Musical Improv for Beginners

Where should I start?

As well as what we jokingly call ‘real improv’ AndAlso has a very experienced set of musical improv teachers and training. If you've ever dreamed of combining the spontaneity of improv with the magic of music, then we can help.

Whether you're a seasoned singer or someone who just loves to hum in the shower, we offer a fun and supportive environment to explore your musical improv. Scroll down for our online and in-person musical improv drop in classes, as well as dates for our next level 1 Music course (level 4 on our training pathway)

What is Musical Improv?

Musical improv is the art of creating songs on the spot. Just like traditional improv, it involves spontaneous performance, but with the added element of music.

We start classes with simple physical and vocal warm ups and singing and rhyming games. Next you’ll move onto fully improvised songs, improvised scenes into songs and eventually even fully improvised musicals.

You don't need to be a musician to join us; we have a live pianist in all the classes. All you need is a willingness to play, explore, and have fun.

FAQs

Do I need to be a good singer? - Not at all! Musical improv is about having fun and expressing yourself, not about hitting every note perfectly.

What if I don't play an instrument? - No problem! Our classes focus on vocal performance, and we have live musicians to accompany our sessions.

Is prior improv experience required? - We don’t require any experience of improv to attend our musical drop in classes. For our longer courses, we do recommend some experience of non-musical improv.

Will I need to sing in front of others? - We warm up altogether, then build up to singing solo lines. As you gain confidence, you'll have the chance to perform in front of your classmates and even live audiences.

Why Try Musical Improv?

Surveys about fears often show that many people fear singing in public more than they fear death! At AndAlso we know that singing in front of others can be daunting, but musical improv helps you build confidence in a supportive and highly collaborative environment.

There’s no way to be out of tune or out of time in musical improv and we’re all creating the songs together in the moment and our tutors are very experienced at working with people who haven’t sung in front of people in their adult life.

Combining music and improv sharpens your creative skills and encourages you to think on your feet. Lots of improvisers also say that taking musical classes helps them with their non-musical improv too, by helping them to be more emotional and expressive.

Which class to take?

The core of our improvisation training is our course pathway, which you can read about here. We recommend that you have taken levels 1 to 3 with us before starting our full-length musical improv courses. Our levels are twelve weeks long and courses start in September, January and after Easter. All courses end with a voluntary ‘showing’ for friends and family. We also run weekends and Retreats at various points in the year, see our Retreats and Intensives page here.

Or if you just want to try it out, why not come along to either our weekly Sunday online musical improv drop in, or our monthly Brighton in-person musical improv drop in, both of which are low-pressure, friendly environments run by our expert teachers. See the links below.

And if money is tight, we have generous concessionary and scholarship programmes. You can read about these on our policies page.