Theory and Practice of Musical Improvisation

Course description

Critical examination of the concept of improvisation and its manifestation in different musics and forms of musical practice. Approaches to the role of improvisation in education. Sustained engagement with music improvisation practice, so as to foster the development of an in-depth understanding of improvised music-making and its educational potential.

Learning outcomes

 In this course students are expected to 

• critically discuss various definitions of improvisation as well as its relationship with related notions of composition, performance and listening, as well as with the concepts of invention, variation, and indeterminacy 
• acquire a basic understanding of the multiplicity of improvisational practices in various musics 
• discuss how children employ improvisational process in different contexts 
• aknowledge the importance of music improvisation in music education
• improvise, solo, or in groups, based on a variety basic of improvisational techniques

Assessment

 Assessment takes place at the end of the term and involves (a) written exams  (b) presentation of an improvised performance that employs specific improvisational techniques and formats studied in the course of our meetings

Teaching methods

Direct involvement in improvisational activities both in large and small groups, lectures, reflective dialogical inquiry centered on issues that emerge in our practical work.

Recommended literature

Addison, R. (1988). A new look at musical improvisation in education. British Journal of Music Education, 5(3), 255-267.

Agrell, J. (2008). Improvisation Games for Classical Musicians: 500+ Non-jazz Games for Performers, Educators, and Everyone Else. Chicago: GIA Publications. 

Alperson, P. (1984). On musical improvisation. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 43(1), 17-29.

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Benson, B. E. (2003). The Improvisation of Musical Dialogue: A Phenomenology of Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Berliner, P. F. (1994).  Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation.  Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 

Brockmann, N. M. (2009). From Sight to Sound: Improvisation Games for Classical Musicians. Μπλούμινγτον: Indiana University Press.

Campbell, P. S. (2009). Learning to improvise music, improvising to learn music. . In G. Solis & B. Nettl (Eds.), Musical Improvisation: Art, Education, and Society (pp. 119-142). Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Fischlin. D. , Heble, A. , Lipsitz, G. (Eds.) (2013). The Fierce of Now: Improvisation, Rights, and the Ethics of Co-creation. Durham: Duke University Press.

Green, L. (2014). Άκου, Ακροάσου, Παίξε!: Πώς να απελευθερώσετε την ακουστική αντίληψη των μαθητών σας και τις δεξιότητές τους στον αυτοσχεδιασμό και στην εκτέλεση. Aθήνα: Φαγκότο. 

Goldstaub, Paul. (1996). Opening the door to classroom improvisation. Music Educators Journal, 82(5), 45-51.

Hall, E. T. (1992).  Improvisation as an acquired, multilevel process.  Ethnomusicology, 36(2), 223-235. 

Hickey, M. (2009).  Can improvisation be taught? A call for free improvisation in our schools. International Journal of Music Education,27(4), 285–299.

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Jensen. M. (2009). Making the Contours of the Eternal Moment: Indeterminate Scores 2002-2009. Kingston, NY: Deep Listening Institute.

Kanellopoulos, P. A. (2007) Musical Improvisation as Action: An arendtian perspective, Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education,6:3, pp. 97-127, available at: http://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/Kanellopoulos6_3.pdf Accessed 11/16/2007.

Kanellopoulos, P. Α. (2007).  Children’s early reflections on improvised music-making as the wellspring of musico-philosophical thinking. Philosophy of Music Education Review, 15(2), 119-141. 

Kanellopoulos, P. Α. (2011). Freedom and Responsibility in Musical Improvisation: A view from Bakhtin. Philosophy of Music Education Review, 19(2), 113-135.

Kanellopoulos, P. Α. (2012). Envisioning Autonomy through Improvising and Composing: Castoriadis visiting creative music education practice. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 44(2), 151-182.

Keyes, C. (2000).  Teaching improvisation and 20th century idioms.  Music Educators Journal, 86(6), 17-22. 

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Nettl, B. (1974). On musical improvisation. The Musical Quarterly, 60(1), 1-19.

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