The growing interest in musical improvisation is exemplified by the body of literatures evidencing the positive impacts of improvisation learning on the musical apprentice’s aptitudes and the increasing presence of improvisation in Western classical concert halls and competitions. However, high-level Western classical music improvisers’ thinking processes are not yet thoroughly documented. As a result of this gap, our research addresses the following question: What strategies are implemented in the course of performance by Western classical music improvisers? To answer this question, semistructured interviews were conducted with five internationally recognized Western classical music expert improvisers. Each participant improvised, and immediately afterward, a retrospective verbal protocol with subjective aided recall data collection strategy was used to elicit the improvising musician’s strategies. After transcription, the interviews were coded and analyzed using NVivo 10 software, with a mixed (i.e., combining inductive and deductive coding) category approach. Our data revealed 46 improvisation strategies that were subsequently organized into five categories: preplanning, conceptual, structural, atmospheric and stylistic, and real time. Pedagogical implications arising from these findings are that (a) learners should be guided toward implementing various strategies and (b) the capacity to switch from one strategy to another according to the circumstances should be promoted.

Accessing the strategies implemented during real-time musical creative processes represents a challenge for researchers. Retrospective verbal protocol with subjective aided recall (RVPwSAR), where a first-person video is used as an aid to elicit feedback from a subject, has shown great potential for the study of real-time decision-making in sport, therapy, emergency situations, and consumer behavior. This article reviews research methods studying real-time decision-making and discusses the implications of a previous study using RVPwSAR to observe decision-making strategies during musical improvisation. The objective of this article is twofold: (1) to present the contributions and limitations of the RVPwSAR to arrive at a better understanding of the strategies implemented in real-time during musical improvisation; (2) to discuss the potential of the RVPwSAR for studying the strategies implemented in other real-time musical creative tasks. I argue that research where the RVPwSAR is applied may contribute to a better understanding of the strategies used during the real-time musical process, and, ultimately, contribute to the promotion of creative musical teaching and learning.

Cet article a pour objectif de proposer un cadre conceptuel visant à aider le professeur d’instrument à intégrer l’improvisation musicale à son acte pédagogique. Pour élaborer ce cadre conceptuel, nous avons d’abord effectué la recension et l’analyse de la littérature accessible sur l’improvisation musicale, en portant une attention toute particulière aux modèles théoriques et aux applications pédagogiques que nous y avons rencontrés. Cette analyse nous a permis de formuler une définition opérationnelle de l’improvisation musicale, d’identifier les effets positifs de l’apprentissage de l’improvisation musicale sur d’autres variables, de cerner les facteurs et les processus cognitifs qui entrent en jeu lors de la génération de l’improvisation musicale ainsi que de recenser les recommandations pédagogiques rencontrées dans la littérature portant sur l’improvisation musicale. Pour terminer, nous avons élaboré, à partir de la littérature analysée, un cadre conceptuel rassemblant, sous forme graphique, les connaissances permettant d’opérationnaliser l’acte d’enseigner l’improvisation musicale.This essay aims at offering a conceptual framework to help instrument teachers to include improvisation in their pedagogical practice. In order to do so, we have reviewed and analyzed the literature addressing musical improvisation, with a special focus on theoretical models and pedagogical applications. The analysis allowed us to develop a functional definition of musical improvisation, to identify its positive contribution to the learning process and to other aspects, to identify factors and cognitive processes involved in production of musical improvisation, and to inventory pedagogical recommendations found in this literature. Based on the analyzed literature, we finally developed a graphic conceptual framework, which puts together the necessary knowledge to operationalize the process of teaching musical improvisation

Dance movement psychotherapy with people with learning disabilities The role of music therapy in the treatment of people with intellectual disabilities suffering from mental health issues Music Therapy Perspectives 18 Psychology of Music 42 The Oxford Handbook of Music Therapy Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities 51 Frontiers in Psychology 10 Children and Youth Services Review 109

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