{"id":2652,"date":"2018-07-11T11:09:17","date_gmt":"2018-07-11T10:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/?p=2652"},"modified":"2020-02-10T15:47:32","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T15:47:32","slug":"phil-lunns-top-musical-improv-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/phil-lunns-top-musical-improv-games\/.html","title":{"rendered":"Phil Lunn’s top Musical Improv warm up exercises"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hoopla teacher Phil Lunn shares his favourite warm up exercises\u00a0for musical improvisers and how they are helpful.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    Diddly dum.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The phrase is \u201cDiddly dum diddly dum diddly diddly diddly dum<\/em>\u201d, and we pass it around the circle, one person saying a word at a time. Once that\u2019s sorted, we walk around the room and pass to the next person with our eyes. For added variation, each time we start the pattern, we build a new one e.g. \u201cfiddly dee fiddly dee fiddly fiddly fiddly dee<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

    This is a great exercise for calming down, focusing, getting in to a rhythm, and practising passing and receiving. I particularly like the fact that it\u2019s not a game where we\u2019re continually on the edge of failure, like a lot of warm-up exercises. It\u2019s eminently doable if we focus, and very quickly, we do.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \n

      Pass an arpeggio around the circle.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      An arpeggio can also be called a \u2018broken chord\u2019, and it\u2019s where we sing the notes of a chord sequentially, rather than all together. Think of the piano underneath \u201cUnchained Melody<\/em>\u201d, \u201cEverybody Hurts<\/em>\u201d, or \u201cWalking in Memphis<\/em>\u201d. It\u2019s hard to describe in writing! The first four notes of \u201cI Could Have Danced\u2026 all night<\/a><\/em>\u201d are an arpeggio of a major chord.<\/p>\n

      We stand in a circle and together sing an major arpeggio up the octave and down the octave, all together, with \u201cah\u201ds. We then pass it around the circle, one note at a time. Every time we complete the pattern, we do it all together once, before starting again with the next person.<\/p>\n

      This is quite challenging, and unless everyone has a great musical ear then it will take a long time to do it correctly (and that may never happen). Regardless of how much success we achieve, it\u2019s an excellent way to really, really, really, focus on what we\u2019re hearing from our partners.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. \n

        What\u2019s Going On?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        This is an exercise I developed during a lovely afternoon being shown around Stockholm with my improviser friend Kerstin H\u00f6glund. It\u2019s loosely based on the song \u201cWhat\u2019s Up<\/em>\u201d by 4 Non-Blondes, which is better known by the yelled tagline \u201cWhat\u2019s Going On?<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

        Again we stand in a circle. Someone chooses a location, for example \u201cvampire castle\u201d. Each person in turn sings a rhyming couplet that describes the environment that fits the melody, e.g.:<\/p>\n

        \u00a0 \u00a0 There\u2019s a statue before me dripping with blood<\/em>
        \n\u00a0 \u00a0 Don\u2019t know what it means but it can\u2019t be good<\/em><\/p>\n

        And the whole group sings:<\/p>\n

        \u00a0 \u00a0 I said hey\u2014what\u2019s going on?<\/em><\/p>\n

        And we continue around the circle.<\/p>\n

        What I like about this is that as well as practising setting up rhymes (which there\u2019s loads of exercises for), this really tests our skill to follow a rhythm. The lines are quite long, and with quite rigid timing if you do it well. Improvising within rhythm is a hugely important skill, more important than rhyming.<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. \n

          Circle Adjustment<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          This isn\u2019t an exercise but because I\u2019ve talked a lot about standing in circles, I feel a need to share this gem that I learnt from Aden and Eric Nepom. If you\u2019re standing in a circle and the circle is a bit misshapen, don\u2019t despair. It\u2019s happened to all of us. Everyone takes three steps clockwise, then anti-clockwise. Tada! A better circle. I think I know why this works, but explaining it would take away the magic.<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. \n

            Plak!<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            A non-musical exercise. This is best played with a small group (6 max). We stand close together. Our aim is to come up with a slogan that you might see on a fridge magnet or car window sticker.<\/p>\n

            One person says a word: for example,\u00a0\u201cBadgers\u201d<\/em>. Anyone can go next:\u00a0\u201cplease\u201d<\/em>. And then anyone again:\u00a0\u201capologise\u201d.<\/em>\u00a0If you think we\u2019ve completed our slogan (which clearly, we have, because badgers clearly need to apologise), then we push our palms into the circle and say \u201cPlak!\u201d. Hopefully, we all say \u201cPlak!\u201d together because we\u2019re all building the same group mind. And then we create more slogans.<\/p>\n

            This is a great exercise for getting out of your head with your own ideas and joining in with the group instead. I learnt it from Emma Wessleus who used to live in the Netherlands, and \u201cPlak\u201d is Dutch for \u201cstick\u201d (as in sticking a car sticker to a car). Even in the UK, I prefer to say \u201cplak!\u201d as it\u2019s a good word.<\/p>\n

            Phil’s next musical improv course<\/a> start soon. \u00a0Phil travels to lots of improv festivals around the world to perform and teach. \u00a0He regularly performs<\/a>\u00a0at Hoopla Impro with his show\u00a0Phil Lunn is…<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Hoopla teacher Phil Lunn shares his favourite warm up exercises\u00a0for musical improvisers and how they are helpful.\u00a0 Diddly dum. The phrase is \u201cDiddly dum diddly dum diddly diddly diddly dum\u201d, and we pass it around the circle, one person saying a word at a time. Once that\u2019s sorted, we walk around the room and pass[…] <\/p>\n

            Read More<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2430,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPhil Lunn's top Musical Improv warm up exercises | Hoopla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/phil-lunns-top-musical-improv-games\/.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Phil Lunn's top Musical Improv warm up exercises | Hoopla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hoopla teacher Phil Lunn shares his favourite warm up exercises\u00a0for musical improvisers and how they are helpful.\u00a0 Diddly dum. The phrase is \u201cDiddly dum diddly dum diddly diddly diddly dum\u201d, and we pass it around the circle, one person saying a word at a time. 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The phrase is \u201cDiddly dum diddly dum diddly diddly diddly dum\u201d, and we pass it around the circle, one person saying a word at a time. Once that\u2019s sorted, we walk around the room and pass[...] Read More","og_url":"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/phil-lunns-top-musical-improv-games\/.html","og_site_name":"Hoopla","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hooplaimpro\/","article_published_time":"2018-07-11T10:09:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-02-10T15:47:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":1152,"url":"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Phil-Lunn-16-9.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hoopla","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@hooplaimpro","twitter_site":"@hooplaimpro","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hoopla","Estimated reading time":"4 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