Improvisation Pt.II

BY MIKE MANGINI

Even though I don’t really believe in it, what I’m going to do next is “improvise.”

BUT, I will be thinking, even just a little bit, about a category. The category might be something like dynamics, like subdivisions, permutations, or maybe moves, like the ones we talked about in the last lesson. Actually, I’ll be using quite a bit of everything that I’ve covered so far.

Whatever it may be, I’ll be thinking of one of these categories as I’m in the middle of playing one thing, so that towards the end of it, I have
some kind of idea in my mind as to what is coming next, and most importantly, how to transition to what is coming next. That’s important,
so that what I’m about to play doesn’t just sound like a bunch of stuff thrown together. Hopefully it has some kind of story to it, similar to the
mechanics of a good paragraph: sentences that work together, with smooth transitions that connect and make a point.

Clockwise Counterclockwise System

CATEGORIES

On the Beat Limb
A 1) Right Hand
2) Right Hand
3) Right Hand
B 4) Left Hand
5) Left Hand
6) Left Hand

Off the Beat Limb Left Hand Right Foot Left Foot Left Foot Right Hand Right Foot

On the Beat Limb
C 7) Left Foot
8) Left Foot
9) Left Foot
D10) Right Foot
11) Right Foot
12) Right Foot

Off the Beat Limb Right Foot Left Hand Right Hand Right Hand Left Foot Left Hand

Permutations
-Rights And Lefts-
-Notation-
-The Form Of 0’S And 1’S-
Binary Numbers
Even & Odd

Brazilian Biao

Basic Swing

THE
MOVES

Afro-Cuban Songo

Basic Rock

The Shuffle

Now for the “improvisation.” This isn’t planned, so let’s see what happens and hopefully it makes a point.
Mangini Ex. 1 – CD Track 09 - Improvisation.