9242 / 18210 · Workshop 76 — Long-Line Improvisation and Phrase Architecture: Breathing Across Bar Lines, Building 4–8 Bar Ideas, Delaying Resolution, and Making a Solo Tell a Story← prev⊞ allnext →
76.3The bar line is not a wall
A bar line helps organize meter.
It does not tell a melody:
stop here.
One of the clearest signs of immature improvisation is that phrases constantly begin on beat 1 and finish on beat 4.