Keegan-Michael Key on Improvisation

Keegan-Michael Key (on the left in the pic above...) is one of great comedians and improvisors of recent times and had some sage advice on a recent episode of Mike Birbiglia's "Working It Out" podcast. Near the end of the interview they talk quite a bit about successful improvisational rules that helped guide the sketch show Key and Peele including the idea of "bridging". Imagine you're out walking and come upon a small creek in your path. It's only a foot wide and you could simply step over it and move along with your journey...buuut you're worried you might step in it get wet and muddy. Soooo... you turn around, rent a pickup truck, drive to Home Depot, buy lumber/nails/tools, go back to the creek, and build a bridge. You build a bridge over the one-foot-wide creek you could have stepped over if you just committed to stepping over it in the first place.

A fine but nonessential bridge

Don't backtrack and build a bridge. Commit to moving forward and don't overthink it in the moment.

Key's advice directly relates to settings of play and performance in the world of musical improvisation. I've talked about the importance of practicing with a plan and controlling your time but you have to test what you've learned and commit to moving ideas forward when you're "playing" (flowing from idea to idea with others or on your own) and especially when you're performing. There should be mistakes along all steps of this process, so as long as you're putting in good, focused practice you should be pleased to kick a little bit of mud on your pant legs when you're playing and performing because you're deploying what you've worked on by yourself in a controlled environment in a new setting with more variables (other musicians playing and interacting) and less control (playing in a venue that you aren't used to, maybe with an audience that's throwing bottles like in the Blues Brothers movie).

Keep going...