G H A P E R3 8

Musicalimprovisation
fuchard shey

Introduction
Musical improvisatio , ro .nany in the
Western wor]d' an activjty shroded in ,srer,
Most ]istenes ae fami]ia with soe genrs of
music in wh]ch itoisation a common
place,sch as rock and oher popuar syies,
]u' r r haps.ethnic, mLsics-that is to say,
comos d or improved .traditional'msics
falling ouide the tyical WesteD canns'
herefore listeDe.s are aare hat mry musi
cians a' ad routjney do, oduce novel
musicarutterances
in realtime.The questjonfor
most]isteners
is not.can musicbe imrovisedl,
bt rath r . is impovisationcarriedoui'
With this fomulation of the question, mrsical
imProvisation becomcs a suiable topic for rsv.hogicalinYestjgatio,
fo.*i"g o"..g,;ii*,
ica' and int r ersona processes,and on
he musical structr.s on which thse prcesses
oprnte. vielaed in this way, there are para]]els
that ca be scen with regrd to Prc$es ofver
ba] roduction. No one wortd tiDk it unusual
to nrd native speake.sof a lrgage Producing
new uteanceson the sPui of the momen;
jndeed'tofind smeonewithot
scha abity
the rnusualcas (aspointcd out iD B]a.king
)19760 .
Tbis chapter seekst bring togethr the lita.
] on rnusicaimovationwhich will be f
nterestand benefitto those wishiDgto know
nore abou it from a cognitive perspective,
There is currently a modest bu g.owing litera
ture dealing wirh rhe psychotogyof musicat
imProvisatio;the curious rit compa.ethe
Dunb r of artjclescited her i D with those in
her chaptersofthis volme. on ajo. strd
ot th music psychological litenture wi nt be
dea]ttid hee, nrety the use f impovisation

in music theaeutic,cinical,or chothea

peuticsetings-The inlerested. a de is referred
to he apropriatesectionsof this olme for
referenceson thse topics.

constraints on the pocesses

of musicaimprovisation
tseforemoving on to a review of some dozensof
studie$dea]ing with itvisation, it is hetful
to set a minjmal thoretil fracwork for these
discussions.
The corenotion here hat of.o,
J,,,in,: of the scarcity of resouces,in al time,
ha hmascan utiizefr makingmusicwhen
they are not fb]owing a Prdeterined plan of
action (whether norated or not, as insigitfttly
notedin Rai]y[]999]),To inrovise apropriaely in a givenm$i.al sty]resecially if the
mprovlserB concenedwih signilicnt, pro.
du.]ive iteraction with other msicias' and
with cmmunicatingwith an audi n c+is a
kind of tightroPe act, where there is al{aysth
chance that something will go lron8 (the
r c orded performancesof ,naster msicians
shol that eve thy make mistales someimes).
Making mrsic denands coDsiderabecsourccs
tiom eoPejthat ' no doubt, art o. why
nu$c making is enjoyabe.in tha it brings
us nto some more optima ]ationship between
our capabilii s and our actions, along the
lies of csjkszentm]hilyi,s notion of flw,
(Csikszentmiharyi
t990, 1996).The useofone's
ibilities insidethe costraintsofone's bodyand
its limits in performance,the t]mis ofone,s
a.iotr with elera] evets,ind etr;ving and
utilizig one s kow]edg."promptly in impovi
saton proude a powerftl fra.ncwork lor a seik
of personalachievement,ad is thus a geat

414 , cl]APER 3a 4usia|

]mprosation

roing ground for csiksrntmih1lyi,s concePts

of otirna] erieDce and crltivity.
What' more r c ey, are si8ni6cant con
straitson musical inprovisation?We shall
consider three here' not closing he doo to oth
ers' T]eseae the imits fthe body (hysjcal
.onsafut;the limis ofine (empoal co
striints); the limits of nowledge (cognitive
costraints),From these we shall ther move
ito an eaminatioD ofthe sychoio8ical liteEure egardjng
imProisatio,

i the rrg of 1/25thfa second(4 ftsec or

less)_see ye (202'204)_ and ths are of
cntical concern' since thc margin for r is s
slight. Why might lhis mater? because.as
Stravinsky a]eged]ysid, .Music is he a that
definesMan's relatjshipto Tie,'Music proides the ine 8rid aainstwhich our ongoing
livs are meast.ed' moie linely than with language o. with cocks;it is lumanityk geat
measureoftime' down to tbe finest]ev we
caD determine.ad ou aditory systemscan
.letc the minutst ]ve]s of timirg, we]under

Constraint 1: the body

mprovis r s work with theii hrds, feet, and
voces o maj<emusic in the moment, Unlike a
coposer' \hocan considerrd reconsiderat
len8th the different o$ibiities whi. a dirse
ensembe might rovid fo the eipressioD of a
gve nusica idea' the improviser is teft ith
on]y his or her ow phsical abiljiesto make
he music wle needed,The comle r]ationship ofthe huma body,sibi1itjeso rea]tim
music makiDghasrarelybeenexplored(bursee
Eric c]arke oe,r,e for a stinulatin8, Gibsnia
apoachto the issue).n sone ays,his canbe
see as comparableto rocessesofspeechpoduction and articulatory phonoogy (Lev""l
989) in laguag , but is sti more comp]e in
that hese musicautterrces st ?]cally be
articulated in he cneit of la.ger.scae stuc
tures,like discursestrucurei ]guag l and
in tit emPoral concert }ith other elform'
ers, unlike seech'
the nrn is oe
'hre

consraint 2: rea|time
The rove.b says,.ire and tide wait fo o
man' .. . ad' we might add' time waits for no
one imroing msic,Sometifresthe impio
vising musicir is wirhout ay othercollaboraro.s
(nay btues .ecordigs fa into his cat.go,),
and in dacnsehe inp.ovi*r is ftee o 31terthe
timin8 of tbei perfrlae
hey : fit, qt'
Dg no ne.d o o .diMr
ih o.}ei E'
for
oh. in fu d .ir-ir
dE

fufr.ft

y.r

constraint3: |imitson r,hat

we kno,
T},icdly,Peop]ecan on acl o whatthey kow;
music is no erception to lhis rie. For the caseof
imroisation' the nwledge ne trss shottd be
encodedin pocedurat(know-howlo) rathe
than declative (knw-about) for, Tere a.e
severalreasonsfor this, msdy having to do with
speed.Decaatie knowledge gneray appli'
cab]e'but s]ow:it must be interpretediD order o
be used. Proceduraiknwedge,o the other
h is "ica-yiewed as recodedor .conpned'
in a tighte., more efficient fom, from that initial]y given in its dec]arativeform. Ths, imp
visers must have then knowtedge encoded in
pcedual fom' o b used quick]y enough,but
must.].lsomake use f}e implici knowedgeof
musical strcture possssed by ]istenersin order
to malc their in-rhe-moment compositions
cohereDaDdisticallyaproriate.
hus, strucrre,pattern,and bodi]yengage'
ment mge as key elemeDrsofimprovisational
tecbDiqu,and this has been .eflectedin psy.
cho]o;calresearci ;nto imrovisation,This
pproachattemtsto go beyondthe mjains
of iDteri w ad self r ortj as ohnson'ad
iculate o y a imired
ltusicir]

b
the de]ying eDtat pro.'
esg .E ht' .oEoE
fou k lour
itk-L,r :rc r; to ek a _guere ol
EiEin ffirjrf ri i..!s rifn rn

studies on imprisat]on
n.1a2z, 415

making p]ain why the dcip]ine of Psycholin

guisticsets as we]l as the sciec of mic

Studies on improvisation
in iazz
Much of th psychological]iteratu.ede.ling
wilh trusica imrovisation fofs on z
imPovain of some kid, The reasonsfor
bis ac sevea]:some of the resarches involed
are th n seles jszz musicias; impioisatio
lies ar thehea.tofjazz,raherttanbeinga more
occasionagarnishfugof precomosedmusical
strctures(asis fte case,for eMmPlq with guitar sos in many o& sog'; id jazz usj
cis disPlay inroisaiona] ski at a very high
lee],since investigationsfja7, aec tray
P]acedin psychologica studies,we urn now to

vheredo ideas come from in jazz?

oe ofthe mosi common oularmisconceptios ofja,z inprovisatio is rhat it iDvolves
.pjckjng
notes out of the air' r some simi1ar
statemen.]a2 nsiciansthemselesknow rhat
this Dot the sq bu bave in geeral done litle to ex]icate
e menta1and fusica]proceses
invo]vedin imp.ovation, There are tablc
ecepions, srch as Berline?S Thinkifrg in jazz
(199a)'or Molson's s,g sne|hiflg|1996)'
deep tbnorusicological investigations into the
workingsr ja,, imprvisation,Tesestdies,
which are msicoogicni rather da psychotogical in natu.e, rovide a rich backgot for
und stadin8 sone basjcsofjaz jmprovisa
tion-t is a ski]which taies thorsaDds
ofhou6
of effortfupracticeto deve]o]]t deeopsin
community.atherthan with isolaredindividu
a]sjit is int n sely ph)sical in real timei and it
in]vesacquiringad becomirgfluentwith a
kind ofmosic' obary or ]io ofattens,
which form the bas of musica] epresin the
sameway wo.d$o. hrasesdo in sontaDeous
odctionof langug .

pitch,and tonality
lmprovisation,
To many ]isteners,the faci]itywith which imrovising musicians produce the melodies and

harmonies they play is something a]os magi

cal,low can de no s be found so quick]and so i.crately? cleary he to1esae no
selected at randm o the resis wud not be
so cohere d compelling. The answeB to this
questionhave beesoght by e$ea.chersin a
The 1i6t, and qitewe documented,aspect
ofpitch orgaDization
b improiseBis theiuse
of a set of pre eting materia|swhich see as a
vocabutaryor lexicn fom lhich they can setec
and on which tratrformationsmaybe effecred.
This has]ongbe n notedin improvisationout
side the Wesern tradjtion, for eiamp]e i
Balkr epic songperfomrce (ord 1960),n
tbe early- to mid tentieth celiury, two schol.
as Mimn Perry and bt Lord_deve]oPed
an;dea of oacompositionin om r ic poetry
and in epic bardsf.om the Balkanswhich has
inflenced nuch subseqentthoughtjnto the
naure ojmprovisatio,This work brot o
the fore the nolion of fomrlas as kcy elemts
l he orJ comoser craft, 'heseform as can
be tho8lt of as ecuing turns of phrase' such
as the rosy fingers of da!n' il the Homeic
epics. Researchersino jazz impoisation have
adopted th otion using different t ms,
induding .licks,,.cris,'rd .schentas,
(Berlin r
]994),Buidnga slore of thesepaerns,which
the can be rewoked,varied and efined over
ime, is ooe of the prjmary wiys in whj.h young
nnpiovers eanr their .raft and managethe
time dands of irpovisation.
]owee, there are deepeorganizing pnnci
Pes at wor as we]l.There n solid idcce that
jaZZfuicians,improisationsob y nany of
rheprin.iPlesof tonalorgaizaiiofoi in the
westem art music tridition' as hasb n shoM
i a nunber of ws. ,arinen ( i 995) conducted
aD in.deth analys ofimlroved saxohoe
solos by cheli arker. irine's quesrion was:
i what ways do .bebop'jazz improvisations,
pjtch contet reflect the Princip]es of tonal
organizationhat have been fond in other,
compos d reertires(ct Kruhans ]990)?
He found tha the tona] prlie_the romi
nenceofscaledegr e s re]ativeto the tonic pjtch
casf the ons of Parker's solos fit qite we]l
with Krmhansi's esu]ts This indicates that the
boad statisica]oPerti s of tona]itysere to
guide the imroiser at a deep1eel.T]js finding

416 , CHAPER38 Msicalimpoisation

buttresed by other .ee.hers, such as a6on

(2002),whose work has long demonstratedthar
fundamentalaspectsof tona] orgaiz.tion as
shon in meodic ad haronic te]eoogy are
shared between jaz, and .c]assical,msic.
other Finnish reseacher' Ptri Toiviainen
(]995)'has d computationat
modelsofneu
rar netwoks as a too] fo. exPloing the tna]
and rh}1hnic o.ganization of impovisations,
ad has demonst.ated ways i which the patterns and echiques! such as the improviser,s
use of ceDtally imporant 1argt tores'' cr be
simulated with ihese models, and aiso he subtle
rd powernninte]ay betweenitch rd rhrh
in improvisatio (,arvinen and Toiviaine
20),

lmprovisation,
time, and rh]4hm
Rhythr i its ditrerentasectsis the fbod of
improvisatiD(P s sig 202;yer 2o2).The
imp.ovisei must be fulty in command of
hytbm, With regrto jazz' one recurig
question is th.t of .swing,r .groove', at varying
tePos, especialy the enrenely fal ones,azz
muscias someties use. Th literature shows
(e.g.Fiberg and srd5rom 2002) tha inPro
visers bave a ve.y fie col of timing and
greataccu.a' within the limits of$,hat the body
can do. c, at very hst tei, wbile maintain.
Dg an imressiveysteadybeat,he .ing ratio,
funequa]ei8hrhnotesapp,oachesa l1 ratio,
pehaps becarseof physical limitations o
moing hands and drurstickl.
owever' nt a]] impovisations rake place
unde the kind of igh .ea time demands that
fas tempo ja"z imposes. As}tey(2o2) inest
gated he more sma sca]e irnprovisational
nspectsof nasterjaz, musicirs playing the
melodies of balad. These ar slow, comor,y
p]ayedsongs,rd the aiations in perfrmrce,
which ar enormors]y arge relative o tose
found i th c]assica tradition, shod be con
sidered acs f irnp.ovation nther th simp]e
e'ceation ad performance nuance. The ri'
mary 1indin8softhis stdy were related to per'
former's :esponses to musical stucrures. First,
he peformers obsee th motivic patterning
ofthe melodies' in that musical pa$ags sharig
the sarn basic figures {re altered in similar
\\uls, preserving tbe categoricai Mrurc of the

me]odiesno mar hor xtreme the diffrncs

in inir8 mit be ftom some originat or om
na forr of these motives. t a ]evebelow thn,
there wee ensive deviations fom the nomi
nat .h}thms oftheF miterias, ei.her as notad
or as pe.fomed on prior recrdingswhich
6erd as the ode] for the imProvisers, bove
the level ofthe.notive, at the rh}tbric eve of
th phras, there was a st.oDg tedency for the
soloistJs expr s sive deviations to cease at
cadence points, tjereby anchoing he melody
in the a,ger formalstructure hro reinforc
ing cadences.E,resive v&iatio in timing was
thu6 seen r opemting on two lees:one strc
tral' rhere motivic identity is and phrase
h}*m n peserved,and one rni.ro-eressi,
where individual variain is vaued. Microtiming variations ar we].docDrnnted throu
out the literaure on jazz perfoirace, r shown
jn yer (2002)ard co]lier and coier (202)
lom v.]y different i.eratures and points of

lmpovisationand the body

Udike musica] cmposition, which can be
mostl construed as a morc or-les purety cognitive undertaking, impro*ation is an activ
deePy steepedin rd conneetedwith $e hu.na
bod. To i"1povise neans that one is produc'
in8 rnrsic'audiblyand in realtime, this neces
sari]ymcans either playing an instrument o
singing.We appoach this topic .h.ough the
workof 1hesychologisttun d -e$omusicol.
ogist ,oh Baiy,noting that imilar sues are
raised,for xanpte, by stdnow (1993)in his
narntive ofleamiDg to ptay the piano. Baiy was
trane.l as an eerimenta sychotogist in the
aea ofmoto behaviour,wh n he tned to
issuesofmsic performrce he fomd a particu
lady irteesting toic i which to work isues of
perto.mace on a kind of]on8 necked fghani
ute, the duar. This istrment und."rent sig'
nificr changs in its form over a rlatively
shot sr of yars, and the tecjniques needed
for paying it and the kinds of nusical figures
which were theeby idiomati. n it were necessarily altered.The sudy ofthese jssues,rd oth
F reated to them, led Baily (and his associae
B]acking) to econceptua]ize the ieationship
betleenthe body d musical stlctue. n th

computatona|
and rammatiamod|S
of mroisation. 417
imotor grmmar, arach,the seqeDcesof
soundl whicb are pically t]t object ofnsit
study are not seen as bstrac structures which
rfomes then recrate, but are instead lnder'
sood t be d e ply inforned and shaped by
the hysiologicatroccssesn c essa for their
perfornance (Bai]y and Blacking l99). The
patters of somd are the resrlt ofmotor behav
iou6, ad thus bodiynoeent cabe s n aJ
the ltimate source ofmusic strctures, Bai]y,s
work,both on the duta (Baiy]985)and on the
guitar (Baily and Driver 992)' can b see as
having many paral]elsto aticulatory Phonoogy
in lingoistics,wherethe wayin which langMge
is shaPedasa seriesofsoundsis deeP]yrootedi
the dynamic behaiour of tlre o.al tra.t
1BowmaDand Go]dstein1989).t is intees.
ing' and grating, to consider spe c h and
music_the tw main ways jn which humns
use sund fo comrunicion ]nd for ]easurras 1idamental]yconnectedto the enbod
ied latr ofhumr cogitio.

md decision a lessened.onsiderably' om tl
choicesresetedi1the set foptions yi ded
by the constraint,quite sime ad efficicnt
seectionmechalisnssu|fice.This appoachis
quite different from those basedon over learnd
itch-at r ns o formulas, and the dialoge
betweenthesefio viewpoints contjnres.
etrPressig(984, 1988'i998,201)'a oly
fuath ]hose musical 1bcs !asjrovj$atio,
spetyears dcveoi1g soPhisticate.l' come
hensive ipproach musica inProvisation
which has as the time of this wiiing n parallel,
ts attemPtto dawi Physio]ogical,
.oitive,
.ultural' and structuial dimensionsof imro
isatioD is inrp.essive. Pressing'smot ] '
rctal
and physica] repr s entations of
imrovisatinaltechniqueae ]] reresented,
ad wok togethe.to inform the musjl result,
The physica], m bodicd considerations i
imPovisatinae fuldamen1a]to re$ing}
though he nocs .thehistoical.actha music'
f a1l art ad sport frns, has deveb! d
inrovisation to the highest degree''du he
thinks to the ligh time resolutionofthe audi
computationaand
toy and rtor systes, Pre$irg'smd i o|
grammaticalmodels of
irProvisition is basedoD notionsofte ioter
act]onbetweethe physicajtyof crformaDce
improvisation
aDdtlr ateria]sbeingperformed,and denlsin
Give tle comPlity of the issues which hae its own ay wih thc notion of constraits
been coered so far, it is no surPise tlat (p]}sicalor nsic stuctural) as imotat ele.
researche6 mit seek tie tn ogether i a
meDtsofa co1trolstcture for efflci n t, re]l.
moe uifiedode]. A tio of scie1ttssere as ime inprvisationa]behaviours'he mode]is
eamP]esof he apprach o undcrstanding e"]anedi significdtd l a]1in Pessing(1988)
inrovatio tltrough conpuaionalmdei
and cannot be adequatelydescrib d in brief
ling: JohnsoD'aid, ]etr essig ad Mark
terms'but basicaygeneatesnove].utterances'
Steedman,
we corider eachbrieIyi turn,
through the odctio of msica] figres
Pbi]ijohnson-aird,1ho
botha psycho]o (.eentcusers')which may then ei}erbe cn
gistand an improvisingmusician,has dcalt off tiuedbased on one r nore fcatresof the
dd on fo. y a s with questjonsof creativi eentscuftendy undeay, or may b tund ]n
tochin on jazzimproisaioncthanoDce. ew directioDsbya Pioces ofinte.ution,t is
]n bi$ 202article,he setsot a comptationa in pat lhis dualityfcoDtrol structure,which
systemwhich cd prodce sone kinds ofjazz.
enal]esboth continuityand surisc,which is
b$cd improistions (walking bass tins) given .esonsiblefor the sstemt quite irpressjve
a .lord progiession,he program ohDson
Laird oudinesattemptsto dea with a prjnry
Mark st c dmaD} work has cnce.ncdnself
psychoogical consritint tacing jazz inrovisers: with musica structure and jts formal rereseD
imited short ten memory' opeiai,g jn reat tation sinc bis studentdays,His work' whie
time, intnguing so]utjonis to seihe con
not poperly speakinga mde of imroisarion,
staintsoccring in musicalstructuresas iays h been very irfluet]al in understanding how
of limiting te se of opins |ced by a laye at
imrovisers might gne.ate newversions of lar
any givenistaDr' so that e loadsn memory monic ogessionstiom simpler undeing

418 , cHAPER 3a Musica|]mpro]saion

rotot}?es.n seedran (198a)he proposesa

gramar of blues chod Po8ressioswhi.h
invo]ves he usc of "ica transfomation rlles
o. rewrite rules' alloing a sim]e pogre$ion
to be elaboratedecursiv ]tlo nuch more
sophisticated,and yet sylisticallyaroriate'
sequeces,Since theD he has coninued to work
on how sch a gamranight be best con
srruced,and steedma(]996).eseotsa so]ution which is nore ]egaDti many ways bt
pr s ets problms for the reade not a1ready
faniliA with forma] grammars' steedman,s
work showshow oe ofthe co.e issuesin ja,,
improvisation' hrmony' can be mode]ted effr
ciently r incsio into a cmprehensive
mod of improvisation-

lmprovisation,inteaaction,
and identity
T be r imroviser is, nost often,to be a mebe. fa conrmurity ofmusicians wh sharea
connon rpose, set of skis. ad msica]
ocab]ary,Difliren reseachershae sued
|his matte ii a variety of ways. sotne. like the
usico]ogist ngrid Monson (1996), hae
focusedo the processes
of interactionbetween
ja,z nsicians whie they are playingtog t hc.,
fiDdirgthat the inteay btwe Prfome6 is
csscntial to the nalure ofthc an and to the ski]s
d behaios
ofindividuak as well groups.
othes, like the comnication theoristKeih
sawyer (999, 2003, 2006) have conecled
musicaliprovisationwith other colaborative
activities' notab1yjn e doain of theatle,
sawye.identifiesthre main m cnts of impotance:improvatioD,co.boration)and emer
gence.rovisation, of course' refersto the
.on the spot' rather
roduction of new ideas
than recreatiDgaL a dycomposed ones;collabation lo.ates creatiity ot in a individua
brt inthe gou as a whl i and emergence,
th
notion that sonehl the .whoeis greaterthd
1resun ofits parts''and has dyna.nicprper
ties whicb ae hard o edictaheadof tine'
S d don (205)identii d six modesofcomnu
nicatio betwen st]dent iovers' both er.
batand Don-verbal,and proposesthe notion of
enpathetic attneeDt ad creativit as a key
elenent in succssiil group ifupoaion, is

clear that group process one of he a a s in

improvisationesearchwhich is rie for adti
tioDastdy,ad te growingnedofdynai.
sstems rd comp]ex or8anizatioD has uch to
conected to the idea lgouP actiityare
the notionsofcommun]tyMd the impoviser's
ideniy.Th toic haspoduceda few interest
ing studies(e,8,Durani and tsufel1204)but
has been rst sriously investigatedb a Pair of
.search.s, Raymond MacDona]d d Graeme
Wilson (MacDonald and Wi]son 2005' 206j
WilsoD and MacDona]d 25). The focus of
then reseach has been dre ways in which mtn
bership in a communiy of impovise sls r
dejne,for themembes' bothimportantaspects
of deir individual .identities'or sef-uDdeL
staDdings,and the very conceps they use in
undersanding what kind of msic they see
themse]ves
as playing.acDnatdand Wiiso
mak the casethat group iteriews' rathr dan
interiws rith indiidunls, ae the best ethod
for investigatigthesematters,as issuesofiden
tity and cognitivecoDstctssuch as the meaning of.jazz,arei factdeelopedad shaedby
the social go,s interactions'which is nost
clea seein group dcussios.

lmprovisation,children,and
music leaming
siDce the publication f iargrayes ( 1986)there
has been a s;gnificaDtgrowth in the researclli
atu.e suoundngdevelopmentalaspectsof
improvi$tion. W ca orly touch on the matter
in this cluPter but it is clear that improvistion
can b a yery significantasectof di]dens'
musical developnent and an irportan avcue
of creaivity(cl Webster1987'202)'A nunber
of researchershave investigated wys in wbicb
children de ] p as improvisers, Paanaen
(207)demonstrat dthe steadygrowhof hi r '
archic conceptsin chi]drens'iroisations
from the ageof 6 to ; thesehierarchies\er
re1ectedin ona] strrturs as we as n1rhh,
nere, rd notivicorga'aion,Brohy(205)
un.lertook a ongirdinal study of chi]dren for
the ageof 7 llrogh t1eag of 9, rccording
their pentatoicimrovisationson T]ohones'
primary iterestwas in phrase rd moiic

2006j

f tit
qot

stictue aDd m t re; he fond that t}ere1as

,zra cD (t993),diaion ba*d imprati
increasing se of norie and rteccdent-conse
eh niqu.s nd elemcn .ry in$nl cnful n ds' nl usj.
quent hrase srctur in th irst two yas of
ch\q1chl ]una a|RLr.n i tr uun'
his sampi , aDothersign of i.reasingsoPhist]
cation at quie ar ea]y ag . Kratus (1989) B]i|y ( 999) lhnonusi.toic. perp.tives n sw1els
ide^s'Psy.hogl | ie' 17(2)' 203'2|1'
showed that chi]dren too young to be ski]lil jn
sait)'J xna Bxd.ing ( l99t ), sme cqniiye pe.ls o.
morc structured composition (n\ose up to the
lr ]nning i rsic pfonrancc' Pyelnea
a8e f 7) cortdbe productiveas inprovisors,
Biq' J]{1\2)' 1'17 162'
sggestingthat imProvatioD with yoge. chi
BliIy ind Divcr P (t992).splio.motrthinkirgin
p|a,ing flk blu6 guira' ol., o/i 34(1)' 57-1 |'
dre wold be a good ath fo. music earning.
Ba'l, (1935),MEic suftre and umm moc'L ]n
othe. resea.ch(such zzara 993)has dem
! locll' ] cs
d R {e9' eds usi.d] sfua|e h.)
onstatedthat sjngimprovisation a egular
pt$' ' ,onion.
.03,i,, 237 253. .di.
aspectofa fifth year eienentaryschool music e\ne P (|9
jaz
lhe jnjnn of
),'hifikinr in
iearning cuicu]um had ositive significant
,l,,o-J.l;o,, U.ivesityoclii.agoPres$chicro'
,,
B..kinlj ] (1976),loy ,Ji.,/ a,? Unicrny o|
transfeto other m]sia] adiviies and abilities.
whington Ples, se,ttle' w'
othei rsearchers ha looked at the influ
ioh)'Ts (20'),A lonBnudinat*udy ofueded
enc of contet children\ i.oisations.
ch.acte.ticsor.idren
medi inro.ions,
G]ilba t (204)fod that 5- and 6 yeaLolds
frl Reyq|el in Msn fuatia' 53|z)' 20.|11'
are sensitiveto the accompanimentsayed Bwm.n cP and (]o|dstin ( l939)' Afri.lalory
8enure
whi]e they jnrovise;whe . harmoDjcay ori
r phonolgi.a|uils,?],,,,l,$/' 6,2].25t,
entedaccomanim n t was provided,the chi1- Bu.fu rd P (l 999),Bdil, jntin in chiIden
nd.nposi1ion, ?y.,olo& o/Mi
den made more se f ton.l functioD ad
'movnation
imlied haroy in thei improvisations. Rumard P (22)'
lnstig.tin8 .hie\ nening
Young (203) deakwith 3 and4-yearoldswho
makng d the en.igen ol muli.al interin in
wereimprisigtogetherwith m adult pat
goup mrvnation' ,n'5,, /o,,,,1 0f 'i. lnn'
ner, aDd idtiied social ineactioD i be form
colie G md coier J (202),A nd l timins in fu
of ay t be an imon:ant source of chidren,s
ou rrsbong sols, Mi. P.,o,'
r9(3),
creativebehaiours,esu]lingin an enriched
musicalutut,inally, Burard (1999'2oo2) csiLanninl
M ( l99i]), to-: l,. syehoos a o'nfu]
has shoM that l2-year olds engagein quite
.i?d',.,, p and Ro N Yo
sophisticated
goupirovisatinabehaviours, GiMtmih,Iyi M ( 996). c,.a,,* , ,,, ,tr
p!'th' ofaiaycy afr1ifiyno,' Eilpcr Pnid'
iDvo]vingintc.actions btween hei. bodies,
movements,
rd choicesof inst.umenisto hcit
Drrti
and Brell K (20o,l), J]?f, impionalin]
itare imprvation' and aiuing group co]abo
srh fol ltidlen haronis
ana i uniq. ft i..r.,!g
rion and iteraction in thei Dusic makig.
ni P snria' 2'7(3)' 71 11'

Conclusions

t00s)
.ding

he alu of researchinto impovisatio is

c]ea demonstrated
by the studiesmetioned
here, rd ma othe as we. rp.ovisation is
not n isol.ted sid i$e with egard to hm
msic makingj it connectsmusical structure,
our bodies'and or senseof ourseivesas ind
viduah ad as member of socialunits i pow'
eifit was, Mch work iemais to be done but a
strongfondationexistsar this time,

Fiiberg and sundsbdn (2o2),swing Eis and

cn*|rle rig in jzz crtbrr.e
eviden.e f a
comon b,1hn]. rter' Mr; P.|?.i|' |93)'
cuibau r]M, (2.1).Th. etrel ol harmoni.
].cmn'mentlhe onalachi*e'!.n dtona|
inpvrtions o.hitden in kinle a 1el xid ,irt
{ze' an of Reanh i'1 tr E7ution' 52(1)'

References

argreav r]J ( t 936), T,l, ,.lop fret Psy.hoo| )|

,ri. ]ambide Unive6ny si er o
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un Pd. io' 19|.|')' 30 14'
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ycr
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sIn.yR (2,])..b[n1] .ha.B. . n fo mc theai ol

|L rbb' jn Pe|'io'l' 19(3)'1|1 31z'

]:irinen (t995)''onl ltiea(his in jaz inplovisxin,

'i Pefu'iof' 12.4),4|5-37 '

420 . oIAPR 3a
,4usical
mprovisaion

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