source file: mills2.txt Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 18:27:48 -0800 Subject: RE: Improvisation and our musical sounds From: "Jo A. Hainline" On Mon, 13 Jan 1997, PAULE wrote: > > > > Although improvisation may be a skill helpful to the > > mastery of a particular musical instrument I am not convinced that in > > itself it adds anything to ultimate musical experience. Nor do I feel > > that improvisational skill leads to more creative musical expression. In > > fact it much more readily falls into the realm of noodling than much of > > the so-called Western classical repertoire. > > I let this sit for a while, but I find this positively repulsive. > Paul, It appears my statement needs some clarification--I think that in reality we are more in agreement than you may suspect. > (1) If you can hum what you're composing (a good sign that you're making > music rather than marks on a page), then humming spontaneously (even slowly, > and correcting errors) is improvisational skill. That may not be helpful to > the mastery of a particular instrument, but it sure leads to better > composition! My understanding of improvisation is based on the notion that starting from some given form, a performer, on the fly, may vary tempo, melodic or harmonic structure to create something new. You seem to indicate here that it is composition on the fly. Is there something special about how fast someone composes? I have always felt that it is what one ends up with that is important. > > (2) Many masters of instruments cannot improvise to save their lives. Many > master improvisers create compositions in a realm very different from the > five-line staff -- details will change from performance to performance, > rhythms will transcend rational notation, the musical experience will > reflect the immediate conditions of the moment, communication between > audience and performer will occur -- in all, the music will have a structure > that has more in common with real-time human thought processes. > Members of a good symphony orchestra are constantly in communication with the "music" they are performing. Often this communion is profound and deep, and to the extent this is accomplished, the music is unique, and alive with subtle inflections of melodic and harmonic expression and the audience is completely captivated and moved by the experience. Creativity is in the expression of a phrase or even a single note--there is no need for more or different notes. > (3) Noodling on a staff is less musical than noodling on an instrument, and > noodling on an instrument qualifies as poor improvisation at best. > I'll let this pass. > > (5) The ultimate musical experience. Hmm. Aside from that once-in-a-lifetime > improvisation where it feels like your hands are controlled by a higher > power, this would have to include listening to Jimi, or Duke, or one of Bach > or Chopin's "frozen improvisations" (if only we could capture their actual > performances out of the vibrations in the air). I'll skip Wynton Marsalis' > jazz "compositions." May I suggest that your experience with Jimi or the Duke is in precisely the same category as Bach and Chopin--the old masters are in the form of staves and notes, their music so inspiring that contemporary musicians attempt to recreate their experience to share with the world--the young "masters" are in electronic form, no less frozen than Beethoven. 100 years from now there may still be the possibility of a live, creative and unique experience of Beethoven's 9th-- will we still have that same old Hendrix? I am equally eager to see 12ET supplanted by music which transcends in expressiveness and communicates more deeply our human soul, for I too feel its limitations. But we cannot throw away its profound legacy--we need to build on it. Thank you for your thoughts Paul. Bruce Kanzelmeyer Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Fri, 17 Jan 1997 07:19 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA03955; Fri, 17 Jan 1997 07:22:40 +0100 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA04022 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id WAA00099; Thu, 16 Jan 1997 22:22:37 -0800 Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 22:22:37 -0800 Message-Id: <199701170119_MC2-F8A-F94B@compuserve.com> Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu