In improvised music, a frequent use of idiosyncratic musical habits is often considered predictable and less inventive. Eyolf Dale, a jazz and improvisation piano teacher, gave instrumental lessons to the drums student Ole (pseudonym), working with free improvisation. In a workshop, they demonstrated an exercise that had the twofold purpose of identifying Ole's improvisational habits and then utilising these to develop strategies to expand a free improvisation repertoire.

In the workshop, they improvised freely together, whereafter Eyolf asked Ole to identify five typical elements in his improvising. One of these was a single stroke roll. Ole was asked to improvise using only this element at first, and then combine it with one other sound.

When Ole was forced to limit himself to one particular element while creating variations with this element, he started to become aware of what led him to use it in the first place, for example a particular motor pattern. Ole then tried to break up the pattern to free himself from this habit, which made him listen more attentively to his own playing and make more deliberate musical choices in the moment. This variation exercise generated more options for later improvisations, both creatively and technically. Simultaneously, he had practised creative discipline, by examining creative possibilities a limited material.

Instead of thinking of Ole's habits as deficiencies, the idiosyncratic elements were used constructively for further developing a musical form. This way, the exercise helped in avoiding the self-censorship that may hinder musical flow and inventiveness in improvising.