Abstract
Improvisation, the third content standard for the National Standards for Music Education (Music Educators National Conference, 1994), has received less attention from music teachers. This article advocates for more improvisation specifically free improvisation in general music classrooms. The nature of free improvisation, and its evolution in the Unites States and Europe is presented, followed by a rationale in incorporating free improvisation in general music classrooms. It is emphasized that free improvisation can be a successful entry point for those teachers who do not have ample time or do not feel comfortable using improvisation activities. Free improvisation has two distinct and valuable features: it can be played by anyone regardless of age and musical capability, and it is the accumulation of musical identities of all the participants involved in making the music. This author asserts that free improvisation is inherently democratic, and by using it teachers can create a space for students to feel more self-assured, and autonomous.
Life is one big improvisation, and every human is a master improviser.
Imagine a music performance by fourth graders in a general music classroom comprising two groups of singers singing in canon, xylophone players, and tubano players who are prepared to play Old Abram Brown. The instrument players in this ensemble are encouraged to improvise on their instruments in the form of Rondo (ABACA), where the A section, which is the complete song, is played and sung by the entire ensemble and the even sections, B and C, are consecutively improvised by xylophone players and tubano players. The improvising students are instructed to follow some parameters for their improvisation, such as playing certain notes and a certain time length. All the students involved in this performance as well as the listeners, including the parents, other teachers, and the staff of the school, know the structure of the piece. There is an expectation of what will happen in the song, regardless of all the various improvisational ideas of each student. As the audience listens, they follow the song smoothly because the students are using the familiar language and structure of songs that are found in general music classrooms.
Now imagine a music performance by the same creative and talented ensemble, but this time they do not make music based on the conventions of a song or piece previously learned, practiced, and performed in their general music classrooms. Their music is not centered on a particular principle. Each student performer chooses sounds for the intriguing effects that he or she produces on the instruments, incorporating the use of nondeliberate and accidental ways of making music. The function of the sounds is not situated in the traditional interplay of melody, harmony, and form but rather in the feeling and exploratory nature of the music made by the student performers. As the audience listens, they hear the interactions of sounds that are encouraged by components other than sequence, structure, and grammar (syntax) of a particular genre of music. Instead, the music enjoys a curious venture of commitment to no commitment.
The latter example is a musical experience called free improvisation that gradually emerged around 50 years ago in the United States and the United Kingdom, pioneered by musicians such as Derek Bailey, Tony Oxley, Evan Parker, and Ornette Coleman. To fully understand free improvisation, I have provided three examples of free improvisation in Table 1 and will walk you through the first example.
Web Resources for Listening Examples.
In this example, a quartet of four expert musicians performs in a small and welcoming environment. The music starts smoothly with the percussion player entering with the sound of his udu, followed by the piano player and clarinet player at the same time. The transition of one sound to three sounds at this instant is so smooth that one might think that the piano and clarinet are one instrument. About 1 minute and 30 seconds into the music, the violin player, with the same silky attitude as the other players, enters the music. One can see that the piano player uses various ways of creating sound on the piano and not necessarily on the keys themselves. The music has a colorful and at times whimsical feel to it. One striking element about this music all through the performance is that the performers are coherent, and profoundly listening to one another. The music has an overarching form, starting smoothly, reaching to its peak in the middle, and ending the piece similar to the start of the piece. The performers did not use any score as the basis of their music; there was an apparent synergy among them through which they breathed, listened, and performed together.
This example illustrates that the pillar of free improvisation is not the chord progression, harmony, or the predefined syntax but rather the interplay between sound and silence, the feel and texture of the sound, and the ways in which performers respond to one another’s musical stimuli. Not having any commitment to predefined musical language or not following any rule in this music does not connote disorder and confusion. The music finds its own path through each performer’s musical and creative decision, and this is what we call commitment to no commitment.
Free improvisation has two distinct features along with its other beneficial characteristics, which makes it a valuable creative musical practice in our general music classrooms: It can be played by anyone regardless of age and musical capability, and is the accumulation of musical identities of all the participants involved in making the music. In other words, free improvisation is inherently democratic since everyone is welcomed to participate in creating it. Free improvisation encourages students to value collective decision making while enjoying their individualistic approaches to music making. Free improvisation can instill confidence in students, raise students’ awareness of sound, foster trust, and alleviate performance anxiety. More specifically, free improvisation helps refine students’ listening skills and thus their musicianship.
Derek Bailey (1992) believes diversity is the most consistent characteristic of free improvisation. He further continues that free improvisation “has no stylistic or idiomatic commitment. It has no prescribed idiomatic sound. The characteristics of freely improvised music are established only by the sonic-musical identity of the person or persons playing it” (p. 83). Although Bailey regards free improvisation as a demanding musical craft, he also believes that free improvisation “is open to use by almost anyone—beginners, children and non-musicians. The skill and intellect required is whatever is available. It can be an activity of enormous complexity and sophistication, or the simplest and most direct expression” (p. 83).
As music educators, improvisation is triply intertwined in our lives: It is an essential part of our daily lives, our teaching careers, and our music making and teaching. As human beings, we improvise on a day-to-day basis when, for example, we converse with one another or there is an obstacle in life and we try to find a solution the problem. As music makers, we improvise on our behaviors, attitudes, and stage presence when we rehearse and perform with other people so as to have the optimal musical experience. As teachers, we constantly improvise based on our students’ needs and desires according to circumstances in our classroom management, lesson planning, and school responsibilities. As music teachers, we improvise by coming up with inventive ideas to fill in the blanks when a student needs assistance in his or her performance or music-making activity. It is then all the more astonishing that improvisation, the third National Standard for Music Education, has received the least amount of attention from music teachers (Orman, 2002; Ward-Steinman, 2007). Whatever the reason may be, I suggest that free improvisation can be a great entry point for those teachers who do not have ample time or do not feel comfortable using improvisational activities in their music classrooms to encourage more creative practices in their teaching.
Free Improvisation: History and Definition
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a movement emerged that encouraged a less bounded style of jazz improvisation in contrast to the more restricted styles of bebop and hard bop (Sansom, 2001). Musicians such as Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and, later on, John Coltrane were part of this improvisation movement. The movement was not, however, exclusively confined to jazz improvisation. A similar style change took place in Western art music. At the time when serialism, with its sophisticated, calculated, and rigid adherence to time, notation, and organization, was at its zenith, composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen, György Ligeti, Iannis Xenakis, and John Cage were creating music in which indeterminacy and uncertainty were integral parts of their compositions. This movement inevitably “led to an openness towards the role of notation and development of graphic scores and a shift by performers towards a more improvisational role” (Sansom, 2001, p. 29). Here it is pertinent to mention musicians who played key roles in shaping free improvisation: Cornelius Cardew, Eddie Prévost, Derek Bailey, Gavin Bryars, and Tony Oxley. In Table 2, I have provided further reading on the history of free improvisation and organizations that support free improvisation.
Resources on Free Improvisation.
Free improvisation must be considered from two perspectives, as both a process and a product. Free improvisation, according to Matthew Sansom (2001), is akin to abstract expressionism in the visual arts. In both media, intellect, form, and structure come second after the immediate emergent experience; consciousness and a pronounced technique follow unconsciousness and exploration.
In free improvisation, significance shifted from the harmonic progression, counterpoint, and melodic and thematic qualities of the music to the timbre, texture, color, and overall disposition of the sound. Arbitrary, spontaneous, and haphazard sounds, along with sounds derived from the environment and nature, gained in importance. Idiomatic music gave way to a less grammatical and standardized aesthetic. The participatory roles in music creation, including composer, improviser, or performer, changed from strictly bound functions to “looser,” less definitive ones. The performer became as involved in the process of music making as the composer, and the composer was no longer a mere music architect but a part of the performance. The improviser was not bounded by stylistic limits and was free to explore beyond the peripheries of standard music. He or she was free to create by whatever means he or she desired. Accordingly, music became more of a happening than a prescribed work of art. It became more experimental.
Why Free Improvisation at Schools?
As stated by Lukas Foss, a German-born American composer, free improvisation blurs the sharp line between the role of the composer and the performer (as cited in Sansom, 2001). Free improvisation also blurs the line between the soloist and the accompanist, the performer and the audience, and, specifically in our case, the music teacher and the music student.
The concept of changing roles in music making is of great importance in the discourse of free improvisation, particularly for music educators. For music teachers, this phenomenon is something we grapple with on a day-to-day basis: deciding whether we are the leaders or facilitators in our classrooms, whether we are teachers first or musicians first, whether we are in a music ensemble with our peers or in an orchestra where we are the sole conductor, and whether we should have a monologue or a dialogue with our students in our music classrooms. No matter what we presume our role, free improvisation provides an opportunity to modify these roles, allowing us to communicate with our students and create nurturing relationships with them.
Since free improvisation does not adhere to a specific style and idiom of music, it absorbs the accumulation of musical styles and languages of all the students involved in the process of free improvising. Each student, whether competent or with less developed skills, and whether born and raised in or outside the United States, can participate and be a part of the shared musical experience. John Stevens (2007) states, “The main requirement [in free improvisation] is to have an open-minded enthusiasm for music” (p. 2). Although free improvisation is a stylefree music, each musical interaction, from one performer to another and from one ensemble to another, reveals the various sonic identities and historical backgrounds of each performer. Through free improvisation we can get to know our students more deeply and become more aware of their musical preferences. With this knowledge we can create a more relevant curriculum.
Free improvisation not only serves students but also provides valuable opportunities for music teachers. Music teachers who have less experience in improvisation and are more apprehensive about applying improvisation in their music classrooms can use free improvisation techniques to easily unravel the assumed mysteries of improvisation. Those who do not often improvise might be self-conscious about their playing and fear the critical opinions of others. Free improvisation creates a safe space for both students and music teachers to experiment with new ideas without the fear of making any mistakes. Mistakes are celebrated, for “they highlight innocent human failings . . . [and] the person who uses a sound as a musical statement is the only possible judge of whether it is musically valid or not” (Stevens, p. 2). In other words, there are no mistakes in free improvisation. Free improvisation is self-affirmation, a recouping of our musical identities, whether as students or as teachers.
Entry Points to the Application of Free Improvisation in the Music Classroom
Free improvisation can be used in some commonly used general music activities, including speech and poetry, storytelling, movement and stomp activities, and bordun exercises. The resources listed in Table 3 can assist teachers as they incorporate free improvisation in the classroom.
Resources for Applying Free Improvisation in Music Classrooms.
In this section, I highlighted two pedagogical possibilities for those interested in applying this creative musical approach in their general music classrooms. Because of the nature of free improvisation, these possibilities are what I call entry points and should not be considered as step-by-step instructions. Each entry point can be modified to meet the needs of different ensembles and music classrooms. These entry points could be valuable for all music teachers in all music-teaching venues but especially useful for music teachers who have not had extensive experience in making and teaching music improvisation.
Entry Points to the Application of Free Improvisation in General Music Classrooms
Entry Point 1: Greatest Mistakes!
Materials: The materials used are classroom instruments such as Orff instruments, piano, guitar, and so on.
Purpose: This entry point is specifically designed to foster trust and reduce performance anxiety. The intention of this entry point is to embrace mistakes, making them something to cherish rather than hide. In the long term, this entry point is also constructive in refining students’ sense of form and structure as well as group leadership.
Instruction: The students can make any sound they want on their instruments, and as loudly or as softly as they wish; however, they should make only one sound. As the start of this activity, the teacher can instruct the students fade in one by one. When the students produce the desired sounds, they can sustain the sound until the teacher has them fade out one by one. This routine can have many variations according to circumstances. It is up to the teacher and students to navigate through this activity based on the needs of the class.
To be considered: This entry point might be chaotic at times. In the beginning, the sounds the students create might be disorderly. However, with the teacher’s encouragements (asking detailed questions about the quality of the sounds, the ways in which one can enter the music and end the piece, etc.), the students become more aware of what they play and start to listen to each other. The music starts to flourish from within. Eventually, students make a complete piece of music using sounds they might otherwise consider mistakes. In the long term, the teacher can transfer the leading responsibility to the students.
Entry Point 2: Express Yourself. . .
Materials: The materials used are pitched classroom instruments or any pitched instrument of students’ choosing.
Purpose: This entry point provides a space for students to express themselves musically according to outside stimuli.
Instruction: The teacher performs a short musical pattern comprising only four pitches on a pitched instrument—it can be any phrase of his or her choosing. One by one, all students in the classroom or in the ensemble play the same pattern on their instruments but with one condition: They need to add their own musical expression to it, such as different rhythm, dynamic, texture, and so on.
To be considered: As the previous entry point, this entry point can also include variations. The teacher can prompt students by asking them to play a certain mood or a story. If the students are more expert in their instruments, the teacher can play a phrase comprising more than four pitches or even a complete musical phrase that is be familiar to students. An extension to this entry point could be to play this activity in different genres and help students understand the subtleties of each style of music.
Moving Beyond
As a classically trained musician, I have always been terrified of performing without written music. The term improvisation had always elicited fear in my mind, a fear that was difficult to overcome. It has not been long since I finally found the courage, dedication, and peer support to start improvising. And this entry point for me occurred through one of my colleague’s suggestion to start a free improvisation ensemble. Beginning with small steps, eventually I made improvisation a central part of my musical endeavors, in both music making and music teaching. Free improvisation has changed my musical life. I am in constant and direct contact with my instrument, I play more in ensembles, and consequently I perform with musicians of all kinds and ages. Most important, free improvisation has improved my abilities as a teacher: I am more flexible toward learning goals and students’ desires and more at ease with unforeseen events.
It took me a long time to finally conquer my fear of improvisation and to enjoy its benefits. Now I am aware that part of my fear was lack of knowledge of the exact nature of improvisation. Perhaps armed with more knowledge and experiencing improvisation earlier, I would not have been so reluctant to incorporate improvisation into my musical and teaching careers. One reason for writing this article is to transfer this achievement to music teachers who have not yet been exposed to this exceptional musical experience. I have struggled to reach to this point, and I would like to share my knowledge and experiences with music teachers, who might find a valuable new tool in free improvisation. With free improvisation, teachers can create a space for students to feel more self-assured, autonomous, and self-directed. Improvisation can expand boundaries, heighten awareness, and increase creative thinking. Our task is to overcome our fears of improvisation in order to create opportunities for our students to achieve the most meaningful experiences of their creative and musical lives.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.