Is learning to improvise an essential skill for all piano players? Well it really all depends on who you ask. If you ask a classical piano player, they will tell you that it is not necessary at all, simply because classical musicians don’t improvise. The closest thing to improvising that classical musicians do is when composers compose what is known as a theme and variations, where as the name might suggest, there is a melody or ‘theme’ which is then changed and manipulated in several ways where you can still hear the original theme but the overall presentation of that theme has a completely different sound.
If you posed the same question to a jazz musician they would respond that it is an important skill for all jazz musicians to have the ability to improvise, no matter what instrument they play. Some jazz musicians would even go so far as to say that you cannot claim to play jazz music if you cannot improvise at all.
If you are intending to play jazz piano then you do need to learn to improvise. Like all other skills it is something that you learn and improve over time. In order to be able to improvise, you first need a sound knowledge of intervals and chords and learning how to improvise has a variety of skill levels from basic to advanced. This all takes time to accrue and become confident.
Regardless of what style of music you prefer to play or interested in playing, having the ability to improvise is a useful skill to have because it takes a reasonable amount of knowledge of music theory to be able to improvise. Whether you need to be able to improvise or not, being able to improvise is good practice for reinforcing your knowledge of intervals and chords in a very practical way.
While playing jazz piano doesn’t appeal to me at all and I’m quite happy to play classical music, learning to improvise is something I am willing to learn in the future. At this stage of my life, I don’t have the time or inclination to learn to improvise, but it’s definitely on my bucket list. Quite simply, I want to learn to improvise because I think it will make me a better musician and I will get to apply my knowledge of music theory in a whole new way.
Unless you specifically want to learn to play jazz piano, then you don’t have to learn to improvise, but you certainly can. If jazz music is what you want to play, then of course you’ll need to learn to improvise. Improvising is like most skills in life, if we want the knowledge and skills, we need to put in the time and effort (and a little bit of patience) to achieve our goal.