.3, Jamaica Plain, MA 01230 Email: charlie@charliepennel.com Phone: (617) 365-9232
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