Potential in Play

Liberal arts pedagogy, characterized by its emphasis on adaptability and breadth, thrives on the input of fresh perspectives; arguably, it requires them to maintain its relevance. In this paper, I engage theoretical and applied scholarship on improvisation pedagogy to illustrate how integral improvisational thought is to the spirit of the liberal arts. Considering the liberal arts ‘toolkit’ as, essentially, that of an improviser—a rounded, context-dependent and hybridizing approach that is well-suited to novel and sometimes unforeseeable scenarios—reaffirms the liberal arts’ value in the shifting academic climate of the 21st century, in which such skills are increasingly necessary. In order to explore that potential, I synthesize the foundational works of Lev Vygotsky, Stephen Nachmanovich, and Ed Sarath with newer scholarship on 21st century education.

Talking about improvisation

This chapter highlights that we understand improvisation, largely, through talking about it. Talking about music is a fundamental part of how we make sense of music. This chapter argues that spoken definitions of improvisation serve specific psychological purposes for the speaker in creating, negotiating, and maintaining a particular line of argument, and this line of argument is linked to the musical identities and broader psychological identities of the speaker. Talking about improvising is important not just because it describes improvisation, but also because it constructs musical and social realities for those engaged in the dialogue. This chapter makes the following key points: How improvisers talk about music shapes how they engage with music; musical identities are important aspect of music making; training improvisers to understand and articulate why they value the music they like should be an important part of improvisation pedagogy; and musical identities may be more important for improvisers than for other types of musicians.

Mapping visions of improvisation pedagogy in music education research

This systematic literature review aims to identify and critically examine the prevailing general trends of music education research that addresses issues of improvisation from 1985 to 2015. The study examined the main features of studies with impact that focus on musical improvisation and have been published in peer-reviewed music education journals. Data were organised on the basis of the following: 1) General publication features; 2) Topic; 3) Methodological approach; 4) Participant features; 5) Type of improvisation; 6) Definition of improvisation; 7) Findings; 8) Suggestions for practice. The study also takes a close look at the construction of the discourses through which improvisation has been framed in the field of music education, providing insights on how such discourses create particular pedagogical visions of improvisation. To this end, we have created a map of the different visions of improvisation pedagogy that the studied works point towards. These visions have been clustered in the following five categories: (i) from rupture of certainties to creative problematisation; (ii) return to the “natural” beginning—in search of humanness; (iii) improvisation as a learning tool; (iv) conserving and enlivening traditions; (v) improvisation as an impetus for creativity. The map proposed in this study is meant as a possible representation of the general trends that underpin music education research focusing on improvisation. This map can also be seen as a “tool” through which music educators can situate their practice and reflect on their particular ways of working with improvisation, possibly envisioning alternative ways forward.

Improvisation, Enaction, and Self-Assessment

This chapter explores the challenging question of curriculum and assessment for music improvisation pedagogy. It begins by offering a critical review of standard approaches to improvisation pedagogy, arguing that they often neglect the processes of discovery and collaboration that more open or “free” approaches afford. It then discusses the challenges that free improvisation poses to traditional modes of practice and assessment in music education. The chapter considers the argument that improvisation, in its fullest sense, cannot be taught and assessed according to standardized models; it is not something to be inculcated in students, but rather is a fundamental disposition that should be nurtured. This perspective is then developed in light of recent advances in enactive cognitive science, in which living cognition is explored as a fundamentally embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended (4E) phenomenon. The suggestion is made that because the ways living agents engage with these dimensions are not pre-given but rather reflect the adaptive processes associated with survival and well-being in contingent sociomaterial environments, there is a very strong sense in which cognition may be understood as an improvisational process even at the most fundamental levels. Following this, the chapter explores how a 4E cognition model might help guide curriculum development and offer a framework for forms of self-assessment involving collaborative processes of creative action and reflection. In conclusion, the chapter offers a few final thoughts drawn from existing musical communities and the author’s experience as an improvising musician.

Coming to Know

The author in this article explores the humanbecoming paradigm postulate of illimitability as unbounded coming to know. Patterns of constructing knowledge, conversation theory, improvisation pedagogy, children’s literature, the humanbecoming teaching-learning model, and personal teaching-learning experiences of the author are presented to expand awareness of the unbounded knowing of illimitability.

The Experience of Confident Music Improvising

Improvisation plays a substantial role within the world’s musical cultures. The purpose of this research was to explore the essence of the experience of confident music improvising. In this phenomenological study, confidence was considered a psychological experience and the confidence of improvisers the phenomenon under examination. The researcher compiled experiences through stories describing the phenomenon by interviewing three confident improvisers: a bluegrass fiddler, a jazz bassist and a baroque violinist. Vignettes portrayed the lifeworlds of these instrumentalists. The stories told were reduced through imaginative variation to identify which themes were essential, that is, shared among the participants’ unique experiences. The essential themes revealed were: listening, criticism-free environment, sequential experiences, passion for a style, and openness to learning. Music educators could potentially use these themes to enrich their own improvisation pedagogy.

“Comprovisation or Imposition?”: An Improvised Composition on a Life of Improvisation

In this essay, originally delivered as the opening keynote address at the 2012 edition of the Guelph Jazz Festival, improvising percussionist and improviser Jesse Stewart reflects on his own experiences as both a student and teacher of improvised music, using those experiences as a way of opening discussion about the ways in which improvisation pedagogy might intersect with the ideas of social justice and social responsibility.