Meanings of Interaction Among Musicians Improvising (MIAMI)

This dataset consists of sound recordings of improvisations by five trios of free improvisers. They were recorded for a qualitative psychological study into the processes of group improvisation, carried out by Raymond MacDonald and Graeme Wilson (Reid School of Music, ECA, University of Edinburgh) in 2014. The recordings were used to structure subsequent individual interviews with the improvisers, exploring their understanding of the choices made during their piece. Authors who publish using this dataset are required to add the data creators and artists credited on each separate recording as co-authors. Otherwise, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License terms apply. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Post-genre improvisation is a key direction in current music, and is aligned with trends in other arts (e.g. performance and sound art, collaborative or process-based practice). Collective improvisation demonstrates a universal capacity for social, spontaneous and non-verbal creativity. Although the complexity of this unique artistic and psychological process is poorly conceptualised, it has parallels to discourse models of interaction, suggesting that insight can best be gained through close attention to how specific performance events are rationalised by performers.

Wilson, Graeme B; MacDonald, Raymond AR; Duff, Malcy; Duncanson, Lindsay; Gabrysch, Marek; Green, Owen; Keay, Cath; Knox, Dawn Felicia; Lloyd, Emma; Lozano-Thornton, Dario; Masson, Sheila; Parr-Burman, Michael; Robertson, Ali; Stockbridge, Jamie; Smith, Grant; Wallder, Dan; Williams, Sean. (2015). Meanings of Interaction Among Musicians Improvising (MIAMI), 2014 [sound]. University of Edinburgh. Edinburgh College of Art. Reid School of Music. http://dx.doi.org/10.7488/ds/285.