Improvisation

This chapter overviews the process of improvisation, emphasizing that there has been a dramatic increase of interest around improvisation over the past twenty years. Improvisation is conceptualized as a real-time compositional and decision-making process that is uniquely collaborative, creative, and universally accessible. It is also proposed as a defining aspect of music making. The chapter draws parallels between what might be called everyday improvising, such as turn taking in conversations, and the musical improvising that may take place during the performance of a jazz standard. An overview of ethnographic and cognitive studies is presented. Issues around identities and improvisation are also foregrounded alongside a series of studies investigating how musicians talk about improvising, and in particular how musicians make decisions about what to play when improvising. A case is made for broadening the definition of musical virtuosity to include new virtuosities: social, creative, collaborative, and listening virtuosities. Techniques such as graphic scores, improvised conduction, and text-based approaches are proposed as ways of developing proficiencies and confidence in improvisation. The chapter also suggests that learning to improvise fosters the development of transferable skills,The ability to collaborate, co-operate, compromise, and help reach solutions quickly.