Unmetered improvisation*

In order to improvise, you need to play an instrument or sing.  For this composition, I recommend you try to play the piano.  Even if you don't have strong piano skills, you can probably do this. 

Choose a scale.  Hold scale degrees 1 and 5 in the left hand, repeating them when they fade.  With the right hand, play an unmetered melody with the scale you chose.  (Unmetered means it doesn't have a consistent, steady beat.)   You can try to come up with a short motive (small repeated set of notes) that you can keep bringing back, perhaps even in different parts of the scale, but basically just explore the scale with a combination of steps and leaps.  Take your time as you play and slowly explore from low to high and then back down again.  

​Once you return back to your starting place, start repeating your left hand notes in a steady beat or rhythm and try to improvise with your right hand fitting into the rhythm you create with your left.  Keep finding ways to bring that motive back. 

Consider trying this composition exercise with a scale that you are less familiar with, such as one from another region of the world.  (You could look up scales from around the world online.). 

The idea of this composition is to let the scale slowly unfold, first ascending, then descending, so the listener gets to know all of the tones of the scale slowly and freely at first.  Then you can bring a more consistent rhythmic structure into the left hand to make the music move along and get into some kind of groove. 

Try not to worry too much about perfection, especially if you are playing an instrument that is not fluent for you.  If you do this exercise more than once, think about whether you want to keep using the same motives you came up with the first time to see how differently it might unfold despite this similarity, or you can start something completely new.

*First published (in slightly varied form) in Music:  A Brief Introduction, copyright 2021