“What is musical improv, exactly?”
A number of friends have asked me this question over the past few months, as I’ve worked my way through the beginner and advanced musical improv classes at Comedy Bar here in Toronto.
I’m always glad they asked, because I’ve been obsessed with this art form for years, even before I gathered the guts to get involved in it myself. I could yap about it for hours.
our ask-for was “a room in the house”
the suggestion we got was “mud room”
I was given the song title “It’s Too Mud-Roomy”
I sang a soulful solo about divorce and muddy boots 😂
— Kate Sloan (she/her) (@katesloan.com) April 4, 2025 at 11:43 AM
When they ask about it, I explain to them that this type of musical improv (as opposed to, say, instrumental jazz improv) involves singing songs you make up on the spot, with the help of a musical director who’s playing the piano. Often it’s shortform games you might’ve seen on old episodes of Whose Line Is It Anyway, like Hoedown or Irish Drinking Song, in which you make up lyrics as a group to a pre-existing melody.
But other times, we make up the lyrics and the melody simultaneously, and – to quote the musical improvisor Zach Reino – “if that sounds terrifying… thank you!”
It is terrifying, but that’s part of why I love it. You’re surfing the razor’s edge of adrenaline at all times, always trying to land that next line, that next rhyme. And because improv is based on the momentary impulses of our strange brains, sometimes it goes to some zany places.
yay, I can upload longer videos here now, so I can share this:
my solo song from my musical improv show earlier this week!
the suggestion I got was “THE VERY LAST PIZZA”
this show was completely wild for me because I wasn’t nervous at all, which I’m pretty sure has never happened to me in my LIFE
— Kate Sloan (she/her) (@katesloan.com) March 12, 2025 at 11:03 AM
All this to say, darlings, that this semester I’ve been bumped up to the ‘pro’ musical improv class, and we’re doing a bunch of shows!! And you’re invited, assuming you’re in/near Toronto or can get here!
My class and I will be performing in 8 weekly shows at Comedy Bar’s Danforth location. You can buy tickets at this link for whichever performance(s) you’d like to attend. I’m gonna be in these ones:
- Sunday, April 27th at 7:30 p.m.
- Sunday, May 4th at 7:30 p.m.
- Sunday, May 11th at 7:30 p.m.
- Sunday, May 18th at 7:30 p.m.
- Sunday, May 25th at 7:30 p.m.
- Sunday, June 1st at 7:30 p.m.
- Sunday, June 8th at 7:30 p.m.
- Sunday, June 15th at 7:30 p.m.
Incidentally, each of these shows ends with a musical ‘improv jam’ where you can (optionally!) put your name in a hat and get called up to do impromptu improv with a bunch of other cool comedy nerds, myself likely included (depending on post-show energy levels). So if you enjoy the show and it gets you curious about trying musical improv yourself, you can give it a shot immediately, with supportive folks – including (I think) our ultra-talented musical director Jacob Ollivier on the keys!
if I may tempt you further, here is a brief clip from my last musical improv show, of me improvising a blues verse about spaceships & Jeff Bezos 🚀
— Kate Sloan (she/her) (@katesloan.com) March 4, 2025 at 5:31 PM
It’s so exciting to be doing so much improv performance again; prior to this latest stint, I hadn’t really done improv since high school (which was 14 years ago!!), and getting back into it has reminded me that laughter and joy are more important now than ever… and that when you force yourself to do fun-scary things, it gets easier to do hard-scary things, too.
Hope to see you at Comedy Bar for some unhinged, off-the-cuff musical fun 😘