IMPROVISATION - 2

Pedro Rebelo 2006

http://www.sarc.qub.ac.uk/~prebelo/teaching/listening

Improvisation

"I think I know what it is but don't ask me to play it".

John Coltranes to remark to Zita Carno on seeing one of his improvisations transcribed to music notation.
http://efi.group.shef.ac.uk/fulltext/demotu.html

Improvisation

How do idioms develop in improvised music?

Improvisation

Improvisation
Instrumentation

Improvisation
Instrumentation

Scale

Improvisation
Instrumentation

Scale

Communities

Improvisation
Instrumentation

Scale

Dissemination through recording

Communities

Improvisation
Instrumentation

Performer Roles

Scale

Dissemination through recording

Communities

Improvisation
Instrumentation

Performer Roles

Articulation Scale

Dissemination through recording

Communities

Improvisation
Instrumentation Musical Form Performer Roles

Articulation Scale

Dissemination through recording

Communities

Improvisation
Instrumentation Musical Form Performer Roles Rhythmic Patterns

Articulation Scale

Dissemination through recording

Communities

Improvisation
Instrumentation Musical Form Performer Roles Rhythmic Patterns

Articulation Scale Degrees of freedom

Dissemination through recording

Communities

Improvisation
Instrumentation Musical Form Performer Roles Rhythmic Patterns

Articulation Scale Phrasing Dissemination through recording Degrees of freedom

Communities

Improvisation
Instrumentation Musical Form Performer Roles Rhythmic Patterns Degree of Repetition Articulation Scale Phrasing Dissemination through recording Degrees of freedom

Communities

Harmonic Language Instrumentation Musical Form

Improvisation

Performer Roles Rhythmic Patterns Degree of Repetition Articulation Scale Phrasing Dissemination through recording Degrees of freedom

Communities

Harmonic Language Instrumentation Musical Form

Improvisation

Performer Roles Rhythmic Patterns Degree of Repetition Articulation Scale Phrasing Dissemination through recording Degrees of freedom

Instrumental Techniques Communities

Harmonic Language Instrumentation

Improvisation
Micro and counter-cultures Musical Form Performer Roles

Rhythmic Patterns Degree of Repetition Articulation Scale Phrasing Dissemination through recording Degrees of freedom

Instrumental Techniques Communities

Harmonic Language Instrumentation

Improvisation
Micro and counter-cultures Musical Form Performer Roles

Rhythmic Patterns Degree of Repetition Articulation Scale Social Phrasing Degrees of freedom

Instrumental Techniques Communities

Dissemination through recording

Improvisation

Idiomatic Thresholds

Improvisation

Idiomatic Thresholds
A lot of contemporary improvising musicians inhabit the threshold of idiomatic constrains, using more than one musical idiom and breaking the up.

Improvisation Jazz Nefertiti (Wayne Shorter)

Miles Davis - Trumpet Wayne Shorter - Tenor Sax Herbie Hancock - Piano Ron Carter - Bass Tony Williams - Drums 1967

http://www.jazzvisionsphotos.com/contact/contact.htm

Improvisation Jazz Nefertiti (Wayne Shorter)

Miles Davis - Trumpet Wayne Shorter - Tenor Sax Herbie Hancock - Piano Ron Carter - Bass Tony Williams - Drums 1967

Improvisation Jazz Nefertiti (Wayne Shorter)

Miles Davis - Trumpet Wayne Shorter - Tenor Sax Herbie Hancock - Piano Ron Carter - Bass Tony Williams - Drums 1967

Improvisation using always the same notes?

Improvisation Anthony Braxton

Composition No. 115 (1984)

What is the idiom? What is the structure? What are the roles of each performer?

Improvisation Anthony Braxton

Composition No. 115 (1984)

Improvisation Anthony Braxton

Composition No. 115 (1984)

Almost Bebop?

Improvisation Naked City (John Zorn)

Party Girl Radio (1993)

What is the idiom? What is the structure? What are the roles of each performer?

Improvisation Naked City (John Zorn)

Party Girl Radio (1993)

Improvisation Naked City (John Zorn)

Party Girl Radio (1993)

Almost Country & Western?

Improvisation Painkiller (John Zorn)

Lathe of God Guts of a Virgin (1991)

What is the idiom? What is the structure? What are the roles of each performer?

Improvisation Painkiller (John Zorn)

Lathe of God Guts of a Virgin (1991)

What is the idiom? What is the structure? What are the roles of each performer?

Improvisation Painkiller (John Zorn)

Lathe of God Guts of a Virgin (1991)

Almost Thrash Metal?

Improvisation Napalm Death

Rise Above Noise for Musics Sake (2003)

Shane Embury (Napalm Death)

Improvisation Evan Parker

Aerobatics 9 Saxophone Solos, 1975

What is the idiom? What is the structure? What is the instrumental technique?

Improvisation Evan Parker

Aerobatics 9 Saxophone Solos, 1975

Improvisation Evan Parker Soprano Saxophone

Aerobatics 9 Saxophone Solos, 1975

Almost non-western?

Development of alternative techniques to play traditional instruments. Evan Parker has developed a technique which treats the instrumental as a multi-dimensional space, allowing him to think of breathing, finger positions, articulation as independent elements that can be layered in different ways.

Improvisation European Free Improvisers

Evan Parker Derek Bailey Han Henning Jolle Leandre Carlos Zingaro Eddie Prevost John Tilbury Hugh Davis Barry Guy Misha Mengelberb Irne Schweizer ...

Non-idiomatic improvisation: Musical language derives from each players technique, free improvisation and relationships between the players

With Evan Parker, Tristan Honsinger, Tony Coe, Lindsay Cooper; London 1980 (Actual 80)

See http://e.group.shef.ac.uk/ for more info on free improv

Improvisation John Zorn Cobra (1984)

"Here is a series of individuals, each has his own personal music. All worked on their instruments, on their own, to develop a highly personal language." So my first decision, which I think was the most important, was never to talk about language or sound at all. I left that completely up to the performers. What I was left with was structure. (John Zorn)

Improvisation John Zorn Cobra (1984)

Allegro (Studio Version)

"Here is a series of individuals, each has his own personal music. All worked on their instruments, on their own, to develop a highly personal language." So my first decision, which I think was the most important, was never to talk about language or sound at all. I left that completely up to the performers. What I was left with was structure. (John Zorn)

Improvisation John Zorn Cobra (1984) no idiom... just structure?

What I came up with is a series of rules, like a trading system one person plays, then the next person plays, then the next person plays and event systems, where people independently perform events. Everybody can perform one event each, for example, but nobody can time it at the same time with anybody else. There might be a series of downbeats where at a downbeat a change will happen if you're playing, maybe you must stop. If you're not playing, you may come in. That's just one example. With each new piece, I made up new sets of rules, sometimes incorporating similar ideas and systems from old pieces but changing the sequences, or the overall way it was put together. I would perhaps get a series of fifteen systems, each one able to spark a different set of relationships among players, then figure out a way that these different system could be used by them. John Zorn, 1998

Improvisation John Zorn Cobra (1984) no idiom... just structure?

music as an environment for potential...
Earl Brown

Improvisation John Zorn Cobra (1984) no idiom... just structure? putting the music together a classic f***up