INSPIRATION – Search & Reflect

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Search & Reflect

Written by the late, great John Stevens, this is an essential guide for anyone running improvisation classes, community music classes, jazz groups and theatre groups. This book provides exercises that cover a range of abilities. Each practical example can be used as jumping off points to aid improvisation and rhythm skills or as a warm up. Each section comes with a clear explanation, diagrams and hints of what to look out for, that might go wrong. A much imitated never bettered, teaching classic.

John Stevens

I have used and adapted a number of the pieces and techniques from Search and Reflect as starting points for improvisation, to ‘free up’ players who are too attached to ‘the dots’ and to create a common language within a group who may have vastly different musical skills, experience and musical understanding.

I have adapted ideas from ‘Sustain’, Dot and Scribble to make abstract vocal sounds that are then interpreted as gestures and later as symbols to create a mutually agreed graphic score which group members can interpret and conduct as an improvised scratch performance. This process helps participants to re-define what a score can be, what a conductor does, how a performance can be structure and how a diverse sonic pallet can be created from any source.

‘1 2 Albert’ is my go to rhythm warm-up and if i ever need to reflect on a new or challenging way to inspire people to create new music, a quick flick through this book will usually spark an idea, if not provide the manual.

Gavin Lombos