The Great Improv Song Sheet
So I'm teaching a sung improv comedy class tonight. With a bit of help from lemurtanis and thedan, I threw together this quick cheat sheet for improv songs. Posting because it may, just, be useful to some other people. It's probably not useful unless you already know the pieces, but it's useful for teaching things like this. Let me know if you spot any mistakes.
The Great Improvised Song Cheat Sheet 1.1 Jofish / Dec 2006 Warmup: Hot Spot (Alternate: Hot Spot Zop. Zip Zap Zop with songs; change on receive.) Da-do-run-run (Get: first name; optional location, occupation, emotion, etc.) I met him at the beach and his name was Brad (da do run run run da do run run) He was playing soccer but was really sad (da do run run run da do run run) (da doda do Yeah!) He stepped in a hole (da doda do Yeah!)That was made by a mole (da doda do Yeah!)He scored an own goal! (da do run run run da do run run… or continue until mistake or repeat) Short form: 12-Bar Blues (With guitar or piano accompaniment; I usually play in A.) First line First line repeats (optionally with minor variation) Concluding line. D - - - Woke up this morning with an G - - - D - - - D7 - - - awful aching head G - - - Woke up this morning with an G7 - - - D - - - D7 - - - awful aching head A - - A7 My new man had left me G - - G7 D - - - D - A A7 just a room and an empty bed. (Bessie Smith's "Empty Bed Blues"; unabashedly stolen from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_bar_blues) Doo wop (Get: object. Or similar. 5 people, shoulder to audience and click in unision) 1. I love my * 2. How I met my * 3. That Fateful Night (How I lost my *; chorus piano motion, sounds) 4. How I miss my * 5. How I’m managing without * Love Duel (input: occupation for each player) Guitar (or optionally piano): Gm - Em - C - D, over and over again Start by alternating 4 line verses, then 2 line verses, then alternate lines. Madrigal (advanced; © Renegade Duck) (in line; clasp hands in front, one inverted; 4-6 people) i Have a Song to Sing for You (falaLa falaLa falala) it’s Got eight Feet each Line you Do (falaLa falaLa falala) the Third and Fourth and The Fifth line each Must with Each Other Rhyme or You will Find you’ll Waste your Time (falaLa falaLa falala) (Or you will find you’ll waste your time Or you will find you’ll waste your time Or you will find you’ll waste your time falaLa falaLa falala) Longer form: (And, in general, you can throw a song into anything long form, like a Harold.) Gibberish Opera One narrator; n faux-operatic players Pop Idol Two confident song improvisers, audience decides Musical Free-form musical made up on the spot Using easily recognized formats, repeat choruses from earlier It’s about good narrative skills… with some singing on top. Edit (after teaching): changed order to something more reasonable in terms of sequence -- it was only the other way around so that the page break would be a nice place. We got all the way through to Madrigal, impressively. Blues Jam is so very easy. I wonder why we never did it in Roadkill.
The Great Improvised Song Cheat Sheet 1.1 Jofish / Dec 2006 Warmup: Hot Spot (Alternate: Hot Spot Zop. Zip Zap Zop with songs; change on receive.) Da-do-run-run (Get: first name; optional location, occupation, emotion, etc.) I met him at the beach and his name was Brad (da do run run run da do run run) He was playing soccer but was really sad (da do run run run da do run run) (da doda do Yeah!) He stepped in a hole (da doda do Yeah!)That was made by a mole (da doda do Yeah!)He scored an own goal! (da do run run run da do run run… or continue until mistake or repeat) Short form: 12-Bar Blues (With guitar or piano accompaniment; I usually play in A.) First line First line repeats (optionally with minor variation) Concluding line. D - - - Woke up this morning with an G - - - D - - - D7 - - - awful aching head G - - - Woke up this morning with an G7 - - - D - - - D7 - - - awful aching head A - - A7 My new man had left me G - - G7 D - - - D - A A7 just a room and an empty bed. (Bessie Smith's "Empty Bed Blues"; unabashedly stolen from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_bar_blues) Doo wop (Get: object. Or similar. 5 people, shoulder to audience and click in unision) 1. I love my * 2. How I met my * 3. That Fateful Night (How I lost my *; chorus piano motion, sounds) 4. How I miss my * 5. How I’m managing without * Love Duel (input: occupation for each player) Guitar (or optionally piano): Gm - Em - C - D, over and over again Start by alternating 4 line verses, then 2 line verses, then alternate lines. Madrigal (advanced; © Renegade Duck) (in line; clasp hands in front, one inverted; 4-6 people) i Have a Song to Sing for You (falaLa falaLa falala) it’s Got eight Feet each Line you Do (falaLa falaLa falala) the Third and Fourth and The Fifth line each Must with Each Other Rhyme or You will Find you’ll Waste your Time (falaLa falaLa falala) (Or you will find you’ll waste your time Or you will find you’ll waste your time Or you will find you’ll waste your time falaLa falaLa falala) Longer form: (And, in general, you can throw a song into anything long form, like a Harold.) Gibberish Opera One narrator; n faux-operatic players Pop Idol Two confident song improvisers, audience decides Musical Free-form musical made up on the spot Using easily recognized formats, repeat choruses from earlier It’s about good narrative skills… with some singing on top. Edit (after teaching): changed order to something more reasonable in terms of sequence -- it was only the other way around so that the page break would be a nice place. We got all the way through to Madrigal, impressively. Blues Jam is so very easy. I wonder why we never did it in Roadkill.