Improvisation as Real-Time Composition
Improvising Brain III - Cultural Variation and Analytical Approaches, Georgia State University, Atlanta GA, February 26-28, 2017
Musicking: Improvisation, Ornamentation & Variation, the University of Oregon, Eugene OR, May 23-27, 2017
Abstract
Improvisation is often seen as an ephemeral activity that in general doesn’t display the qualities of a completed musical composition. Yet, improvisers often talk about the retrospective nature of improvisation, suggesting conceptual links with those of composition. Drawing upon theoretical and empirical studies from the psychology of improvisation, this paper challenges arguments that improvisation lacks the elements of a completed musical work, often implying that the act of composition is a static, offline activity. This paper thus attempts to reconcile these contrasting viewpoints by suggesting new analytical practices that draw a line connecting, rather than separating, composition and improvisation, while portraying improvised performance as an extemporaneous composition that possess visceral, embodied qualities.
The author examines the impact of compositional process on the practice of musical improvisation through a multi-layered analysis of the act of improvisation using the conceptual tools of cognition through the contextual acts of perception. The author defines improvisation as real-time composition by examining cognitive representations and performative manifestations of musical creativity as important links between composition and improvisation. The author then further discusses improvisational creativity as an act by which various psychological mechanisms and aesthetic qualities may influence compositional structures and thus condition the real-time constraints that improvisers face when performing improvised music. The issues studied include concepts from creativity, composition, and performance studies, embodied music cognition, and musical aesthetics. The paper offers a qualitative analysis of compositional elements and techniques found in improvised music, thereby suggesting possible tools for their analysis.
