Episode 8: Jeffrey Agrell

In Episode 8, I sit down with Professor Jeffrey Agrell from the University of Iowa. Jeff is one of the most creative people I know, and he has brilliant ideas on improvisation, music education, and much more!

Episode Highlights

• Why “limitations are a creative person’s best friend.”
• Limitations force us to discover something new.
• We are hardwired to not like change
• Serial duets “I go, you go.”
• We need aural training on our instrument(s).
• Benefits of playing without notation.
• Improv games
• How improvisation “ties it all together.”
• Recommended book: Cut the Knot, Alexander Bogomolny
• Looking at “mistakes” in a different way
• We are all born creative.
• One of Jeff's many books, Improvisation Games for Classical Musicians
• Another recommended book: Thinker Toys, Michael Michalko
• SCAMPER: Substitute/Combine/Adapt/Modify(Also Magnify and Minify)/Put to another use/Eliminate/Retrograde
• Shout out to Ricardo Matosinhos!
• Why deadlines are really good.
• You are not alone.