Books about Improvisational from Amazon.com

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Price: $17.17 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In The Improvisational Cook, Sally Schneider helps home cooks declare their independence from recipes and set lists of ingredients and offers an invitation to a fun, more spontaneous way to cook with whatever is on hand. But how do you become an improvisational cook?

Once you understand how a basic technique or a recipe works, you can then begin to improvise. Start with one of The Improvisational Cook's essential recipes, such as Caramelized Onions. A special "Understanding" section follows, explaining the internal "logic" of the recipe and its creative possibilities. With that in mind, a savory onion jam; a real onion dip; a quick bruschetta topped with the onions, anchovies, and olives; or a rustic onion soup with dried porcini mushrooms is just a step or two beyond. Sally's notated improvisations illustrate simple, clever approaches and can be followed as is or used as a jumping-off point.

The possibilities are endless. Slow-roast fish at 300 degrees, along with some cherry tomatoes and olives for a sauce. Prepare a savory lemon jam to go with lamb or veal chops, or turn it into a cake filling. Roast a whole lobster instead of a fish in a salt crust. Add minced rosemary or Earl Grey tea to butter cookie dough. Turn a brownie batter into an elegant pepper-scented chocolate cake.

Sally gives you the know-how to embellish, adapt, change, alter, modify, and experiment in your cooking with plenty of encouragement and helpful information -- the tools and insights you need to find your own voice and cook improvi-sationally. These include an exploration of the "inside" of improvisation -- the creative mind-set, where to find inspiration, how to deal with the unexpected, practical approaches to learning "what goes with what," including a chart of classic flavor affinities, and tips on organizing your kitchen to make improvising easier, from long-keeping pantry staples to makeshift tools.

Using The Improvisational Cook, you'll discover a way of cooking that's fun, unfussy, and truly pleasurable. Everyday cooking can become creative every day.

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Price: $12.88 [Notify me when price goes down.]

101 Improv Games for Children and Adults starts with the basics of improvisational comedy, giving aspiring performers the building blocks required to think on their feet. A great resource for educators as well as for the professional actor or layperson, the book includes rules for 101 games that cover everything from easy warm-ups to over-the-top crowd pleasers, such as Fairy Tales, Bizarre Games, On Your Toes, and Narrative Games..
Price: $14.94 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Improvisational Negotiation presents an original approach for mediators, negotiators, and other dispute resolution professionals Drawing on his own experience plus those of his colleagues, Jeffrey Krivis offers the reader dramatic, well-crafted, and highly instructive stories about people in conflict - families, organizations, corporations - and shows how mediated negotiations help them to reach a successful resolution.

Unlike most books on the topic, Improvisational Negotiation does not focus on theory, philosophy, or formulaic procedures. The book highlights entertaining true stories that illuminate the skills and tools a good mediator uses to direct a successful negotiation and then asks the questions: What happened? and What strategies can we learn?.
Price: $24.03 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Amazing Phrasing is for any tenor saxophone player interested in learning how to improvise and how to improve their creative phrasing. The ideas are divided into three main sections: Harmony - explores scales, arpeggios, chord substitutions, harmonic embellishments, and other harmonic phrasing ideas; Rhythm - covers legato tonguing, swing feel, rhythmic displacement, how to manipulate time and other aspects of rhythmic phrasing; Melody - discusses contour lines, making patterns musical, developing a motif, building a solo, and many other melodic phrasing ideas. The companion CD includes 26 full-band tracks in various musical styles for listening and play along. Also available for guitar, keyboard and trumpet..
Price: $10.23 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In today’s fast paced, “right-sized,” competitive environment businesses increasingly need staff who are creative, think on their feet, take the unexpected in their stride, and work effectively in fluid teams. How can they instill and develop these critical skills?

The answer may be to improvise! Improvisational actors make up scenes, dialog and entire plays on the spot. They work collaboratively in front of paying customers who expect to be entertained and amazed. Improv actors use no script, cannot predict what will happen next, and have no chance to go back or rewrite. They rely on their knowledge, practiced skills and their colleagues.

This book is the first to apply the improv methodologies of the theater to developing the business skills that are in high demand. Kat Koppett—a professional trainer, management consultant and professional actor—demonstrates to trainers and managers how they can effectively transfer improv training techniques to their day to day business environment.

TRAINING TO IMAGINE translates the theories and exercises of improv into straightforward and practical guidelines and training activities.

This book is written for trainers, HR personnel, managers and team leaders who are interested in increasing their tool kit, and enhancing the impact, fun, and retention levels of their workshops. It assumes no previous experience with improvisation or performing, offers all the needed background and provides clear and practical instructions with a range of simple and effective exercises. Trainers and managers may find the book improves their own presentation and teaching skills..
Price: $19.93 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Are you a drama student looking for other ways to practice in your field? Perhaps you teach drama students or as a teacher want to enliven your lessons. Are you an actor who wants to diversify your role repertoire? Are you a therapist who uses active approaches to promote your clients’ creative potentials? Maybe you want to be involved in a meaningful form of social action? This is the book for you!

Thirty-two innovators share their approaches to interactive and improvisational drama, applied theatre, and performance, for education, therapy, recreation, community-building, and personal empowerment.You are holding the only book that covers the full range of dynamic methods that expand the theatre arts into new settings. There are approaches that don’t require memorizing scripts or mounting expensive productions. Dramatic engagement should be recognized as addressing a far broader purpose. There are ways that are playful, and types of non-scripted drama in which the audience become co-actors. This present book is unique in offering ways for participants to become more spontaneous and involved.

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Price: $16.41 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Amazing Phrasing is for any trumpet player interested in learning how to improvise and how to improve their creative phrasing. The 50 ideas are divided into three main sections: Harmony - explores scales, arpeggios, chord substitutions, harmonic embellishments, and other harmonic phrasing ideas; Rhythm - covers legato tonguing, swing feel, rhythmic displacement, how to manipulate time, and other aspects of rhythmic phrasing; Melody - discusses contour lines, making patterns musical, developing a motif, building a solo, and many other melodic phrasing ideas. The companion CD contains 26 demo tracks for listening, as well as many play-along examples so you can practice improvising over various musical styles and progressions. Also available for guitar, keyboard, and tenor saxophone..
Price: $10.12 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Renowned Kansas City designer and Andover Fabrics artist Sonie Ruffin creates 11 contemporary quilts based on the collection featured in "Bold Improvisation: Searching for African American Quilts - The Heffley Collection." Also included are original designs and patterns for quilts by Sonie, all part of her quest to learn about her family origins and heritage. Sonie's easy-to-follow patterns encourage creativity and simple, quick construction. Each design is paired with Sonie's imaginative stories..
Price: $24.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This book/CD pack explores all the main components necessary for crafting well-balanced rhythmic and melodic phrases. It also explains how these phrases are put together to form cohesive solos. Many styles are covered - rock, blues, jazz, fusion, country, Latin, funk and more - and all of the concepts are backed up with musical examples. The 50 ideas are divided into five main sections: The Basics - covers fundamental but all too often forgotten techniques, such as slurs and vibrato, that can breathe new life into your phrases; Melodic Concepts - explores various aspects of melodic phrasing, such as motifs, chromaticism and sequences; Harmonic Embellishments - discusses the melodic potential of harmonic intervals (dyads), chords and chord partials; Rhythmic Concepts - explores various aspects of rhythmic phrasing, such as accents, free-time phrasing and metric modulation, and how it pertains to melodic soloing; Solo Structure - all of the topics discussed in the book come together to help form the big picture. The companion CD contains 89 demos for listening, and most tracks feature full-band backing. Also available for keyboard, tenor saxophone and trumpet..
Price: $11.90 [Notify me when price goes down.]