Can improvisation be ‘taught’?: A call for free improvisation in our schools

Hickey, Maud

doi:10.1177/0255761409345442

Cited by 76 publications

(110 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…All three participants provided their perceptions (Figure 1) of what Bruner (1978) refers to as scaffolding of learning. This is in line with Hickey (2009), who acknowledges the fine balance required between structure and freedom, the teaching of skills and the freedom to explore music. J used the phrase 'trial by fire' to describe the way that learning experiences took place.…”

Section: Developmental Stagessupporting

confidence: 78%

“…There is a discourse about the historical notion of the jazz musician as being uneducated and self-taught (Trodre, 1998), as seen in Kenney's (1995) historical research, which claimed that in fact education was a prominent feature in Louis Armstrong's development. Hickey (2009) presents the argument that teaching improvisation can be limited, but acknowledges that genre-specific idioms require a balance between the teaching of skills and a response to the environment, in an enculturation view of teaching. I would state that the enculturation model (Tishman et al, 1993) of teaching jazz improvisation is one I follow.…”

Section: Jazz In Secondary Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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On being and becoming a jazz musician: Perceptions of young Scottish musicians

Black¹

2017

London Review of Education

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This paper examines what goes on in an improvising jazz combo in a secondary school in Scotland, where teaching follows Rogoff's three-stage sociocultural process, moving from an initial apprenticeship model through one of guided participation to one of participatory appropriation. Using a case study research design and interpretative phenomenological analysis, and drawing on sociocultural perspectives, the music-making and participation of three participants is discussed and presented through narrative account. Three key themes emerged as perceived benefits: (1) personal effects, (2) social effects; and (3) jazz effects. The development of confidence was seen as the main outcome of learning in the jazz combo. This study suggests that learning in an active participatory jazz combo with pedagogy more appropriate to an informal learning style may help to foster the development of learner voice and help enable a creative disposition, in line with the philosophy of Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence (CfE).

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Section: Developmental Stagessupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Jazz In Secondary Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On being and becoming a jazz musician: Perceptions of young Scottish musicians

Black¹

2017

London Review of Education

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“…Although deviance is not a universal measure of creativity, cultural studies address the issue of deviance as affecting behavior [35]. Considering that enculturation has analogous characteristics to long periods of musical training from early childhood [55], [56], we believe that deviance perception may have analogous behavioral effects on musicians.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expertise in Musical Improvisation and Creativity: The Mediation of Idea Evaluation

et al. 2014

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The current study explored the influence of musical expertise, and specifically training in improvisation on creativity, using the framework of the twofold model, according to which creativity involves a process of idea generation and idea evaluation. Based on the hypothesis that a strict evaluation phase may have an inhibiting effect over the generation phase, we predicted that training in improvisation may have a “releasing effect” on the evaluation system, leading to greater creativity. To examine this hypothesis, we compared performance among three groups - musicians trained in improvisation, musicians not trained in improvisation, and non-musicians - on divergent thinking tasks and on their evaluation of creativity. The improvisation group scored higher on fluency and originality compared to the other two groups. Among the musicians, evaluation of creativity mediated how experience in improvisation was related to originality and fluency scores. It is concluded that deliberate practice of improvisation may have a “releasing effect” on creativity.

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“…Social influence is a complex and nuanced process unlikely to operate in a uniform way, and may indeed operate counter to our intuitions. The pedagogy of improvisation in its widest sense is relatively embryonic (Biasutti, 2015;Hickey, 2009), with leading practitioners often describing highly idiosyncratic routes to learning (MacGlone & MacDonald, in press), and group learning and assessment are inescapable within this field (Hickey, 2015). The teaching of improvisation could therefore be improved with clearer evidence of the implications for creativity of group dynamics and relationships between performers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The construction of meaning within free improvising groups: A qualitative psychological investigation.

Wilson¹,

MacDonald²

2017

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts

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Improvisation represents a unique process of social creativity in real time, practiced in widely varying musical contexts with different levels of experience. Yet psychologist have mostly studied the practices of individual jazz soloists with an expectation that shared understanding, knowledge and technical abilities are a prerequisite for group improvising. A qualitative study interviewed six trios of free improvisers (n=18) to illuminate the processes of shared musical improvisation across a range of contemporary artistic practice. Comparison of different members' accounts of events during recorded free improvisations indicated that their understandings of who did what and why converged at some points, notably during relative stasis, and diverged at others. Improvisers anticipated and interpreted musical behaviors of their collaborators with reference to previous shared social or musical experience, but considered that such expectations could, and should, be confounded. Familiarity between improvisers could be seen as helpful in building trust within dynamic and highly uncertain musical contexts, and in allowing a less conscious approach to interaction. Improvisers individually assumed that their group shared certain tastes and asserted that others recognized certain musical material as connected to previous practice together. These ideas of shared tastes and practices could best be understood as constructions within this particular social context, since they were not necessarily consistent across the ensemble. The findings emphasize the fundamentally social nature of improvising: shared understanding is not a prerequisite for participation, but shared experience over time enriches the resources of meaning an individual can bring to their interaction in an improvising group.

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Can improvisation be ‘taught’?: A call for free improvisation in our schools

Cited by 76 publications

References 13 publications

On being and becoming a jazz musician: Perceptions of young Scottish musicians

On being and becoming a jazz musician: Perceptions of young Scottish musicians

Expertise in Musical Improvisation and Creativity: The Mediation of Idea Evaluation

The construction of meaning within free improvising groups: A qualitative psychological investigation.

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