Improvisation
Improvisation is a common practice in many world music traditions and often featured in popular music genres as well. Rhythmic improvisations are quite common, but we will focus on melodic improvisation as is heard in this example. Improvisation allows a musician to display his or her technical skills and creativity through singing, the performance of an instrument, or both. Melodic improvisation can be entirely spontaneous, but more frequently it is inspired by a melody or theme (a musical idea) that has been previously heard in the same performance.