"When you improvise, it's almost more important to know what not to play than what you can."                       Author Unknown 

Some of my students study improvisation exclusively but all of spend some time learning improv... Music is about self-expression, and nothing is more expressive than improvisation. When improvising the player has to leave the paint-by-numbers realm of sheet music behind and reach into the depths of their creative soul. Musicians new to improvising often cannot think what to play so they make a point of breaking with convention. Others want to play it safe and the only play what is "acceptable." .  

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In fact, the longer you improvise the more you realize that there is no reason to play something only because it's different. At fifteen I studied theory, starting with the Baroque rules for counterpoint. I quickly moved through blues and rock and at San Francisco State I started studying jazz theory. 

I teach to the goal of the student-- joining a high school jazz band, a garage band, being a church organist, or writing music and/or producing. 

The myriad of music software that is now available means that getting songs or instrumentals recorded does not require studio time or large sums of money. Even my eight-year-old students enjoy improvising. For the simplest exercises I ask students to play whatever they like on the white keys as I play chord progressions underneath. 

While I might suggest notes to start or end their phrases on I stress the idea that there is no "wrong" way to improvise. As students advance we do exercises with blues scales and then simpler jazz tunes.