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Keywords in Musical Free Improvisation

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Keywords in Musical Free Improvisation Music and Arts in Action | Volume 5 | Issue 1 Keywords in Musical Free Improvisation CARL BERGSTROEM-NIELSEN Department of Music Terapy | Aalborg University | Denmark* ABSTRACT This article presents some keywords and concepts concerning free improvised music and its recent developments drawing from ongoing bibliographical research. A radical pluralism stems from musicians' backgrounds and the mixtures and fusions of styles and idioms resulting from these mixtures. Seemingly very diferent "performance-driven" and "play-driven" attitudes exist, even among musicians who share the practice of performing at concerts. New models of musical analysis aiming specifcally at free improvised music take into account these interactional dimensions and point to the existence of certain typical- sounding characteristics. *Teglgaardsvej 649, DK-3050 Humlebaek, Denmark © Music and Arts in Action/Bergstroem-Nielsen 2016 | ISSN: 1754-7105 | Page 11 http://musicandartsinaction.net/index.php/maia/article/view/improvkeywords Music and Arts in Action | Volume 5 | Issue 1 INTRODUCTION Recent trends that examine music in its social context have emerged partly as an extension of on-going research in the sociology of music since the 1970s. &o some extent, this examination of music in and as culture has emerged as a reaction to traditional musicology, (hich, during much of the 20th century, often treated the discipline of musical analysis in an objectivistic (ay. +f one applies an ‘either-or- vie(' one could study the musical text, to obtain a fuller and more complete perception of its sonic details and ho( they function together. .r one may engage in philosophical speculations about the overall meaning in music and other art forms. Another possible form of semantic in/uiry (ould be to practise hermeneutic and phenomenological studies departing from individual listening experiences% Alternatively, one could adopt sociological methods in order to give people and their musical and cultural behaviour their deserved place in these felds. 1ortunately, (e do not have to accept the dilemma of choosing between these diferent modes of analysis. +ndeed, music is (orth examining from various perspectives; (e do indeed ascribe meaning to it, and it is connected to our behaviour. Most musicians usually engage in some (ay (ith all three of these levels% Tis article is (ritten (ithin the frame of my earlier scholarship 45ergstroem!Nielsen, )$$)7, representing cumulative bibliographical research into (ritings about free improvisation and other related topics. 8ritings about free improvisation no( have /uite a history that began in the 1970s and attracted more academic interest in the 1990s 4see 9te(art, this issue7. 5ut even before that time, many musicians contributed text and documentation, as (ell as (ith their thoughts on (hat they (ere doing. Te follo(ing is an efort to gather various key(ords that have emerged for me in literature related to improvisation in an attempt to learn more about its key characteristics. + present some of this key(ord research, (hich + think especially characterises free improvisation and could be (orthy for further re:ection and research. KEYWORD 1: PLURALISMS 1ree improvisation allo(s musicians (ith diferent backgrounds and musical preferences to collaborate (ith one another. +t is especially noticeable that some musicians see this as not only a basic condition, but as a productive tension. ;lobokar 4 "#)7 speaks of an ,unmediated mixture-, and Parker 4as cited in 9tanyek' """7 moves further (ith coining the metaphor of the desirable ,cheese and pickle sand(ich- containing such a mixture, to (hich he ascribes aesthetic value. =e vie(s this state as a middle (ay bet(een ,total heterogenisation’ and ,total homogenisation’ and argues against both extremes, especially against the latter. UNMEDIATED MIXTURE >+t is too much of a simpli0cation to state that this (ay of free improvisation is only the last conse/uence of a development (ithin post!serial music. ?%%%@ +f, by incidence' someone appears in the group (ho has played only *aAA or +ndian music, the result 1 Concerning journals, these include the present one and Critical Studies in Improvisation © Music and Arts in Action/Bergstroem-Nielsen 2016 | ISSN: 1754-7105 | Page 12 http://musicandartsinaction.net/index.php/maia/article/view/improvkeywords Music and Arts in Action | Volume 5 | Issue 1 changes fundamentally% +t becomes a peculiar and unmediated mixture of t(o (orlds% + (ould like to add immediately that this unmediatedness is not necessarily a negative factor>% Binko ;lobokar 4 "#)7 A KIND OF TENSION TO BE MAINTAINED ( = CHEESE AND PICKLE SANDWICH) >Tere is a kind of tension to be maintained bet(een total heterogeneity 4(here there is no cheese and pickle sandwich7 and total homogeniAation (here all identity markers are :attened out and (e arrive at a kind of 0ltered 'ne( age!(orld music' pap% 4Dike a cheese and pickle sandwich in the blenderE7 Te aim as + see it is to initiate and to respond to the initiatives of others in proportion to a sense of demands made by the particular piece of music as it unfolds%> Fvan <arker as cited in 9tanyek 4 """7 +n 1igure 1 belo(, + have sought to illustrate the playing situation as Parker describes it in a triangular pattern. Players are seen as independent forces, between (hich ,initialising- and ,responding- takes place, and the third interacting force is the musical language. Parker describes diferent levels of the musical language in an interesting way, which will be discussed in more detail later. Figure 1: Concepts from Parker (as cited in Stanyek, 1999) KEYWORD 2: CONFLICT ;iven such vie(s that stress the positive aspects of pluralism and diference, it is only natural that one must re:ect on the role of confict itself. 5eresford 4as cited in Gusack, "#H7 maintains vigorously that (ithout acceptance of conficts, there (ill be an unhealthy and ungenuine situation: JTe improvised music performances (hich don't (ork for me are those (hich are exactly trying to pro*ect an image of pure music (hich doesn't have the same problems that most music has and that most life has>% © Music and Arts in Action/Bergstroem-Nielsen 2016 | ISSN: 1754-7105 | Page 13 http://musicandartsinaction.net/index.php/maia/article/view/improvkeywords Music and Arts in Action | Volume 5 | Issue 1 Figure 2: Against Pure Music &aking 5eresford-s terminology slightly further, one could speak of his ideal as an act of deconstruction done to the mistakenly ,pure music’, a deconstruction that clarifes the situation and (hich may be acting in a liberating (ay as (ell as to restore variety and individuality% KEYWORD 3: IDIOMS Te notion of idiom also illuminates ho( free improvisation has developed pluralistically. 8hen 5ailey 4 "")7 coined his classical term of non-idiomatic, there still existed a need to distinguish bet(een traditional styles and genres and the (ay they (ere made relative in the ne( improvised music context. +n later developments' this relativity of styles and genres have become increasingly a matter of course. IDIOMS AS PREREQUISITES >+diomatic improvisation%%% is mainly concerned (ith the expression of an idiom K such as *aAA' :amenco or baro/ue – and takes its identity and motivation from that idiom% 6on!idiomatic improvisation%%% is most usually found in so!called 'freeC improvisation and, (hile it can be highly stylised, is not usually tied to representing an idiomatic identity%%%>% 45ailey "")' p% xi7 >9ingle idioms are no longer regarded as prere/uisites for the music making but as tools (hich can in every moment be used or not used"% 4Munthe "")7 >1ree improvisation takes place on top of everything else the musician in /uestion has dealt (ith%> 4RiAAi )$$$7 KEYWORD 4: COMMUNICATIVE CONTEXT +n his doctoral dissertation, 9tephen Ghase 4)$$L7 unfolds a vie( of two opposing vie(s of improvised music making: one that is Jperformance!driven” and one that is Jplay!driven”. +n the /uotations provided here, musicians from both sides place a high value on communication, but they do so diferently. .n the performance!driven side, musicians emphasise the needs and expectations of the audience; on the play! driven side, musicians emphasise the experience of the performers% © Music and Arts in Action/Bergstroem-Nielsen 2016 | ISSN: 1754-7105 | Page 14 http://musicandartsinaction.net/index.php/maia/article/view/improvkeywords Music and Arts in Action | Volume 5 | Issue 1 PERFORMANCE DRIVEN: JTe meta!musician looks for meaning' and for music (ith meaning' and looks to invest as much meaning as possible in the music. Te intention is to transcend all previous experience of music production and music consumption% Te intention is making music, and listening to it as if for the 0rst time%M 4<rNvost ""O' p%P7 J%%%if you-re going to contribute' make sure that it-s something that’s (orth(hile% + mean' people have got out of bed to come and hear you play … and not only that' some of them have paid for it%%% there’s /uite a responsibility% +t’s not *ust amusement' it’s deadly serious' especially as (e ?AMM@ have … dedicated most of ?our@ lives to improvising and making music.%%M +ntervie( (ith John &ilbury 4as cited in Ghase 4)$$L' p% $ 7 PLAY DRIVEN: J;iving his reasons for being an improvising musician' he states' C+ think the ans(er is + en*oy doing it% + en*oy that interplay of (orking (ith other people%%%C … +t’s that (ord play% Sou kno( one of the things + talk to the students here a lot about is' you kno(' ,8hat do you doT Sou say you play music, (hat does play meanT’ Sou kno(' + think most people actually (ork music.%%%> +ntervie( (ith =ugh 6ankivell 4as cited in Ghase )$$L' p% $U7 As Ghase states, the performance!driven and play!driven approaches are not mutually exclusive. +t could (ell be that Nankivell is not speaking of other free improvisers (hen referring to J(ork” music rather than to Jplay music”.
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