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Improvisation - an introduction to its theory and practice

Topic outline

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    General

  • General course introduction

    • General course introduction

      This video will give you a general introduction and overview over the course on Improvisation and its main parts. Start here to get an idea what it is about...

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    • Transcript:

      IMPROVISATION - COURSE OVERVIEW


      Hello and welcome to IMPROVISATION - AN INTRODUCTION TO ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE -
      brought to you by HfMT - University for Music and Drama in Hamburg and SPIIC - STUDIO FOR POLYSTYLISTIC IMPROVISATION AND INTERDISCIPLINARY CROSSOVER - via the HAMBURG OPEN ONLINE UNIVERSITY.  SPIIC is a project of Innovative Hochschule / Stage_2.0 at HfMT in Hamburg.

      My name is Vlatko Kučan and I am an improvisor, musician, music therapist and the head of the SPIIC project. In addition to working as an improvising artist, I also teach improvisation in different departments at the HfMT. I am looking forward to guiding you through this course on Improvisation. But before we start, let me give you a quick overview of the main topics of the course and its formal framework.

      MAIN COURSE TOPICS
      This multi-part course is about improvisation - a phenomenon that, as we will see, has many facets in both its practical applications and its theoretical conceptions. In this course I will be looking at improvisation mostly through improvisational practices related to music. But as we will try to understand the creative process of improvisation in a general sense, our discussion will also have relevance to improvisation in other artistic fields and contexts.

      I will start by looking at the most common fields of improvisation practices and continue by introducing theoretical conceptions and practical exercises as wee progress with our investigation and discussion. 

      That being said - there is one important aspect that I have to address right away: 
      improvisation is first and foremost a practice - it is therefore also something that we fundamentally learn through practice. The goal of this course is to provide a theoretical overview and framework together with some practical examples for the study of improvisation. It can not replace the actual act and the experience of improvisation - but I hope that it will give you some helpful orientation and inspiration.

      You will need no specific prerequisites for this course. My hope is that everyone interested in improvisation will be able to find some valuable information - regardless of whether you are practicing a performative art form, studying as a scholar or coming from any other field or practice. 

      FORMAL STRUCTURE
      This course is structured in larger units or PARTS - that identified by Roman numerals.
      Each of these PARTS consists of a number of chapters - the are identified by Arabic numerals. Each chapter contains a video that will present the given topic very briefly - and at the same time promote and advance our discussion. In addition to that, most chapters will also contain an audio podcast and/or other materials, like reading lists or listening suggestions - that will help us to explore the given subject more deeply - and I am looking forward to welcoming some great guests here!

      Here you see structure of the main course parts:

      PART I - IMPROVISATION - COMMON PRACTICES AND TRADITIONS
      In his first part of the course we will try to get an idea what improvisation is by looking at some of the most common improvisational practices, contexts and traditions.

      PART II - EXPLORING IMPROVISATION - THE THEORY
      Here I will discuss theoretical models and conceptions of improvisation.

      PART III - EXPLORING IMPROVISATION - THE PRACTICE
      Here I will give you some practical examples and exercises that will put the theoretical reflections of Part II into action.

      PART IV - JAZZ IMPROVISATION
      Here I will present an introduction to Improvisation in Jazz music discussing its specific idiomatic aspects.

      More dedicated parts might follow down the road - please look at the course webpage for the most recent status.

      So that’s it for the introduction to the formal structure. I hope to see you in the first chapter of PART I - thank you!

  • PART I - Common Practices and Traditions

    PART I - Common Practices and Traditions

    In this first part of the course and its chapters we will discuss some of the most common improvisation practices and traditions and by doing so we will get an overview over our subject and create starting points for a 'network' of topics that we will be exploring and discussing in the upcoming course parts and chapters.


    Chapter 1: Introduction and overview

    Chapter 2: Non-European musics

    Chapter 3: Western Art Music

    Chapter 4: Jazz Music

    Chapter 5: Improvised Music

    Chapter 6: Music Therapy

    Chapter 7: Other fields

    Chapter 8: Summary


    • Part I - Chapter 1 

      Introduction and overview


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      This chapter is an introduction to Part I of the course. We will formulate some general first thoughts on improvisation and look at some common conceptions and definitions of our subject.

    • Transcript:

      Part I - Chapter 1

      Introduction to Common Practices and Traditions


      Let us start by asking the most obvious question: what is improvisation? 

      I am sure that you already have an idea or notion of what improvisation is or what it might be - perhaps along the lines of one of the following popular ideas:
      the first considers improvisation as one of the highest art forms and practices which is reserved only for the true masters of the art -while another common perception is that improvisation is an obscure and inadequate ad-hoc method to be used only when one can’t perform the so-called “proper way”.

      From  my perspective, I see that neither by exalting nor trivializing improvisation will help us to achieve a better understanding of what the essence of improvisation is really about. Instead, during this course we will observe improvisational practices and discover discourses that have been revolving around this topic - and by doing so we will try to get an idea of the improvisational process itself.

      The multi-disciplinary approach

      When looking at improvisation we are indeed looking at a vast number and variety of traditions, practices, social and cultural contexts and related theoretical concepts and interpretations. 
      In the past years improvisation has been, and increasingly still is, the focus of a very lively and productive multi-disciplinary discourse that sheds light from different disciplines in humanities on the subject of improvisation: a field that has been established in academia as ‘Critical Improvisation Studies’. There is a growing number of texts and publications about improvisation, and you are seeing just a small selection of these as I speak. 
      Given the framework of this project it is obvious that we will not be able to exhaustively explore all aspects of our topic. Instead, I am inviting you to follow me on a wandering exploration of improvisation, my particular ‘path’ of investigation and discussion, which in some ways itself will have the character of an improvisation. 

      The metaphorical sturcture

      As the subject of improvisation is so heterogeneous, rich and complex, it can not be thought or reduced to a simple hierarchical structure - like a tree for example, where we would discuss the roots first and then branch out towards the top.
      Instead I will use a different metaphor and organize our subject in a rhizomatic way: that is to say, a three dimensional network of points or territories and connections, where all points are connected to each other. 
      In a similar way, the parts and chapters of this course will represent patches of territories of improvisation practices and discourses, whose obvious and potential connections will hopefully become plausible as we progress. 

      Defining improvisation

      The Oxford Dictionary gives us following definition: 
      Improvisation is the act of inventing music, the words in a play, a statement, etc. while you are playing or speaking, instead of planning it in advance; something that is invented in this way.

      This definition seems at first to be quite satisfactory, as it looks both simple and clear. But upon closer consideration it leaves us with many unanswered questions. 
      We could start with the term itself: does improvisation denote an universal human activity or does it instead carry a specific cultural implication: such as improvisation being the antithesis of composition and therefore a term related to a certain tradition of thinking. 
      Or if improvisation is creation without planning - how about preparation? And more so: where does the improvised material - the sounds, words etc. come from? How does it work? How does one improvise? How can we learn it? How do we listen to it? What is the goal of improvisation? What are the psychological, social or even political implications or consequences? Etc, etc.

      And indeed the many definitions of the term improvisation range from the notion, that improvisation is an elementary skill shared by every human being to very complex trans-disciplinary models and discourses. For the time being let me give you a second complimentary definition to the one from the Oxford Dictionary:
      Improvisation can be described as an elementary human creative practice, that is both performed within and determined by a given historic social and cultural situation, context or art form.

      In order to apply and verify this definition we will have to consider the following topics in our discussion: human creativity, psychology, embodiment, practice vs theory, performance, historicity, social and political interaction, cultural determination, definitions of an art form or idiom and many more. This may all sound complicated now, but I am quite optimistic that all of this will become more comprehensible as we progress.

      Speaking of progress: let me also give you another way of approaching the term ‘IMPROVISATION’ without being overwhelmed by its numerous connotations: 
      think of the term ‘EXPLORATION’ instead. 
      Exploration is an action. It includes curiosity, interest, motivation, courage, enjoyment but also occasional frustration, and a wandering rather than targeted movement. So: let us explore!

      The chapters of Part I 

      Here you see the layout and chapters of this first part of our course,
      in which we will try to get an overview over some of the most common fields of improvisation practices. And by doing so, we will follow our above definitions and questions, that will help us move towards an understanding of what improvisation might be.

      So that was Chapter 1. 
      Next up is Chapter 2: Improvisation in Non-European musics. 
      Thank you and hope to see you there!


    • Part I - Chapter 2 

      Non-European musics

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      In this chapter we will have a very brief look on how creative processes that suggest Improvisational practices are present in Non-Europeans musics.



    • Transcript:

      Part I - Chapter 2 

      Improvisation in non-European musics


      In this chapter we will have a very brief look on how creative processes that suggest improvisational practices are present in Non-Europeans musics. The musical traditions that we will explore are well known for their long histories in both performance and education, which in that regard makes them comparable to so-called Western Art Music.

      You  may have noticed my cautious use of the term improvisation here. This is due to the fact that in order to apply this term to the Non-European musics that we will explore, we  need to be  aware of our own cultural determinations. By doing so, we want to try to avoid falling into the trap of unconsciously and thus blindly applying certain perspectives which originate from the western cultural context - and which seem almost self-evident to us - to other cultural experiences and traditions.

      ETHNOMUSICOLOGY - THE SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL DIMENSION OF ART

      For a long time, in music and almost any other art form, the productions and practices that have emerged from western or occidental traditions were considered the only valid standard - which is no surprise as the discourse was mostly dominated by western academic institutions. Anything that did not belong to this tradition was all too carelessly considered primitive, folkloristic or outdated in a historic sense - implying an inferiority and irrelevance. Such arrogant and biased views have fortunately been increasingly questioned and revised in recent decades. 

      Today we find such processes of re-evaluation not only reflected in the sciences, but also represented in the every-day artistic practice of our globalised world. Schools and academies are recognising that their task is not only to maintain western traditions and dominions, but that an important goal and challenge lies precisely in recognising and understanding the dynamic developments of the globalised present - and therefore necessarily includes non-western cultural traditions.

      The method of contemporary ethnomusicology for example, considers musical traditions and their modes of production in their respective historical and socio-cultural context. It applies the same approach also to European art music or Jazz, just to name those two, by making them into objects of investigation. This approach renders ethnomusicology an important instrument that enables us to critically discuss and understand given traditional concepts and role distributions within their respective contexts. We will in a later part of this course have a closer look at Paul Berliners groundbreaking study on Jazz Improvisation as a vivid example of this approach.

      COMPOSER - PERFORMER - IMPROVISOR

      In connection with our subject - improvisation, a significant tenet of the Western musical canon is the strict binary separation of the terms composition and improvisation. As we shall see, however, behind this juxtaposition, which we might take for granted, there is no compelling need to separate these into two fundamentally different principles or processes.

      We find a comparable duality in the separation of composer and performer: both seem at first glance to be clearly distinguishable roles. But if we look at the matter from the perspective of artistic production, even this categorical definition of authorship does not look as self-evident and unproblematic as it might initially seem.

      IMPROVISATION AS ELEMENTARY CREATIVE HUMAN PRACTICE

      If we understand improvisation in its nature as a creative, explorative and playful activity, it is obvious that we can also see in it a very elementary human creative practice.

      This applies to the phylogenetic development of man as well as to the ontogenetic development of the individual. We will discuss this aspect in more detail in the chapter on improvisation in music therapy. But for now we can perhaps assume in simple terms, that our early ancestors began to make music as a group of improvisors and further more that starting in early childhood development every human being discovers his or her social and representational world by means of improvised creative play.

      It is therefore not surprising that in the artistic practice of many musical cultures of the world this playful and creative aspect - that we might relate to the term Improvisation - is much more evident and less obstructed and disguised than it seems to be the case in Western Art Music. We will revisit this point in the next chapter when we actually come to talk about Western Art Music more in detail.

      IMPROVISATION VERSUS COMPOSITION

      Let's take Persian, Indian or Korean art musics for example - any of these great music traditions would deserve a much closer look - but as our time is limited allow me to use them as combined examples for my argument. All these musics have centuries-old traditions and require both very long studies and the highest degree of skill from the performers. In all three of these musical traditions, composition in the sense of a fixed traditional organization of the material certainly plays a very important role. And in this regard they are very similar to Western Art Music.

       At the same time, the focus of musical understanding and appreciation lies on the emphasis on performance. It is understood that the musicians who perform the music, transform it into sound and thus bring it into life and into the experience of others.

      This has also a direct influence on music education and how the musicians are being trained, which is less based on exercises and works written down in music notation, but rather on oral transfer and practical exchange by  a master (who is both a teacher and an able performer) and student. The learning process is thus already characterized by a practical and explorative approach.

      At the same time as learning the complex, traditional idiomatic material and imitating their master, the students are required to find and develop elements of their own expression. These can take the form of musical embellishments, decorations, variations, etc. within the framework of relatively narrow idiomatic guidelines - or it can be executed in extensive form parts or passages that serve primarily this purpose. The mastery of the musician is measured by his or her ability to do justice to both: the traditional guidelines and their creative and individual implementation and redesign.

      We can certainly understand such an approach towards performance as an improvisational process - but we must remember not to apply a rigid understanding of the term improvisation, that formulates itself as an antithesis to the term composition.

      In fact, these musical traditions show us that the Western division and delimitation of the terms composition, interpretation and improvisation is quite questionable and even not appropriate, at least not here. They suggest that, if viewed from within the practical context of music making, we can perhaps understand these terms rather as different modes of creation - that do not mark rigid boundaries but rather connect and flow into each other.

      We will see in the next chapter, that a similar ideal and practice was also very much alive at times in Western Art Music. And more so, we will argue that the notion of a strict separation of composition, interpretation and improvisation is quite problematic - even in its well established context of Western Art Music.

      Summary of Chapter 2

      In this chapter we have briefly considered the role of improvisation in some Non-European art music traditions. We have seen that of utmost importance is not the presentation of works but rather the creative re-interpretation of traditional material within the framework of the established idiom. As a result of this, the functional and hierarchical distinction between composer, interpreter and a performer/ improviser is less rigid. It is the artistic quality and sensory live experience of the performance that is essential in this setting.

      And as I have previously argued  it might be worthwhile to question western terminology, as it might indeed come with some culturally biased implications. In the case of our main topic - Improvisation - it might be very helpful to liberate our understanding of the term from its more recent western coinage and contextualisation, as it narrows our perspective.

      Please do not forget to listen to the audio podcast that accompanies this  and any of the following chapters - as this will be the place, where I will discuss the given topic more in-depth with my knowledgeable guests.

      We will continue our investigation by looking at Western Art Music in the next chapter. Thank you and see you there!


    • Part I - Chapter 3 
      Western Art Music

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      In this chapter we will briefly sketch where and when in European music history the practice of improvisation was cultivated, looking in more detail at developments in the 20th century.

    • Transcript:

      Part I - Chapter 3

      Improvisation in Western Art Music

      As we have already realised in the previous chapter on improvisation in Non-European musics, the departure point of western art music presents us with various challenges in regard with our subject. We shall see here that these challenges go beyond the bare de-coding of terminology. With its rich diversity of developments and styles, western art music is the result and in many ways a reflection of the complex and extremely dynamic history of the European continent and its philosophical, political, social and economic developments - and the conflicts that have arisen from them. 


      In our search for traces of the element of improvisation, we would be well advised to take the previously mentioned enthno-musicological perspective and to critically question dogmatic positions and potential prejudices that are still prevalent today and have in part become entrenched in academic truths. Thus, we will briefly sketch where and when in European music history the practice of improvisation was cultivated, looking in more detail at developments in the 20th century. At the same time, we want to try to understand how and why improvisation repeatedly threatened to be repressed and forgotten. Fortunately the latter did not happen and we are currently experiencing a new revival of interest in improvisation. Our task remains to better understand improvisation as an artistic method and to free it from old ballast - and obvious under- but also overestimations.

      CLASSICAL MUSIC AND IMPROVISATION

      In fact, improvisation played a not insignificant role in European Art Music, especially in its earlier history. Derek Bailey summarizes this in his book Improvisation - It's nature and practice in music as follows:

      The working out and early practice of Gregorian chant and of polyphony was in both cases largely through improvisation; the 17th century school of organ music was mainly developed through performers' extemporisations, and throughout the 17th and 18th centuries accompaniment both in opera and in concerted chamber music was generally left to be improvised over a figured bass which itself grew out of improvised counterpoint. At the beginning of the baroque period improvised ornamentation extended equally to secular and sacred forms, to the arias of opera and oratorio, to cantatas and 'sacred concertos', to songs and solo vocal pieces of all sorts and it appeared also in the newly rising forms of instrumental music, especially sonatas and concertos. (…) Even much later than the baroque period Paganini could write: “My duties require me to play in two concerts each week and I always improvise with piano accompaniment. I write this accompaniment in advance and work out my theme in the course of the improvisation.”

      (Derek Bailey: Improvisation - Its Nature and Practice in Music; Da Capo Press, 1992)

      In organ music this tradition of the importance and appreciation of improvisation has continued to the present day, especially in the French organ school.

      COMPOSER, CONDUCTOR, SOLOIST, ORCHESTRA

      A decisive development that has contributed to the decline of improvisational practice is perhaps to be found in the emergence and growth of orchestral music. On one hand, improvising in large orchestral ensembles seems difficult and impractical for various reasons. And on the other hand, the orchestra itself manifests a strict division of tasks and a strict hierarchy: the composer as the ingenious creator, the conductor as his extended arm and the orchestra musicians as the performing 'craftsmen'. 

      The extent to which this hierarchy reflects not only the artistic division of labor, but also common notions of creativity and prevailing social power relations is unmistakable. Social communication and creative self-expression, exploration and collective authorship - all characteristics of improvisation - seem to fall by the wayside. As a result of such artistic dis-empowerment of the orchestral musician, the composer and his (yes, composers were mostly highly ranked men in a patriarchal world) written works were downright exaggerated, a process that was to continue beyond the Romantic period and well into the New Music of the twentieth century. During this period, the practice of improvisation was certainly far from being an essential element of European art music - it was simply not existant. It was not until the second half of the 20th century that it experienced a short but very intense renaissance. 

      THE SECOND VIENESE SCHOOL AND THE EXPLORATION OF SOUND

      But before this was to happen, a decisive aesthetic reorganization of European art music was to take place starting with the classical modernism of the early 20th century, which is not without significance in our context. The turning away from the musical ideals of romanticism - thus away from the exuberant affective expression of the individual - and the movement towards the depersonalized clarity of pure sound and form - gave rise to completely new questions about improvisation - as in many cases improvisation was considered - if nothing else than a method of subjective expression. Did this mean that improvisation was completely finished and obsolete? Of course not - but it required a completely new discourse to understand this apparent contradiction. 

      HEAR THE PEOPLE’S VOICES - IMPROVISATION AND POLITICS

      In the second half of the 20th century numerous new approaches in regard to the organization of musical material and the performance of music were developed: aleatoric, indeterminacy, graphic scores, electroacoustic composition, live electronic music. All these new concepts also had an impact on the status of the interpreter, as they allowed or even explicitly asked for a higher degree of involvement from the performer.

      And in the 1960s, with its explosive political and social discourses, debates and actions, contemporary music also witnessed new developments and ideas that reflected these emancipatory ideals and desires. Accordingly, it is not surprising that improvisation, as an artistic method that both grants the individual autonomy and enables social interaction within a group, suddenly came into the focus of both composers and ensembles longing for egalitarian democratic principles.

      In a certain sense it seems, that this development led to a process of splitting: established composers - take Cage or Stockhausen for example - flirted with improvisation for a while, but soon rejected it again. One could argue not least because it ultimately called into question the composer's authorship and thus also his status. At the same time, other individuals and ensembles - like Cornelius Cardrew and Scratch Orchestra - were formed - which, while rooted in the tradition of New Music, began to explore and establish improvisation as their preferred method of music making. This movement was one of the inflows that led to the development of a completely new musical genre: Improvised Music - we will hear more about this in chapter five.

      A NEW WAY TO LOOK AT THINGS

      As the very limited time frame of this overview does not allow us to outline these developments in more detail, I will pick up our ongoing discussion of the term improvisation. Here it want to point out more recent theoretical approaches that question the common dichotomy of composition and improvisation even within the framework of European art music - a not insignificant aspect in the context of our discussion. Bruce Ellis Benson writes in his book The improvisation of musical dialogue - A Phenomenology of Music:

      The problem with improvisation is that it does not fit very neatly into the schema that we normally use to think about music making – that is, the binary opposition of composition and performance.

      On the one hand, improvisation seems at least to be a kind of extemporaneous composition in that it does not seem to be an ‘interpretation’ of something that already exists. In this sense, it differs from performance, which we normally take to be a kind of re-presentation – the presentation of something that has already been present and is made present once again. (…)

      It is precisely this characteristic of being between composition and performance that makes improvisation particularly well suited to thinking about both, as well as their relation to one another. On my view, both composition and performance are improvisatory in nature, albeit in different ways and to differing degrees. Composers never create ex nihilo, but instead ‘improvise’: sometimes on tunes that already exist, but more frequently and importantly on the tradition in which they work.

      (Bruce Ellis Benson: The improvisation of musical dialogue - A Phenomenology of Music; Cambridge University Press,2003)

      SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 3

      I think we can clearly hear how Benson’s points resonate with the observations and considerations we have made in our discussion of Non-European musics. Let us leave the discussion of composition versus improvisation for the moment and focus on a new field of improvisation practices.

      In the next chapter I want to discuss Jazz music - an art form that, like no other, is almost synonymous with the concept of improvisation.

      Please do not forget to listen to the audio podcast to this chapter.

      Thank you and see you later!

    • Part I - Chapter 4 
      Jazz Music

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      In this chapter we will try to trace the development of the essential elements and organizational principles of Jazz music and to find out where the vital and spontaneous improvisational gesture of this music originates.

    • Transcript:


      Part I - Chapter 4 
      Jazz Music


      Jazz is probably the musical art form that is thought to be quasi synonymous with the concept of improvisation. The immediate creative gesture and the exuberant creativity of Jazz performance baffles many listeners and leads them to ask themselves how it is possible for the musicians to create such highly complex and at the same time organized music from the moment, seemingly without any obvious guidelines. 

      In this chapter, I will try to trace the development of the essential elements and organizational principles of jazz music and to find out where the vital and spontaneous improvisational gesture of this music originates. I am formulating the following considerations with a focus on our ongoing investigation and discussion of improvisation. My intention is not to give you a thorough introduction to Jazz music as such. That being said - a dedicated part of the course will later deal with the theory and practice of Jazz improvisation in more detail.

      JAZZ - THE PRODUCT OF AN INTER-CULTURAL MEDIATION
      One outstanding characteristic of Jazz music is based on the fact that at the beginning of the 20th century a completely new genre of music was created, which was not the mere development of an already existing one. The rapid developmental dynamics of this new music and the global spread, enthusiasm and imitation that it triggered made Jazz an unique and dazzling phenomenon of modernity. The fact that today improvisation has become a much-recognized artistic practice and a desirable skill is partly due to the experience and the impact of Jazz. To understand the notion that Jazz and improvisation have become virtually synonymous with each other we need to understand the essential quality and nature of improvisation in Jazz music and its tradition.

      The origins of Jazz music as an African-American music are undisputed: the roots of Jazz are predominantly to be found in African-American culture and the most important protagonists of jazz - at least in its first decades - were African-American musicians. The historic development of Jazz music took place on American soil - a setting that explains the various cultural and stylistic inflows of the new art form. The very different African and European cultural and musical lines of traditions were meeting with original American developments and combined into a new hybrid idiom: the music that we know as Jazz.

      To understand Jazz music one has to acknowledge the social reality of the USA - the suffocating historical burden of slavery and the prevailing cruel reality of American society characterized by racism and discrimination - and thus by extreme social and economic inequality. At the same time Jazz music as an African-American art form reflects the awakening of an immense cultural and creative potential and a process of self-empowerment, emancipation and a manifestation of cultural identity. One can understand the development of jazz music therefore as both: a successful process of individual and social emancipation and a process of intercultural mediation. Let us see if we can find evidence of this process in the musical material itself - while maintaining our focus on the phenomenon of improvisation.

      SOCIETY, COMMUNITY, INDIVIDUAL
      Put in a simplified way one can say that the prevailing musical organizing principle of jazz music in its traditional phases up to the 1950s is mostly as follows: 
      the compositions or pieces that are played are usually popular songs borrowed from the dance, radio or film music of the time. 

      (Music example 1: 
      'All the things you are' by Jerome Kern (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics).
      From the musical 'Very warm for May' (1939). Here performed by Tony Martin in the MGM motion picture 
      'Till the clouds roll by' , 1946)

      When these compositions are performed by the Jazz ensemble they are usually not written down for the performance. They are played by heart - the musicians know the melody, form and chord progressions. As the pieces are interpreted by the Jazz ensemble the concrete musical aspects such as harmonic and melodic embellishments, voice leading, dynamics etc. are created ad hoc during the performance. 

      (Music example 2:
      'All the things you are' performed by Charlie Parker (as), Miles Davis (tp), Duke Jordan (p), Max Roach (dr), Tommy Potter (b). Recorded live at the 'The Three Deuces'New York City,   March 31, 1948)

      The formal sequence of events is usually: song melody or theme - played by the ensemble collectively, followed by a previously undefined number of repetitions of the harmonic form, with individual musicians coming to the fore and taking a leading voice, while the remaining musicians accompany them in a supporting manner. 

      (Music example 3:
      'All the things you are' performed by Johnny Griffin (ts), John Coltrane (ts), (..) Wynton Kelly (p), Paul Chambers (b), Art Blakey (dr). Recorded at the 'Van Gelder Studio', Engelwood Cliffs / New Jersey, April 8, 1957)

      At the end of these so-called solo choruses, the theme is played again by the ensemble collective.

      (Music example 4:
      'All the things you are' performed by Lee Morgan (tp), Hank Mobley (ts), Curtis Fuller (tb), Billy Root (bari), Ray Bryant (p), Tommy Bryant (b), Charles Wright (dr). Recorded live at the 'Birdland', New York City, April 21, 1958)

      In this structural arrangement and practice one can see the representations of society - the popular theme that every musician and every listener knows) - community  - the band as a cohesive group of like-minded people, the audience as an extension of this group - and the individual - the soloist telling his or her own story. 

      Looked at it this way, the music thus always deals with questions of normative social reality, of social cohesion and communication, and of individual identity and self-expression. In order for this ‘artistic negotiation process' to succeed in all its facets and to become possible in the first place, a special kind of procedure of creative interaction is needed. One that allows space and freedom, empathy and self-expression, support and encouragement - but also disagreement and contradiction. And this is exactly what becomes possible through improvisation.

      EMANCIPATION AND FREEDOM OF THE INDIVIDUAL - FREE JAZZ
      As the Jazz idiom developed enormously fast within a few decades it became more and more complex and technically demanding. A successful artistic execution of the spontaneous creative process was only possible if the musicians involved had a very high degree of knowledge, experience and corresponding instrumental skills. For aspiring young musicians becoming a Jazz musician meant years of intensive training and preparation. Due to its increasing complexity and formalization and more so due to an increasing commercial appropriation the music threatened to lose some of its original vitality.

      As a reaction to this by the end of the 1950s younger and some established musicians felt the need to free jazz from its seemingly well-worn paths and, also in view of the dramatic increase in racially motivated social tensions in the USA, to make it once again more explicitly a voice of political resistance and social, racial and individual emancipation. These endeavors were by no means understood as a break with the Jazz tradition - they were rather intended as a recollection and revival of the original spirit of the music.

      The resulting new developments, labeled as the NEW THING, brought in regard with the musical organization and the practice of improvisation an even stronger emphasis on collective interaction and a more expressive exploration of individual possibilities of expression. The accustomed use of familiar standard themes as the musical vehicles that I have already described as representations of social norms - was largely abandoned in favor of original compositions, thus representing a higher degree of cultural self-confidence - by an increased emphasis on collective ensemble play - the community, that is - and in favor of extended soloistic explorations of individual self-expression.

      AACM - MOVING AWAY FROM THE LIMITING NOTION OF JAZZ
      Another important movement away from the established notions of Jazz and towards a new contemporary definition of African-American music was initiated by the founding of the musicians collective AACM - the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (note the absence of the word JAZZ) in Chicago. As many once progressive aspects of Jazz seemed to contain and reproduce elements of racial dis-empowerment, a new generation of African-American musicians was underway to re-define American and global music once again. Musician and scholar George Lewis has written and published a profound documentation of these developments under the title A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music.

      In my opinion the 1960s and 70s were a very experimental and fruitful time for Jazz and various new musical directions that developed out of it. In addition to the renewal movements just outlined, there were also numerous attempts to fuse jazz with other forms of music, such as rock or national musical traditions, especially in European countries - I will talk about this in the next chapter on Improvised Music.

      JAZZ - A GLOBAL MUSIC OR AN AMERICAN CLASSICAL MUSIC
      In the past two decades of the 20th century Jazz was globally established as a contemporary art form but at the same time facing a decreasing popularity compared with previous decades. Successful attempts have been undertaken to preserve the status of Jazz music and guarantee its future through institutionalization. Jazz at New York’s Lincoln Center and the founding of numerous Jazz study programs around the world are the most obvious results. While representing success stories on one hand, these developments are also controversial to some in the sense that they are accompanied by a rather conservative canonization of what Jazz is or should be. In my opinion Jazz is both: a contemporary classical music of African-American origin - and at the same time a vital resource, inspiration and ever-changing vehicle for new musical developments.

      SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 4
      While there can be no doubt about the fact that the Golden Era of Jazz is in the past, the music once labeled as Jazz remains a solitary phenomenon representing high art and popular approachability, protest and affirmation, emancipation and tolerance, individualization and collectivity. Many musics of today are still inspired or influenced by the Jazz tradition. And the practice of collective improvisation as developed and performed in the best examples of Jazz music is being recognized as a paradigm for creative human interaction that radiates far beyond the boundaries of the idiom.

      As mentioned before, we are going to dedicate a whole course part to Jazz Improvisation that will also look into the more practical aspects of it.

      Please listen to the audio podcast to this chapter. Our next chapter will be about Improvised Music. Thank you and see you there!

    • Part I - Chapter 5 
      Improvised Music

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      In this chapter we will discuss how in the second half of the 20th century for some musicians the experience of improvisation led to a paradigmatic shift in their artistic practice and improvisation became their main focus and method of music-making. 


    • Transcript:


      Part I - Chapter 5 
      Improvised Music


      We have discussed in the previous chapters that improvisation as an artistic method was by no means an invention of the 20th century. But it was also more than just a re-discovery or re-evaluation, as for some musicians the experience of improvisation led to a paradigmatic shift in their artistic practice: improvisation became their main focus and method of music-making. In this chapter, I will try to trace this development and discuss some of the preconditions.

      POST-WWII MUSICS
      The developments we are going to discuss here evolved mostly during the three post-Word-War-II decades - the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. I am mentioning WWII here not only as a time reference but also as a moment of the tragic failure of human culture and a point in history that raised many fundamental questions regarding the future of the planet and the values of human life, resulting in a political, philosophical and aesthetic discourse that was by many experienced as truly existential. The world required a new and better order - and this also applied to or was reflected in the arts.

      So far I have talked about Non-European Musics, Western Art Music and Jazz. The two last-mentioned traditions together with growing awareness for music cultures of the world, the development of new technologies and the appearance of Rock and Pop music were going to become the main resources and inflows for the music of the second half of the 20th century.

      THE ‘NEW THING’ IN JAZZ
      I have already pointed out the significance of improvisation in Jazz music. Regarding the development of Jazz during the post-WWII years, we can recognise one important shift: the gradual or in some cases decisive emancipation from the realms of commercialised entertainment towards a self-conception as a  serious contemporary art form. Corresponding acceptance and change of status were most evident in Europe, where Jazz music was greatly perceived as the artistic expression of a seemingly omnipresent desire for political change, individual freedom and social tolerance.

      In the previous chapter on Jazz music I talked about the Chicago-based AACM - the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians - a self-organised collective of musicians, that started to develop a new vision of African-American music, that was going to build on the Jazz tradition but also incorporate other resources - such as the exploration of African musical traditions and the integration of contemporary Western Art Music positions and practices. 

      (Music example 1: 
      Art Ensemble of ChicagoA.A.C.M., Great Black Music - A Jackson In Your House; Reording: Paris,1969; BYG Records)

      I am using the AACM here as an example and a model for a development that was in a similar way shared by many contemporary or Avantgarde Jazz musicians of the time.
      Due to the increasing racial and social tensions and the sparse performance opportunities in the US, Europe - with a growing interest in New Jazz that was reflected in numerous festivals, radio programs, etc. - became an attractive place for American musicians. As a result, leading figures of Jazz in general and of the New Thing movement, in particular, were performing in Europe regularly - or even made European cities like Paris their new home-base. And the influence of these musicians on the European scene - musicians and audiences alike - was going to become quite significant for the development of the European improvised musical practice which followed.

      (Music example 2: 
      Gittin’ to Know Y'All - Baden-Baden Free Jazz Orchestra conducted by Lester Bowie; Recording: SWR New Jazz Meeting Baden Baden, 1969; MPS Records)

      ‘NEW MUSIC’
      As discussed in the chapter on Western Art Music we find the European contemporary music scene of the 1950’s and 60’s also ‘underway’ looking for new directions - both regarding aesthetics and creative procedures and the exploration of new technologies. As in the mentioned sense all things of the past were being re-considered - also the ‘human factor’ in music was put in question. Here the still prevailing romantic notion of the artist as the main source of creation through intellectual and affective self-expression became a rather dubious and undesirable one. To simplify the point: if human nature is capable of creating the horrors of WWII - why should it be trusted in the field of the arts?
      So instead of putting the affected human subject in the center of musical creation, the sound itself became the object of interest. And the sound and its new possibilities needed to be experimentally researched and at some point also organised by the instance of a sober and detached supervisor - the new kind of composer.

      (Music example 3: 
      John Cage - from the documentary film “Écoute” by Miroslav Sebestik and Anne Grange; France;1992)

      In some cases Improvisational practices became part of this research. But as Improvisation by nature seemed to contain a big portion of subjectivity, it was complicated to comprehend and in that sense more difficult to handle compared to for example chance operations, tape machines or synthesisers. And let us not forget that most musicians at the time did not have any or just very little experience with improvisation and therefore a lack of competence as improvisors. As a result for a majority of composers the exploration of improvisational processes was a very short episode or liaison, soon to be abandoned.

      (Music example 4: 
      From the Seven Days (1968) by Karlheinz Stockhausen; Recording: Darmstadt; 1969; www.stockhausencds.com)

      But at the same time a new generation of musicians that was trained in the western tradition but also participating in the more recent developments of New Music came to discover Improvisation as a truly new way to approach music making. We can recognise numerous aspects that attracted them and promoted this development. First of all, finding new sounds on the traditional instruments - a major focus of New Music aesthetics - required a process of creative exploration and the decision to break traditional rules. As the individual performer’s ability and competence to find and produce new sounds was paramount in the new aesthetic, the status of this new kind of virtuosi, that were in fact breaking traditional boundaries and expanding instrumental standards, was quite high. So while the superior role of the composer remained unquestioned, the status of these performers was rising. Many compositions were especially written for certain individuals and their skills. One can see this also as a new kind of co-authorship between composer and performer - but also as a call for emancipation and autonomy for the performing musician.

      (Music example 5: 
      Sequenza VII, per Oboe; By Luciano Berio (1969) - dedicated to Heinz Holliger; Heinz Holliger: oboe; Recording: Lugano, 1976;)

      But as Improvisation slowly became more acceptable for some, the figure of the composer - or at least the notion of a compositional framework - still seemed necessary for most. For some improvisers the solution to this problem seemed quite simple: Improvisation was considered to be composition in real time - and therefore even referred to as ‘Instant Composition’. There are obvious advantages in this concept: it frees Improvisation from the accusation of being just spontaneous and random uttering and at the same time raises it to the status of composition - a complex structural process of aesthetic consideration. The downside so to speak is, that the term Instant Composition does not promote a better understanding of Improvisation - it might even do the opposite by locking us  into traditional western categories.

      But nevertheless, we can acknowledge a movement of musicians coming from the western art music background that were founding ensembles that would focus and dedicate their practice on Improvisation. As mentioned before - social and political ideals of equality in social life, artistic collaboration and creation, freedom of expression etc. played a role in many of these cases.

      (Music example 6: 
      Cornelius Cardrew & The Scratch Orchestra:“The Great Learning”; Recording: London, 1971; Deutsche Grammophon Records)

      EUROPEAN (POST-)JAZZ
      At the same time there was also a growing number of European musicians that have been identifying with the Jazz tradition and its protagonists. These musicians, while in most cases also being initially trained in a traditional western way, have studied Jazz music mostly through imitation, practice and informal studies. And as the above mentioned new conceptions of Jazz - the New Thing - were coming out of the African-American community, these new developments were perceived both as impulses for emancipation and models for change by European musicians. As many of the european Jazz musicians felt a persistent stigmatisation for imitating and copying an African-American art form, the new perspective to integrate elements from their own cultural traditions seemed a compelling necessity. The resulting variations and forms in which these new conceptions of European Jazz were formulated reflected both individual and national preferences. And the extent to which original elements of the Jazz idiom remained in the music or were eliminated, replaced or transformed varied very much from case to case.

      (Music example 7: 
      Globe Unity Orchestra; Directed by Alexander von Schlippenbach; Recording: live at Berliner Jazztage 1970; German Television)

      IMPROVISED MUSIC - IMPROVISATION AS PRINCIPLE
      Coming out of the just mentioned New Music and New Jazz scenes,  a new musical genre was created: the so-called Improvised Music. A new musical direction that had only one main principle and credo: that it is created through improvisation.

      Once established, this seemingly radical approach to music-making quickly gained popularity and inspired professional musicians and amateurs alike to experiment with this practice and eventually join the movement. We can see many liberating aspects of the new practice: musicians could join regardless of their musical backgrounds or preferred idioms. Even the level of instrumental skills - or the lack thereof when viewed from a traditional perspective - seemed not to be a limiting factor, as long as the improvisational interactions and expressions made sense to the performers and the audiences. This opened up the possibility of musical expression to many people that did not undergo the more traditional training and education paths - but also created criticism and sometimes even the accusation of dilettantism.

      In any case the community of free improvisors was very heterogeneous and one can hear in the recordings and documents of the time that the sole fact that the music was created by improvisation and without any preconceptions did not produce unified musical material nor result in a specific musical style. Since the protagonists came from very different musical backgrounds the aesthetic question of how the music was supposed to sound would become an entirely different process, investigation and discourse.

      Derek Bailey for instance, a leading figure in the European Improvised Music scene and author of the already mentioned book ‘Improvisation - Its nature and practice in music’, postulated the creation of a ’NON-IDIOMATIC’ music - a music that would free itself from all idiomatic and thus traditional ballast. This idea resonates with the ideals of the ‘New Music’ and its emphasis on finding new sounds.

      (Music example 8: 
      Derek Bailey “Solo Guitar”; Recording: London, 1971; Incus records)

      In contrast to such an ideal of historic unrootedness the African-American conceptions mostly incorporated a strong notion of cultural heritage and tradition in their visions of a new avantgarde.

      (Music example 9: 
      Muhal Richard Abrams “Levels and degrees of light”; Recording: Chicago, 1967; Delmark Records)

      Perhaps one could say in an over-simplified way that the first generation of European improvisors starting in the 1960s - people like Evan Parker, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Peter Brötzmann, Gunter Hampel, Misha Mengelberg, Irene Schweizer - was influenced by both the Jazz tradition and the New Music tradition as departure points for the new developments.

      (Music example 10: 
      Spontaneous Music Ensemble “Karyōbin”; Recorded: London, 1968; Chronoscope Records)

      For a second generation of improvisors, most prominently represented by the so called ‘New York Downtown Scene’ of the 1980s - people like Fred Frith, John Zorn, Zeena Parkins, Elliot Sharp, Arto Lindsay - these traditions would not be the central reference points any more. Their post-modern and de-constructivist approaches towards numerous musical genres and traditions, with a focus on genres of popular music, created not only new sounds but also an approachability for a new generation of listeners and followers that were more accustomed to popular music styles.

      (Music example 11: 
      John Zorn “COBRA”; Recording: New York, 1987; Hat ART Records)

      SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 5
      The Improvised Music scene is today a global phenomenon and a community of very dedicated musicians that create music based on the principle of Improvisation. Despite the declared principle of freedom, one should mention that the Improvised Music scene has occasionally developed a rigid aesthetic codex. But of course it would be quite simplistic to expect that a certain art form or genre could by definition guarantee a constant state of freedom. What it might be able to do - philosophically speaking, is to keep exploring possibilities and visions of a better world. And that is a task that is indeed inscribed in its tradition.

      In the next chapter, we will be looking at Improvisation in Music Therapy and in what way it differs or resembles Improvisation in artistic creation. Thank you and see you there!

    • Part I - Chapter 6 
      Music Therapy

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      In this chapter we will have a brief look at improvisation in music therapy and discuss how certain fundamental concepts of music therapy practice and theory relate to our ongoing exploration of improvisation as a creative artistic practice.


    • Transcript:

      Part I - Chapter 6 
      Music Therapy


      With the consideration of improvisation in music therapy, we enter a field that in some respects is clearly different from those discussed so far: while we have been dealing with practices of artistic musical production until now, music therapy is not primarily about such production, but rather about therapeutic concerns and processes in which the artistic medium of music plays a central role.

      One could put it more pointedly: in artistic improvisation the focus is about the music itself and less about its creator/s - while in music therapy the interest is in the person(s) 'behind' the music.

      But of course our previous reflections on the nature of improvisation suggest to critically question such a categorical separation. Thus, the question is rather, to what extent a consideration of the particulars that distinguish improvisation in the context of music therapy can enrich and further advance our discussion so far.

      Consequently, we will consider only those music therapy practices in which musical improvisation plays a role. And, of course, the following is not a general introduction to music therapy itself. The latter is divided into so many different approaches and theoretical frames of reference that such an introduction would require a stand-alone course.

      MUSIC THERAPY - A VERY BRIEF OVERVIEW

      But for those who have had no insight into music therapy so far, the following very brief general outline is useful:
      Music therapy is an artistic form of therapy that uses the medium of music to achieve its therapeutic goals. One can roughly distinguish between two types of music therapy: receptive and active music therapy. In the first, music recordings are used and received by the clients. 

      In active music therapy, the clients actively make music. This usually involves the clients spontaneously articulating themselves musically, i.e. improvising freely. In this way, music becomes a medium of self-expression and communication - in contrast to the majority of therapeutic methods, in which language plays this role. 

      In most conceptions of music therapy, however, language is still used at some point - but music serves as the main and, in a certain sense, as a pre-linguistic medium that can only subsequently be translated into language. What advantages result from this and what insights we can take over into our discussion of improvisation, I will try to outline briefly in the following.

      EXPRESSION AND COMMUNICATION IN SOUND

      Why has free musical improvisation become one of the most important instruments of music therapy and how does it function in this context? I already said at the beginning that music-therapeutic improvisation is not about producing musical works that meet certain quality criteria in an artistic context. To a certain extent, this is already ruled out by the fact that the musicians in a music therapy setting are usually amateurs and have perhaps never even played an instrument before, let alone learned to play one.

      But how can it be then that these amateur musicians do not merely produce a dilettantish cacophony, but rather a music that is quite meaningful enough to be the core of a therapeutic and scientific method. And even more: how can it be that sometimes music is created that - contrary to all expectations - does not need to shy away from the comparison to art music. I believe that the answers to these questions can contribute a very essential piece to the understanding of improvisation itself.

      Let's go back for a moment to my definition of improvisation formulated at the beginning of this course:

      Improvisation can be described as an elementary human creative practice, that is both performed within and determined by a given historic social and cultural situation, context or art form.

      Let us think at this point of the first formative sonic perception and communication in the life of any human being: that between infant and mother. And, strictly speaking, this begins even long before birth. These pre- and postnatal sounds can certainly be included in our definition. The first 'music' we hear is the sound of the world and the womb - and the first interpersonal interaction and communication after birth takes place through sound. The infant's ability to articulate affects, needs and sensitivities in sound - and the mother's ability to 'hear' i.e. understand them - enable and ensure our survival as individuals and social beings. 

      If we think of our ability to perceive the most subtle affective nuances in another person's voice - even if that person is unknown to us or we hear the voice over a bad telephone line - this ability to interpret sound is indeed impressive. This competence forms an elementary basis for social interactions of various kinds and not least for the possibility of artistic expression through music.

      However, music therapy not only makes use of this fundamental human ability - it also benefits from the fact that we practice communication through sounds long before language development and acquisition. Before we acquire the necessary prerequisites for language in our child development, we are in a certain way already masters in another symbolic system - that of expression in sound.

      Without going into psychological discourses at this point, one can say in a simplified way that early, pre-linguistic stages of development of the individual can be 'addressed' through sound or music. And these early stages of human development are at the same time considered to be particularly important and formative, but also very susceptible to possible deficits. 

      Music therapy can be a way to 'approach' these early or infantile stages and their developmental disorders. In the therapeutic process, it can then be possible to make the developmental deficits tangible and to 'catch up' with the missing developments, so to speak, in retrospect.

      WHAT BECOMES EVIDENT THROUGH IMPROVISATION

      Music therapy practice and research has illuminated and elaborated many aspects of musical experience and improvisation that are also important for understanding artistic improvisation. In its beginnings, music therapy theory building was faced with the task of transferring already existing conceptions of psychology, psychoanalysis, developmental research, creativity research, etc. to the special concerns of music therapy. Throughout this process, new discourses have emerged with respect to the understanding of music in general and improvisation in particular, which sometimes differ significantly from the traditional perspectives of musicology.  

      The more music therapy became a recognised and independent discipline, the more it was able to develop discourses originating from its own object of research, which in turn promoted the understanding of general music-specific phenomena in an interdisciplinary sense.

      Let us look at a small practical example of music therapy - let us say it is a group music therapy. The group meets for their session - in the room there is a selection of various musical instruments. The ritual could be that the music therapist asks the participants how they feel today. The only difference is that the answer is not verbal, but in the form of a group improvisation. 

      At this point I do not want to discuss in detail what can be heard, seen and felt in addition to the actual music - what is called ‘scenic understanding’ in a psychoanalytic context. For us it is decisive at this point that a group of musical laymen 'express themselves' by utilising musical instruments and that this musical expression is meaningful for those present - i.e. the meaning becomes audible despite the limited technical ability of the players. 

      At this point in the session, the members of the group could be asked to report how they 'fared' during the improvisation, what they heard or experienced. This would then be the mentioned 'translation process' of musical material and own experience into language. In this process, a lot of things are indeed 'brought up' and 'addressed'. A process in which possibly much that was not 'ready for speech' because it was 'unspeakable' or 'unconscious' can suddenly be expressed and heard. Musical expression thus becomes a path of active experience and reflective cognition of both individual and collective experience.

      MUSIC THERAPY AS A TRANS-DISCIPLINARY LINK

      What insights, impulses and questions can we draw from this for our discussion?

      Let me summarise just a few aspects:

      i.) Self-expression and social interaction in sound are elementary human skills or competences. They form the basis for human communication.

      ii.) The ability to express oneself in music and to communicate through music does not, in principle, require any special technical or theoretical training.

      iii.) The mutual willingness to listen to each other and the active effort to empathetically and intellectually 'grasp' the 'meaning' of the utterances are pre-conditions for a successful communication.

      iv.) Music is by its nature a communication medium and symbolic system preceding language. However, music is not replaced by language - humans have both systems at their disposal.

      Which leads us to the following questions:

      vi.) What is the relationship between language and music? How do these systems differ or connected with each other?

      To me these questions seem to be particularly significant, since they open up a view of a field which we have already touched in our previous discussion: the relationship between affect and reason, body and mind, knowledge and intuition - which is ultimately also leading to the relationship between subject and society or world. I will certainly come back to these questions when we discuss the concept of ‘embodiment’ a little later in this course.

      SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 6

      Beyond what has already been said and indicated above, it seems to me that the discourse of music therapy is quite capable of creating important connections between various disciplines that can be brought together in the field of improvisation studies.

      In the second and third parts of the course: Improvisation - The Theory and Improvisation - The Practice, I will attempt to address some of these thoughts and implications in more detail.

      Before that, I would like to briefly discuss some aspects of improvisation in other fields - namely dance and theatre - in the following chapter.
      Thank you very much and see you there!



    • Part I - Chapter 7 
      Other fields of artistic practice

      coming soon...


    • Part I - Chapter 8 
      Summary of Part I

      coming soon...


  • PART II - Exploring Improvisation - the Theory

    • PART II - Exploring Improvisation - the Theory

      Here I will discuss theoretical models and conceptions of improvisation.

      coming soon...


  • PART III - Exploring Improvisation - the Practice

    • PART III - Exploring Improvisation - the Practice

      Here I will give you some practical examples and exercises that will put the theoretical reflections of Part II into action.

      coming soon...



  • PART IV - Jazz Improvisation

    • PART IV - JAZZ IMPROVISATION

      Here I will present an introduction to Improvisation in Jazz music discussing its specific idiomatic aspects.

      coming soon...