Whenever my daughter, Anya, comes home to Charlottesville, she signs up to play a new song at the open mic at The Local. This is no regular open mic: the emcee and host is the extraordinary musician and human, Michael Clem of the band, Eddie From Ohio. Every week he gives a prompt for writers and many come in with songs inspired by that prompt. You can bring in anything, as long as it is original. Then, the backing band, made up of a drummer, lead guitar, and bass, play with the musician on a song they have never heard before! It’s an alchemy of live music, improvisation, and love. For Anya, it feels like coming home. She’s been playing there since she was twelve and Michael always makes her and everyone feel known and held in the family of music. Last week, Anya played her song, The Alchemist, which felt just right for the alchemy in the room. On our way out, Michael asked us for a prompt. Since I’d just written the “Yes, and…” post, I tossed it out as a prompt for the song writers. As if to prove the point, Michael took that YES of the prompt, and ANDED the hell out of it by writing this incredible song….Read on.

When clients assure me that they do not need to prepare, that they are better when they “wing it,” I remind them of Mark Twain’s remark, “It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.” Exactly. Improvisation takes years of experience, weeks of rehearsal, and is grounded in strong structure and technique. This week, we practice structure to free our creative and improvisational selves.