Learning to improvise, improvising to learn: A qualitative study of learning processes in improvising musicians

The continual growth of free improvisation as a discrete field of study within academic institutions creates a research priority to investigate the fundamental musical and psychological processes of this uniquely creative and universal form of social activity. This chapter presents interviews with eight expert free improvising musicians. The interviews focused on how the participants developed their creative skills and offers insight into their learning processes. Thematic analysis of the transcribed interviews highlights three main learning modes: autodidactism, mentoring and learning in a social context. The category of autodidactism focuses on how the interviewees constructed pedagogical narratives and engaged in informal modes of learning from a diverse range of musical and social contexts. These areas of learning influenced conceptual and practical approaches to performance. All participants reported obtaining guidance from more experienced musicians who acted as mentors. Importantly many of the participants subsequently became mentors to younger musicians. Interviewees also highlighted the importance of learning in various group contexts. These learning contexts also overlapped, with the participants’ mentors encouraging them to be autodidactic as well as playing in groups with them. This flexibility is important to consider when bringing the modes of learning from an informal to formal context. The experiences of the interviewees highlight the socially constructed nature of musical development and how learning to improvise can take place in informal social environments. The chapter also emphasises creativity as a social construction, distributed between individuals in collaborative contexts – which aligns with social constructivist views on learning as an essentially social process.