Avoid the Void: Using Specifics to Enhance Musical Improv

Avoid the Void: Using Specifics to Enhance Musical Improv with Michael Lutton and Frank Spitznagel and Jacob Horn

Class Description


Scripted musicals take place in rich worlds full of interesting places and lively characters, so why shouldn't improvised ones? In this workshop, we'll be focusing on bringing specificity to our musical improv scenes through topics like environment, character, and context. We'll see that being specific isn't the same thing as being "invent-y" - it's about using what we already have to make scenes more focused. By making moves within a specific world and perspective, we can avoid getting trapped in the Generic Improv Void of our minds, leading to scenes that are more fun and satisfying

Instructor: Michael Lutton

Michael has been a Magnet instructor since 2011. He has travelled the country performing in festivals and has taught workshops in Boston and Washington, DC. He has also taught several corporate and team-building workshops.

He began improvising in 2006, and was lucky to train with teachers such as Armando Diaz, Rachel Hamilton, James Eason, and Tara Copeland.

Michael currently teaches Level 1, Level 4: Monoscene, Musical Improv Level 1 and Musical Improv Level 3.

In addition to his teaching duties, Michael is the Director of the Musical Improv Program at the Magnet.

Instructor: Frank Spitznagel

Frank Spitznagel is the Musical Director at Magnet Theater and a piano accompanist who frequently plays for such improv groups as I Eat Pandas, Veal, The Made-Up Musical, Gusto, and many others. He is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music, where he studied piano performance. His work can be heard on several studio recordings. Frank has composed for Comedy Central and the Aspen Comedy Festival. He accompanied Itzhak Perlman in an original jazz composition by Benny Golson at Lincoln Center. He also played the American premiere of The Hired Man Off-Broadway. He has been musical director for productions such as Nunsense (all incarnations), A Chorus Line, Chicago City Limits, and several original musicals.

Instructor: Jacob Horn

Jacob started improvising in high school, switched to a cappella while studying Comparative Literature and Latin at Haverford College, and then moved to New York, where improv came back with a vengeance. His tendency to harmonize, syllabize, or beatbox to any music whatsoever—a residual effect of a cappella that musical improv has done nothing to help—continues to make him an unpopular guest at parties.

Since 2014, Jacob has studied and performed all over the city, including Magnet classes with Jon Bander, Armando Diaz, Elana Fishbein, Megan Gray, Louis Kornfield, Michael Lutton, and Peter McNerney. He performs regularly as part of Musical Megawatt and is half of the indie musical improv duo 4D Thieves (with Jennette Cronk), whose appearances include Pittsburgh's Steel City Improv Festival and the Tampa Bay Improv Festival. (Photo: Tim Tiebout Photography)

Full Session Schedule


Session Schedule*

  1. Dec 15, 2019, 1:00pm - 3:00pm
    at The Magnet Training Center
    (22 West 32nd Street, bet. Broadway and 5th Ave., 10th floor)
This class does not have a show/performance