Once upon a time, there was a young boy that became interested in the art of improvisation. So he played in band(s) and learned to jazz. He competed nationally in swing and learned to dance. He practiced on stage and learned to improv. And finally, he wrote a book of poetry and learned to rap.

And that young boy was me.

After those experiences, here is how I think about improv:

  1. Dance teaches the art of the move
  2. Rap teaches the art of the rhyme
  3. Jazz teaches the art of the melodic unit
  4. (Theatre improv) teaches the art of the scene

But that’s not always very useful.

For my writing community, I talk about it isomorphically:

  1. Dance is the art of the sentence. Worrying over the exact right words.
  2. Rap is the art of two sentences. Setup and punchline.
  3. Jazz is the art of the paragraph.
  4. Improv is the art of the scene.

For my computer science community, I talk about it through programming paradigms:

  1. Dance = imperative programming
  2. Rap = functional programming
  3. Jazz = procedural programming
  4. Improv = declarative programming (And 5. Combat = object-oriented programming. Put that’s another conversation).

The interesting thing is that all approaches are present in all the art forms.

You can improv in dance by thinking in terms of rhyming your moves. You can improv in jazz by thinking about the scene (motivic development). You can rap in paragraphs by focusing on storytelling instead of punchlines. And on and on.

Why should you care?

Because the foundational style of improv defines the art.

Rap starts with rhyme. If it doesn’t rhyme, its not longer rap.

Improv starts with scene. If its not a scene, but just one-liners or setup-punchline, it becomes standup comedy, not improv.

Add the others, sure. But start with the right sort of improvisation.

What’s in it for you?

Maybe 3 things.

  1. Skill: which type of improv are you most practiced in? This comes down to your parent discipline.
  2. Enjoyment: which type of improv is the most engaging, naturally, to you? This might not be what you’ve practiced, but what you enjoy watching.
  3. Impact: which type of improv gets the result you’re looking for? In fiction writing, beautiful sentences makes for great novels, rhyme makes for great sitcoms, paragraphs make for great anecdotes and short stories, scenes make for great screenplays.

But perhaps the most important question: what do you want to make?

  • Great moments?
  • Great rhymes?
  • Great units?
  • Great scenes?

There is no “right” art of improv.

Only improv that is right for your art.