Chapter 3: Free Improvisation
3.1. Improvisation as an Activity
The description of improvisation as an activity, which draws from various considerations and not exclusively from music theory, appears to be the most fruitful. Dell uses the word ‘principle’ and stresses an individual creativity reaching outside the private sphere. An “attitude”, “approach”, and “engagement”180 is arguably a valuable and accurate description considering the varied areas in which one can find references to ‘improvising’. And, of course, there are non-musical improvisational processes found in the activities in everyday life.
175 Matthew Sansom also associated the term ‘free-improvisation’ with the Spontaneous Music Ensemble
(John Stevens), Derek Bailey, AMM (incl. Eddie Prévost), and C. Cardew (Sansom 2001).
176 Zorn 2000, 2007, 2008. 177 Klopstock 2002. 178 Sawyer 2003, 8-9.
179 Although it would appear beneficial to associate specific concerns with specific musicians, I would
consider such an attempt only futile and wrong, as their individual struggles, expressions and achievements cannot be put in any hierarchical order, i.e. the racial struggles of musicians such as Anthony Braxton, George Lewis, Leo Smith etc. who joined the AACM are fundamentally different from the work of their European colleagues.
180 Dell 2002, 17: “Improvisation ist dem Ausdruck, der Suche nach einer individuellen Kreativität
verplichtet. Ihre Sphäre reicht trotzdem über das rein Private hinaus, [...]
A general recognition and acceptance of improvisation in every-day situations exists. Improvised activity is required to find adequate and suitable solutions to unexpected and immediate problems. Such situations often have a negative effect upon those involved, as there is an urgency (Dringlichkeit) to be dealt with. For example, when an immediate solution is needed but particular tools and materials are not available181, an improvised response is required182.
Within speech, improvisational tactics can appear in conversation, where the intended meaning is paraphrased by analogies and metaphors, or even physical gestures. This might be especially so if the speakers do not share the same language.
It is also perhaps part of human behaviour to test existing rules and customs, as for example children try how far they can go before they face consequences of their actions. A high level of creativity is often required when negotiating such situations. Even when the improvisatory element is restricted to finding suitable material and techniques for repairing objects, a creative approach is apparent that cannot be denied. There can, however, be great disparities in sophistication and rigour of any experimentation. Improvisatory experimentation can become the interest of action in itself and disconnect itself from an immediate necessity. Furthermore, activities can range from the purely practical to more intellectually driven games and hypotheses. The following characteristics outline this range and are meant to be seen in relation to an underlying intensification of acumen, astuteness, cleverness, ingenuity, alertness, attention, feeling for opportunity, expertise and experience in the human behaviour183.
1. Problem:
Perceiving a problem preempts improvised activity. This might cause an urgency that requires immediate action, perhaps pushing the person to their limits. Problem constitutes an impulse for change, even if not necessarily an urgency.
181 To fix a leaking pipe with adhesive tape, or by using tools which were not designed for such purpose;
or the use of nylon stockings to repair the fan belt in a car.
182 There are of course other situations which can lead to improvisatory activity: enabling the
development of suitable substitutes of materials, tools and objects which are too expensive, or locally unavailable due to other circumstances. Also political circumstances where people are forced to work outside legality to pursue their aims.
2. Response:
An improvised activity is a response to an impulse. The ability to improvise with limited materials and tools has the quality of “on the spot” and immediate invention. The time factor plays an important role, as more considerate and planned solutions might be too late.184
3. Spontaneity:
Improvised activities occur spontaneously, they might even be considered as intuitive responses. This also includes the ability to act in the moment.
4. Adaptiveness:
A continuous direct relation to context and environment is required as the stimulus for an immediate improvised response. This indicates the need to be continuously aware of any changes in the current situation and able to adapt at any moment in time.
5. Game and play (ludo):
The playful handling of rules and guidelines in connection with games has a close relationship to exploration. Play as a means to rehearse to acquire skills, strength and agility required to cope with the challenges in life. The word root of ludo, ‘I play’, appears in ludic and ludicrous. While the first describes a spontaneous and undirected playfulness, the other carries a clear negative connotations. The play which has gone too far. However, the game at its most successful is when there is room to adapt the rules. This allows for degrees of ability, situation and environment to play out. It also prioritises dialogue; enhancing potential sociability185.
6. Intention:
Improvisations require intentions that arise within the dynamic of problem- solving (see 1.). Intuitive responses can play a part in improvisation, but it is not the essence of it. Intuitive behaviour is limited to unconscious processes that
184 Helping in the events of accidents or situations of immediate need are the most striking moments in
which the improvised activity is often most highly regarded.
185 A further possible development of the thoughts about the ludicrous: the ludicrous is considered the
foolish, the unreasonable, and what has exceeded the amusing. Does this indicate why many people depreciate improvisation?
enable fast and immediate responses (reflexes) in particular situations of danger (i.e. running away, hiding, etc). Improvisation requires intentional thoughts, consideration and conscious and deliberate activity.
7. Duration:
Improvisation is temporary, it has no duration beyond the time of the activity itself. The improvised activity is bound to a particular occasion: its solutions are not intended to last. Therefore ideas which solve the problem within an urgent situation have immediacy, without necessarily claiming to be the most appropriate possibility available.
It is also important to consider that the context and conditions of one’s activity can change very rapidly. Therefore the response to a particular stimulus might quickly become irrelevant as the causal relationship require new responses. 8. Endeavour:
The motivation to achieve something is important in improvisation. Change also gains significance through intention. This forms a link between activity concerned about necessities and the more abstract activity attempting to improve the current situation or state.
9. Development:
Very closely related to the points raised in point 4, aspects of development and progress on a personal as well as social level are apparent. In its simplest form development occurs because every improvised solution constitutes a gain in experience, positive or negative. However it is an “affirmative interaction and creative use of the provisionals as an attempt to reconstruct practical reasoning”186, a “bodily and autobiographical knowledge of the self”187.
10. Hypothesis:
Problems can be a construct of an intellectual kind. Even difficulty of execution can generate a continuing interest in the activity. Problem-solving can become an intellectual discipline in its own right. This requires a deliberate act of recognising a problem and therefore differs from an intention to find momentary 186 Dell 2002, 69.
solutions. The existence of the idea that multiple solutions can be found and developed can become the main interest of the activity itself. Such activity is probably closest to the conventional definition of composition. However, the characteristics of spontaneity and temporality, of course, operate within the domain of the moment: the real-time188.
11. Heuristic:
The holistic qualities of improvised activities are the immediate result of the knowledge accumulated through the processes involved. Kairos describes the moments when the maximum of accumulated knowledge is condensed to the minimum of time to find appropriate solutions within the current moment and context. Any result expands the experience and knowledge. This expansion is a recursive process which can have a direct impact – or at least possibility – to influence further outcomes. This forms therefore “practical knowledge” which describes “a ‘bodily’, autobiographical knowledge acquired [through] improvisation”189.
12. Social:
Improvisation happens within a social interaction. One must be aware and alert for the spontaneous changes in direction and approaches. There has to be a willingness to respond to new stimuli and incorporate their characteristics through compromises and adjustments. Above all this recognises the potential arising from a continuous fruitful dialogue, during which a person becomes nurtured and scrutinised within every moment. “To actualise and to align [oneself] to others [... to the extent] that often the initial impulse [for the activity] cannot be retraced, i.e. it looses its relevance. [...] What remains important is that this happens within the shared discourse of those being together”190 This also highlights the importance of ensuring personal responsibility for one’s own actions within the collective creative situation. The overall collective potential
188 It is very interesting at this stage to note that for example Jonathan Impett refers often to the term
“real-time composition” for his performances involving computerised control strategies. In a similar vain Rowe 1999 and Risset 1999 relate the term “real-time composition” to work with electronics.
189 Dell 2002, 72.
190 Dell 2002, 110: “Aktualisieren und Ausrichten an Anderen ... in denen der eigentliche Impuls [der
Handlung] oft nicht mehr zurückverfolgt werden kann, das heißt keine Rolle mehr spielt. ... Wichtig bleibt dass dies im diskursiven Raum des Miteinanders geschieht”. Translation by Elke Schwarz.
becomes otherwise tainted by the domination of a singular or even egocentric approach: irrelevant and trivial statements deliver little for collective progress.
To summarise: most of the above descriptions involve a situation in which the person encounters a negative sentiment, a dissatisfaction, or even a state of emergency. The positive emotion that will arise after successfully improvising a solution can easily enhance a person’s self-esteem. However, the fact that the problem had been solved in an ad hoc situation retains a sentiment that is only a temporary achievement. There is an assumption that ‘one only improvises’ in moments when nothing else is possible – that improvisation only occurs out of desperation; any solution would feel like a great achievement. There is also a sense that given more time, consideration and thought such provisional solutions would be exchanged with more carefully planned, carefully considered, and accurately executed solutions. These would have been proved over time, or at least have been developed over a longer stretch of time and are therefore considered as more valuable and sustainable. Therefore, one could argue that for any improvised solution something even more appropriate and suitable should be developed over time. As a consequence improvisation has been seen as a suitable approach for scouting out new skills, which eventually find full potential in value within a more considered and conceptualised context. Is improvisation the playground for compositional techniques?191 Or, should we consider improvisation to have potential as a unique — if troublesome — independent musical idiom?192