The Game of Improvisation, and Other Fun Activities for Musicians
Us musicians are an interesting bunch. Most of us make music because it entertains us but making music sometimes has to be supported by an additional layer of fun. Every musician who has been a band or an orchestra has probably been through boring rehearsals or songwriting sessions. They might have zero room for variation in what they play, and they may want to break out of their shell. Or they may just want to spice things up a bit because that’s how they are as a person, and perhaps this aspect of their personality is what makes them a good musician in the first place.
That additional layer of fun translates to fun activities, and games form an important subset of fun. Considering that the audience for these activities are musicians in our context, one may expect that any gameplay that arises should have a musical twist to it. Yet, many people will struggle if they are asked to find a game of music, even musicians themselves. By game of music, I mean a game in which one actually makes music or plays with a musical toy such as an instrument. Sorry, Guitar Hero or Rock Band doesn’t count.
The very concept of a game has no universally accepted definition, although a lot of existing definitions agree on certain components. These components include interaction, a challenge for the player(s) to overcome, one or multiple goals, and a dissociation of the game world from the real world. There is a common musical activity which people would rarely, if not never, think of as a game, yet arguably incorporates all of the listed components. That game is called musical improvisation.
Interaction means the ability of the player(s) to change the game state through their actions. This is something improvisation is very strong in - every input from a player changes the music being played, whether it is just notes to keep the harmony going as it is, a modulation into a different tone, or a time signature change, and so on. For band improvisations, communication between band members also counts towards game interaction, since the members can affect each other’s playing and therefore the game state.
Players have a different perception of what the challenge in improvisation is depending on their skill level. Improvisation is not that hard for an average amateur musician if they know their scales or even the slightest bit of theory. All they need to do is play notes that fit with what others are playing (or in the case of solo improvisation, notes that are coherent with the preceding bars), usually along a set chord sequence and rhythm, in which case the challenge to be overcome is staying in line with the musical harmony. Skilled players, however, may not see this as a challenge since it may be a natural and effortless task for them. For them, the challenge in improvisation is more so expressing their musical desires to the utmost extent. Coming up with satisfying melodies and immediately translating them to played notes is hard. It requires a high level of coordination between one’s mind and motor skills while allowing these two to operate autonomously, and this does not always correlate with being a virtuoso. This skill is only gained through dedicated improvisational practice.
The goal of improvisation is to create something musically satisfying. This is a highly subjective goal as no two players will have the exact same description of what satisfies them musically. However, not all players have to be working towards the same goal criteria anyway. Greg Costikyan’s discussion on the concept of an in-game goal in his essay I Have No Words & I Must Design: Toward a Critical Vocabulary for Games explains the lack of this need well. He mentions SimCity as an example of a game that seemingly has no goal to it, going on to state that it is the players themselves who set the goals. In his words, “You can try to build a suburban utopia, with commuters using cars and no big central district. You can try to build a centralized city with good mass transit and no heavy industry.”
Improvisation alone does not create a world that is disjunct from the real world. Players could be improvising for the pleasure of an outside audience, or they might have set out with the intention to write a song, meaning they may utilize the outcomes of the game in the real world. Hence, to further define it as a game, from this point on, “improvisation” shall refer to “improvisation, for the heck of it” in the context of this text. Improvisation for the heck of it is successful in creating a different world – players are emotionally connected to the music being produced while distancing themselves from the happenings of the outside world, and this emotional aspect only exists in the creative context they are in.
Improvisation is not only a game, but a good game as well. The goal of creating something musically satisfying is compelling for players among its target audience - musicians. In addition, like I mentioned during my discussion of the challenge in improvisation, improvisation is a game allowing players of different skill levels to play, and generally the more a player plays, the more they are rewarded with skill. Needless to say, like most other games, improvisation is more fun when all players involved are at similar skill levels. Players who are good at improvising often have a miserable time if their bandmates aren’t that bright. Multiplayer improvisation has an additional perk to it: the element of uncertainty. When it is time to break out of a chord structure or a rhythm and a band member has to take the lead, or when a player is driving the melody, none of the other players have insight to what that player is about to do. This brings in variety in gameplay and a perception of randomness which is vital for the game’s appeal.
Below are some other fun activities for musicians, some of which have game merit.
P.S. I may or may not have done or witnessed some of these.
Remember the rhythm - a classic game in which someone plays a rhythm with an instrument or with their body and other players imitate them. Players who cannot imitate a rhythm are out. The rhythms get progressively harder and the last one standing wins. A variation of this game is with notes instead of rhythms - the players should reproduce the sounds by voice, potentially also saying the names of the notes.
Find the chord - someone plays a chord and the players try to figure out what the chord is by ear, saying either the chord's name or the notes' names. Like remember the rhythm, it gets progressively harder.
Swordfighting with violins - your violin is your shield and your bow is a sword. Gets even better if there are flautists or other strings instruments around - it allows for more varied gameplay. Flutes make for longer swords than bows but flautists have no shields, and cellists and double bassists have huge shields but they have to remain stationary. Viola players will have more of an edge over violin players, by the way.
Annoy the band leader with weird keyboard sound effects without them realizing who or where it is coming from. Works best when there are multiple keyboard players in the band. Bonus if you play an entire song with weird sound effects.
Sing into a mic and try to have the stringed instruments in the room resonate at the frequency of your voice.
Do back and forth sing-alongs with audience at a concert.
Switch your instruments during band practice. Try to play better than the person you switched with.
Keep muting your pianist’s piano strings with random objects until they notice.
Repeat every spoken sentence with your instrument, with utmost pitch and rhythm accuracy.
In an orchestra setting, poke your neighbor with the end of your bow while playing the violin and pretend you did it by mistake. Then repeat. And try not to poke them in the eye region.
Try obstructing your bandmates from view as much as possible at a rock gig - the one appearing in the most concert footage wins. The drummer is at a great disadvantage in this game.
Turn the bass volume down completely during a rock concert and as band members, take bets on when fans will notice something is weird. Bonus: play this game with the volume on but by playing random notes on the bass instead.
Play an entire rock concert with a St. Anger drum kit and try to retain as much audience as possible until the end.
Unearth your bass player’s amp during a rehearsal break and watch them go wild on all that static when you start playing. This isn’t a game at all, it’s just cruelty.
