Tim Kliphuis (1974, Netherlands) is one of the best-known improvising violinists in the world. His concert tours have taken him to America, Russia, Europe, Brazil, the UK and South Africa.
After his Classical Master at the Conservatoire of Amsterdam, Kliphuis quickly rose to fame in the jazz world, through collaborations with names such as Roby Lakatos, Les Paul, The Rosenberg Trio, ...
Tim Kliphuis (1974, Netherlands) is one of the best-known improvising violinists in the world. His concert tours have taken him to America, Russia, Europe, Brazil, the UK and South Africa.
After his Classical Master at the Conservatoire of Amsterdam, Kliphuis quickly rose to fame in the jazz world, through collaborations with names such as Roby Lakatos, Les Paul, The Rosenberg Trio, Richard Galliano and Frankie Gavin.
He is Professor of Improvisation at the conservatoires of Amsterdam and The Hague and gives masterclasses at competitions and festivals worldwide. His two books on Gypsy Jazz Violin are Mel Bay best-sellers; his summer school for string players ‘Grappelli-Django Camp’ hosts participants from 25 countries every year, and the popular Tim Kliphuis Studio is the world’s first dedicated subscription website for jazz violin.
Kliphuis’ approach connects different styles and audiences. In recognition of this, he was awarded the Scottish International Jazz Award, the Cape Town Woordfees Trophy and the Polish International Jazz Prize. As a Sony Classical artist, he released two albums with orchestra: ‘Reflecting the Seasons’ (2016) and ‘Concertos’ (2018), which includes his Violin Concerto ‘Ulysses’.
Kliphuis curated the violin festival ‘Fiddles on Fire’ in De Doelen, Rotterdam and programmed the World Fiddle Night at Celtic Connections in Glasgow. He is a Pirastro and DPA Microphones Artist.
www.timkliphuis.com
studio.timkliphuis.com
Improvisation for classical musicians
Violinist Tim Kliphuis is a multi-award-winning improviser, a best-selling educator with 3 books to his name, a pioneer of crossover between classical and jazz, and a composer with an ecological message for our future.
In this series of classes, Kliphuis gives an overview for classical musicians and teachers of improvisation styles and techniques, and then delves into more concrete ...
Violinist Tim Kliphuis is a multi-award-winning improviser, a best-selling educator with 3 books to his name, a pioneer of crossover between classical and jazz, and a composer with an ecological message for our future.
In this series of classes, Kliphuis gives an overview for classical musicians and teachers of improvisation styles and techniques, and then delves into more concrete practice lessons where improvisation is learnt and improved by all participants.
Lessons are a suggested 75 minutes, which allows for a group of 10-15 persons. In smaller groups a bit more material can be discussed and worked on, or else the same material in a shorter, 60 minute lesson. All lessons are WITH INSTRUMENT and the participants will be practicing and playing continually under Tim’s guidance.
Lesson 1
Overview of Improvisation
What is needed to be an improviser? We start with the freedom to play notes. Any notes. Then we inform ourselves. We learn about the scale, the diatonic chords, the circle of fifths, leading notes and more. All theory is directly practised on the instrument in small exercises with Tim’s accompaniment.
Lesson 2
Improvisation Techniques
A presentation of non-classical techniques. Slow bowing/breathing, ghost notes, jazz accents, slides and for strings, The Chop, create the stylistic colours that are needed for non-classical improvisation. These are practiced on live examples.
Lesson 3
Teacher training
How to practice improvisation with your own students? Tim has devised a number of “improv games” with very simple means, that teachers can start using in their lessons immediately. We work on interval training, chord training, consonance vs. dissonance.
Lesson 4
The Motif
Improvisation is instant composition. For your improvisation to satisfy your artistic desires, it needs the same techniques as a composer would use. The most important technique is motivic development: how to take a few notes and make them come back in a different way. Inversion, Retrograde, Stretto and all other classical techniques are worked on in this lesson.
Lesson 1 and 2 are the basics; For teachers, lesson 3 and 4 are recommended. Then, modules can be added, depending on the time and budget available:
Free Improvisation – how does it work? (1 or 2 lessons)
The word ‘free’ suggests there are no rules, but players who start with no experience and no rules hit a wall pretty quickly. Tim gives some basic tips and using what we learnt in Lesson 1 and 2 we
Jazz Improvisation and Blue Notes (1 or 2 lessons)
On the song “Blue Monk” by pianist Thelonious Monk, Tim shows all the aspects of jazz playing, including laid back timing, Blue Notes, jazz phrasing and articulation (which notes are long and which are short). This lesson uses some of the Improvisation Techniques from Lesson 2.
String specific workshops:
Accompaniment for Strings (1 or 2 lessons)
Learn to use the your string instrument in the ‘pizzicato’ accompaniment style of the great American jazz guitarists. We will work on two simple jazz songs and discuss rhythm, sound, left hand voicing, left hand string damping and more.
The Chop (1 or 2 lessons)
With your bow, make patterns that sound like a drummer or funk guitarist is accompanying. Rhythm and harmony blend together in a cool sound that works best on Latin or Pop styles.