I am working on a little theater play accompanying a **poetic clown** on piano on the stage. Most of time I improvise to **emphasize his emotional moods**, since there are no words at all.

When the character falls asleep I want to play something that expresses that which follows is (or may be) a **dream**, but being subtle and not so cliché-like as a several octaves **whole tone scale** ascension.

I like [NReilingh's approach](https://music.stackexchange.com/a/4976/12121):

> 
> Chords don't give us feelings, we give chords feelings.
> 
> 
> 

So I am not looking for a magical chord or scale to do this. I understand that it is my job to get into the character feelings and to find how to **express them through my hands** using dynamics, tempo... and even corporal expression. But it would be helpful to know other ways, suggestions, examples... to improve my improvisation background.