source file: mills2.txt Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 12:24:45 -0800 Subject: improvisation From: bq912@freenet.uchsc.edu (Neil G. Haverstick) Haverstick here...Kanzelmeyer's comments about improv were interesting, and had some truth to them. As far as noodling goes, it is very easy to noodle around while improvising, and therefore come up with music that is terribly boring and meaningless...no problem. But, on the other hand, I think I am correct in saying that A. much of the music around the world is improvisational rather than "composed"...Indian music, Arabic, Blues, Jazz, African...without doubt, these are systems where, perhaps, a basic framework is provided, but the skill and mastery of the individ- ual musician is then necessary to make the performance come to life.. also, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and I'm sure many other "western" music- cians were known as master improvisors as well...I sadly think that this skill has been totally neglected in today's western (symphonic) musicians, and we are left with zillions of folks who can repeat what someone else has already written down, but have to internal creative skills of their own (the word to in the previous line should be NO). Written music is wonderful...but, in a recent Wendy Carlos interview in Keyboard mag, Stravinsky was quoted as saying "composition is frozen improvisation"...with which Wendy agreed, and I do too. In fact, I cannot separate the terms composer and improvisor...as I have said before, all blues/jazz players are composers and arrangers...they are EXPECTED to be, because to copy another is to admit that you have nothing of your own to add to the tradition...when I hear the current crop of "young lions" in jazz, for instance, I am far from impressed because the days of the original masters like Parker, Ellington, Coltrane, Monk, Miles, Wes...these days are gone, and we are left with a shitload of guys who are adding nothing to the lineage of jazz, who are instead rehashing the harmonic and compositional innovations of these past masters...they can play their axes, no doubt, but the tang is gone. Of course, that's because of the continued dependance on the 12eq system; jazz, rock, blues, country, and of course "classical" music...these forms are dead and stinky, and will likely remain so until we can show people that using other tuning systems is a valid step into tomorrow. So, Bruce...I cannot imagine NOT improvising/composing...I see no separation, and perhaps I am missing something here, and if so, I would be glad to learn... Adam...as far as your mbira, Jonathan Glasier in San Diego has built some neat instruments, and could probably be of help...I do not have his number, but he runs the Sonic Arts Gallery in San Diego...maybe you can look it up...Hstick Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Fri, 10 Jan 1997 23:32 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA20724; Fri, 10 Jan 1997 23:35:45 +0100 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA20716 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id OAA20409; Fri, 10 Jan 1997 14:35:42 -0800 Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 14:35:42 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu