Any suggestions on keyboard improv? Either harpsichord or piano?

I don' t know of any specific examples of improvisation in Classical music except fro the second movement of Bach's 3rd Brandenburg concerto. And that's often all harpsichord solo, baby. (the only musical indication are a pair of half notes.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk206/ijones_bu...

Jazz improvisation is going to be based on specific chord changes. Those are well known ahead of time, and many piano soloists will make very simple melodies focusing more on rhythm, rich chord texture, dissonance and dynamics.

To add to your improvisation skill set, I'd write out chord progressions. Use progressions from other musicians and improvise over them. Start with one or two measure long chords, then as you improve your skill set, change the intervals when the chords change. Could be whole measures, could be changes on each quarter.

... whatever, it's up to you.

What you're looking at here is often, in the best expressed ventures, the playful noodling and doodling of an artist who moves continually in apparently wild and willful directions in a way which somehow still manages to be cohesive to the ear...

often, the time and experience of the improvisational artist creates the perception that everything and anything could be said or is being chosen to be said... in its most voracious incarnations it tends to remind me of a Jackson Pollock painting...

An important metaphor because it too is seen by most observers as a wild profusion... a boundless explosion of color that yet somehow 'works' collectively in some way...

Yet...

The observer may witness the ability of an artist to bend and adapt music to go in any direction they desire, yet in the artists own mind, they move in a system with clearly understood tho perhaps self imposed rules and structure. It is the Inner Complexity of the composition which provides the framework upon which the artist can perform, yet it also equally dictates areas which are to be avoided, even Not played at all...

in fact, it is more the notes which are Excluded from a given scale than those that are included that defines the structure and meaning of music... it is this Inner logic which gives the best improv its cohesive sound.

This starts most basically with the choice and adherence to a Key. A key which itself has a certain inner structure that assures a relationship among the tones used, although every key has within it a multitude of different specific scales...

So, knowing a tune is in a certain key does Not dictate immediately a scale to structure solo material around, but instead dictates what root each scale should adjust to.

Indeed, soloists who find they use much the same phrases would do well to learn a different scale to work within... adapting the scale by the relative key which aligns with your core chosen key.

Therefore, you can move to hand structures and licks of a Minor scale in a Major Key by simply knowing which Minor key is the Relative Minor of the major key you're playing...

by varying this inner scale (based on the key) you can find new phrasings and unusual melodic relationships.

However, even a scale and a key need a core Chord framework to define the movements of the greater harmonies within that key and scale...

Because of this, it is important to decide on essential Chord changes and structures which repeat on that level to define the movement of the song overall and the various tensions and releases that allows. Studying Variations is a good way to see how this core framework can create various textures and outcomes.

By deciding ahead of time on perhaps three different related and interesting chord patterns to move between, you give yourself somewhere to go and provide for new perspectives by moving from one tone to another and then back again.

Knowing your root chords will give you a lot of ready answers for possible notes to go to and directions to go when you get there that creates the possibility for you to then chose one of the many outcomes allotted on a whim, when you get there...

Lastly, you should try to follow your own interest. Play bits you like, try things you just want to try... take chances within these guidelines and you'll get better at knowing what works and what doesn't... it is eventually, your ability to return from rabbit holes to the predictability and understanding the underlying structure creates which makes the difference between meaningless noodling and the sorts of cohesive statements that make for all the best improv.

Take time to appreciate each note's unique aspects in this framework for each one has a different color and tone based upon this background which gives its specific tone the meaning you extrapolate from it later on... Linger on a note, for instance, throughout the different chord changes and notice how it's tone changes in effect when it is backed by the various different chords...

There are many rules, but good improvisation moves beyond those to a simple appreciation of the effects of each tone... in time perhaps even choosing more on instinctual feeling and association to the whole than on the wrote structures and logical frameworks...