When people tell me they cannot improvise, I tell them we all improvise everyday. A simple conversation involves improvisation. One person makes a statement, and another responds. One idea will segue into another with no predetermined idea of where the conversation will end up. When two people engage in a DoSo Freestyle “conversation,” it is very much the same thing only in music two people can “speak” at the same time, and it still makes sense.
In all the DoSo Freestyle videos below nothing was planned. In each duet we just started playing with no predetermined structure. One idea just organically segued into another.
This first video is a duet with Patrick Smith on vibraphone and David Mills on guitar.
In the next video David plays opposite Cristian Ortiz, one of his high school guitar students. Cristian, who was somewhat suspect of playing without structure, took refuge in staring at David’s hands, yet his musical responses were his own individual sound and touch.
This DoSo Freestyle pas de deux is Istvan B’Racz on piano and David Mills on guitar.